Or considering my life personally, the necessity of it.
I come from a lower, working class family. My father is from Uruguay and my mother is an American citizen. My father has lived in America for 20 years but hasn't been able to get his citizenship. He now wants to return to Uruguay, and feels that he is not happy here/does not fit in. My mother got a B.A. in spanish that she was not able to find a job with anywhere, because she was not a certified teacher.
As it is, most of my father's money from working goes to paying bills so we can eat and have somewhere to live. I work at a part time job and am taking classes. The job is to pay my monthly car payments since I recently bought my own first car. My mother is studying nursing and can't work since she needs her time to study. So financial aid isn't just something welcome in my family, it's NEEDED.
I recently lost financial aid upon failing out of three classes last semester. I had a five class schedule, a work study job on campus, was involved in a play, and my Rotaract club. I ended the semester feeling stressed and overwhelmed, and unhappy with the degree I was studying (I was in a Network systems admin degree...it bored me to tears). I lost financial aid and at my school if you fail out and lose financial aid, you have to take two classes for one semester and pay for those two classes, and if you do well in them and raise your grade, you get financial aid back the next semester after that.
I will be very glad in January to have financial aid back. I struggled to get the over $800 to pay for my classes and my textbooks and if it hadn't been for a remainder being paid by the dean and a gift from my grandmother, I never would have managed to cover the charge.
I want to thank all the philanthropists, all the people out there who fund scholarships and donate to the foundations that make them possible. I want to thank those who make financial aid and scholarships possible because I now understand the importance of them and just how useful they are. I know I'm not the only person who is in need of financial aid and on behalf of all those who need it, I say thanks. It's good to know that there are people out there who want to help college students.
I am planning on transferring next fall, fall of '08. I will definitely be needing financial aid when I go to college, and I think in January, I will be very grateful when I get financial aid back and appreciate it a lot more this time.
the financial problems you face are far too common. The price of education has reached stupifying levels, and there seems to be no end in sight. The federal government must step in and begin playing a larger role in financing secondary education. Systems must be put in place that garuantee a college education free of charge to all those wishing to seek it.
An interesting proposal is offering two years of college education in exchange for a year of national service. This could create a generation that is well educated and more committed to the nation.
A serious overhaul of education is necessary.
Half the kids in college now, don't belong there. They and the country would be better off if they were in the workforce. They are studying no-brainer majors that prepare them for nothing and I can't imagine why I would want to flush even more tax dollars down the system then I already have and am.
The Federal Government, as usual, is the problem, not the solution. The reason that Universities keep raising tuition is because they CAN! There is no reason why these costs need to go up at about 4 times the rate of inflation like they have for the past 20 years.
The higher tuition just keeps getting paid by more and more financial aid. Universities are just scamming the taxpayers and the system is designed to encourage it.
If you want to see tuition fall in a huge hurry, end the ridiculous system of financial aid. Suddenly about 3/4ths of the people in college would realize they could not possibly afford it and would be forced to drop out.
Suddenly, when faced with 3/4ths of their seats and dorms being empty, colleges would get realistic about tuition (and room, board and books which are also over-priced). They would either lower these costs or close their doors.
You are my hero.
That is all.
I agree that institutions are obviously overpricing tuition, books, etc.
But what do you mean by "no brainer majors?" Which majors are "no brainer?"
And I feel that we already have too many people in the workforce (one of the reasons my father has a hard time finding a job I think) and not enough seeking professional occupations such as careers in medicine or law. I don't see how having undereducated masses will help our country.
I believe he means these majors don't contribute to society; because most of the graduates end up in the blue-collar workforce anyway. So what is the point of contributing our tax dollars to their education?
If you think there are too many in the workforce you should take it up with the politicians and particularly the Democrats. There are studies coming out this week that shows that the last 7 years has been the highest immigration period in USA history and that now the highest percentage ever of our population is foreign born.
I don't care who goes to college or what they study as long as they pay for it themselves. But I am tired of the ridiculous scheme which is driven by student financial aid where colleges raise tuition and then politicians raise financial aid and then colleges raise tuition again ad infinitum.
If the government would stay out of it tuition would be far more affordable because colleges would need to compete for a smaller group of students. And the market would also decide which fields of study were worth studying and which fell into the category of "no-brain-er". Few people would ivest money to study things like women's or racial studies or basket weaving or history of video art or etc, etc if the only path it led them down was a huge debt and no career.
Far too many kids are in school who have little interest in learning. It is an expensive taxpayer funded boondoggle that gives them a four years to party and have sex between high school and finally becoming productive members of society. These people are simply a taxpayer burden. If people had to pay their own tuition, they would think twice about going to college if they were not actually interested in learning.
Of the kids that go to college only a small percentage of them have the mental horsepower to be doctors or engineers. We don't need any more lawyers. Far too many college kids arrive at college needing remedial writing and arithmatic work. That is a strong hint that these kids are not college material in the first place. There is nothing wrong with that. America needs construction workers too.
*cheer*
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I agree with everything written here, especially about the supply and demand. There is a huge problem with the number of liberal arts graduates as compared to jobs available, as opposed to more useful degrees.
Everybody struggles, I wish you the best of luck with yours.
Your Funeral Guy
R.Brian Burkhardt
http://lowercostfuneral.com
When I was in Mortuary School after 911 all student funding that
I was counting on stopped.
This required thinking and funding outside the box.
your funeral guy
That isn't only a problem in the US, also in the Netherlands it's starting to get way out of control. I'm always trying to make ends meet by working in the weekends and cut back on "luxuries". 1/3 of all students here will have a major debt by the time they can go to work, that's why a lot of people don't even want to study.
Sad to hear I'm not alone, and that's it's not only in my country.
Wow, I didn't realize this was a problem in other nations too. That's what it's like here; when many people leave college, they are already in debt from loans.
I wish you the best with your struggles. I work in the evenings (my classes are in the morning) or on weekends too.
I feel your pain. I'm a high school senior who's rapidly realizing that her Vassar dream just may not be possible. We just don't have enough money...
On the bright side, I can go to a state school- this state school is one of the number one party schools in the area!
Once the gorv' is involved and you pay the taxes even though you feel like far too many students go there too party and irrelevant things instead of concentrating how do you know that you just saved someone who later in future will help the nation and in the long run you. I am also so disappointed with the gorv' for the taxes that I pay but am sure there is someone out there who is worth it. sometimes we struggle alot and it's still not enough and thats when i think one should go for a financial aid. good luck
*shiko*