Many high end schools are now dropping their tuition fees for poorer students. Stanford, for example, is one of those school who will drop the tuition fee for the students whose parents earn less than $100,000. They will also waive room and board fees for students whose family earns less than $60,000.
According to CBS news, "The University of Virginia is one of a growing number of institutions offering some form of free tuition in an effort to attract talented low-income students. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Michigan State University, Miami University in Ohio, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rice University have all eliminated loans from the financial aid packages of low-income students. Princeton University offers loan-free packages to all students who qualify for financial aid."
THANK GOODNESS, FINALLY SOMEONE REALISES THAT COLLEGE IS TOO EXPENSIVE.
As a student from a low-income family, I have always thought that colleges were much too expensive. You can't live in the world today without a college education, but they make it so difficult to acheive a college education when they put such a high price stamp on it! It is almost there to tease us: "yes, you are accepted into this beautiful, wonderful, high-end school- but it's THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS A SEMESTER! [insert maniacle laughter here]." Between working a minimum wage job at about 20 hours a week (minors have limited work hours), while going to school, I only managed to make appx. $2,000 during the entire year. This was before taxes, paying for my own pleasures, food, car, gas, school supplies, clothes, etc. In the end, I was left with about $500 or so in the bank. Then, I was laid off. That amount has dwindled to $300 in the course of two months or so.
You know, I don't pretend to be good at math or anything.. but:
$300 DOES NOT EQUAL $30,000!
I feel that if society/America/the world wants us to have a college education so badly, that tuition should always be free. Sure, make it harder to get into- but come on. As if we haven't worked hard enough already to be accepted, now you're killing us financially? I understand that the money is put to keep the schools running properly- but come now. $30,000 per student for a private school that accepts about 2,000 students each year? That is ridiculous.
Oh. :X
This.. posted.. a lot.
Is there a way to delete? ^^"
I'm sorry. D:
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Never mind, all fixed and figured out.
Sorry about the spam! I don't know how that happened, :)
I have mixed feelings about this.
Financial Aid has always been a pain in my side because my dad makes ALOT of money, but he's divorced and has four other kids on child support , as well as alot of other expenses that aren't covered in qualifications for financial aid.
So therefore I have to attempt to scrap together what money i can from scholarships, and then take out a student loan.
This may sound callous, but if you're low-income and can't really afford a high-end private college, why not just go in state public? Alot of schools pay for your tuition when you meet a certain academic requirement and you can also get scholarships on top of that. If you're a good enough student/athlete then the schols will pay for you themselves.
I'm really sorry and as much as I feel for you on this, I can't help but see it as America, once again, lowering the bar on educational standards. You should require more to have the tuition waved then just not making a lot of money.
Especially since yoou now how the options of community college and online college.
As with so many other things in America, if we make it "free" it undermines the value we place upon it (since we are a material culture).
The bigger the price tag, the more its worth, and the farther it goes.
College is more of a business then an educational system, and you don't see your realtor saying "well..since your broke..and since housing is so important in america and we want everyone to have homes...we'll just drop the price of the house and you can move in today."
~The Writer~
Haha, I see your point clearly. But alas, education is not a house. It's not something we have a physical grasp of, other than, say, a sheet of paper saying we graduated. I think it's terrible that education is a business, because dispite what the person pays- what they know is what they know. Just because they had the money (or the debt) to grab that diploma doesn't [necessarily] mean they have more brains then the next guy.
Community college is of course always an option, but tell me.. do you want to go to a community college when you know you have the talent to go somewhere bigger and better?
I wasn't necessarily talking about myself in this blog, but more rather, putting it in a more personal view. I want to go to Oakland University, which is very appealing because I meet the requirements for automatic acceptance, but still need to fight a major battle to get into their teaching program. Their tuition is about $15,000. While this seems rather reasonable, it's still more than I can comfortably afford.
I feel sorry for you that you have to deal with all of that stress, due to loops in financial aid systems and such, but once again, that would be settled for you the same as me: have a good enough academic score/athletic record and go to a lower end school.
