Can you guess what 20 out of 36 Boston valedictorians have in common?

[Pale Blue Dot]

If you said, "They can't afford to go to college", you're correct!

LAST SPRING, 20 of the 36 valedictorians from Boston's public high schools were confronted with the stark reality that, after all their hard work, they did not have the money to go to college. This year, the number stands to rise.

Spring is synonymous with the nervous, daily trips to the mailbox for news of college acceptances or rejections. But for too many students, the thrill of success is eclipsed by the failings of a financial aid system that, at an alarming rate, has left our brightest, most talented, and hardest-working kids from low- and middle-income families coming up short.

Why is this important? Because the costs of inaction are high and the numbers staggering.

The income gap has never been wider: This year's freshmen class is wealthier than at any point in the past 35 years, according to the largest and longest-running survey of college students ever, undertaken by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. This year's class comes from families with incomes 60 percent greater than the national median. What becomes then of everyone else?

A recent report by the Gates Foundation found that only one in three students entering high school will obtain a college degree. Perhaps not so shockingly, for America's low-income youth the number drops to one in seven.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/05/11/sending_our_kids_to_college/

The U.S. is well on its way to becoming a third world caste system.

[NewJeffCT]

1. what a shame

I hope some colleges step up and offer scholarships at least.

And, one of the reasons my wife & I have not had a second child is because of the cost of college. I don't think we'll have a problem saving for one child, but I can only imagine the expense you & Sarah have in the future!

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. I'm doing what any responsible parent would do

I'm trying not to think about it. :scared:

[NewJeffCT]

5. and

praying for scholarships.

good luck to you and all your family.

[Recursion]

58. Once upon a time, it was good advice to save money

Unfortunately, the system we have now punishes people of modest means who manage to save some for their children's education

[SarahB]

62. Have our ex's claim them on taxes.

And hope they don't remarry. Our combined income will ensure laughter from the financial aid folks- enough to pay our bills and live ok, not enough to fork over $30,000 a year for school. :scared:

There's the "gifted" factor too for some of ours, but academic scholarships these days? :rofl:

[World Traveller]

82. www.studentloanjustice.org on predatory student loan industry

When my son started college 2 years ago, I refused to let him take out student loans, he is going to a state university, so his father and I can pay the freight. I've read many stories about the predatory practices of student loan industry, especially Sallie Mae (60 Minutes did an expose last year). Miss a payment and they jack up interest rates and tack on new fees for being late. In the stories published at Student Loan Justice site, a very common theme is "I started