I realise that college is probably never going to be completely free, it would be nice, but it's unlikely: but it would be nice if the academic world did start a business of sorts. Have people speak to us one on one to figure out what kind of money we deserve for school- no one can be generalized into "under $100,000" or anything else. Like in your case, if you were able to sit down with someone and explain your situation, and then let them decide what kind of financial aid you deserve- wouldn't that be better? :)
Ideological arguments when it comes to finances aren't practical.
Making college free is a great idea in theory, but is just as bad as socializing welfare in practice. It would be taken for granted and our educational system would deteriorate.
Yes it would be great to "explain your situation" and I WISH I could do that. Every time i see scholarship opportunities that say "must qualify for financial aid", I have to give up on it right away. My potential doesn't matter because, on paper and in theory, my dad should be making enough to send me to college (They don't care that he has to send four other kids as well). Unfortunately, no one can sit down with the hundreds of thousands of kids applying for college every year and make up a special chart for each of them. It's impractical.
~The Writer~
Well, it would certainly make jobs.
However, what if the standard financial aid was available for those who did fall directly under it- and they just had exception cases to deal with?
Though I could see it getting taken advantage of, but that doesn't mean the government or educational system has a right to take advantage of you or your family. There should be options for everyone.
I agree. Yes, low income students should be helped out, but attending Stanford isn't necessary to obtain a good college degree. I go to a state university, and in the end, my degree will be worth just about as much as the person who went to any number of private schools, and it cost thousands of dollars less.
~C
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Coming from a not-so-rich family I can empathize with this article and agree wholeheartedly. College costs a bundle, and if we want to go, we either have to be geniuses or end up knee-high in debt by the time we're 22. Lower college tuition would be a dream come true.
Most high-end private schools try to match 100% need based aid, and many will give it in the form of only grants, which is quite nice. And like Zephyr said, a student with good grades can end up with enough of a schoolarship to end up being PAID to go to college. My offered scholarship from ASU was $9000 a year, and in state tuition is less than $4000. As for the idea of having free tuition (or near free) for all, that's a touchy issue. It's pretty much socialism, and if you had been born in raised in one of many European countries, that would be the case. Of course, that means higher taxes. I'm not sure how I feel about a socialist education plan, but it's an idea worth considering.
I heard about that today also. My mom was so excited!!!! She read it in the newspaper and ran into my room screaming and reading off random lines from the article. I think it a great idea and I hope it continues. I really think it will make a great difference. Its about time something good happened for our generation =)
I am one of the few left who strongly believe that not everyone in this country needs to go to college.
Why are we spending our money (both publicly and privately) sending kids to college for degrees they don't use? Why do you need a History degree if you're going to end up a manager of a retail store?
There is nothing shameful about trade schools. This country is desperate for nurses, welders, and mechanics. There are people who really work to get where they are; they don't get to go to college right after high school, and they take classes while working.
Stop complaining about not getting free tuition because you are "poor" (a relative, debatable term if there ever was one). There are millions of dollars of private scholarships out there; and not just academic ones. If you worked hard enough, you (and this you, is not necessarily the original blogger, sorry if this sounds confrontational) would be able to pay for your college without asking for yet more free tuition.
There are many people in real life and on this website who don't just go to college full time, but also work enough to pay for their tuition at the same time.
thats nice but enjoy getting into those schools with acceptance rates lower than 10%.
I am one of those people that didnt go to college right out of high school. I am almost 22 years old, married, and working my a@@ off with school work and my waitress job. Which both are full time. I get hardly nothing for tuition assistance, what i do get is a slap in the face. By the end of me getting my BS in Nursing I wil have a 100,000 dollar loan and that is going to a community college.
:-B Where the heck do you go to school? My bachelor's would have cost about 50K, including all living expenses, after four years. That's without a job to supplement. Community college here is cheaper (though you can't get a bachelor's at a community college here), so theoretically, you would owe a whole lot less.
~C
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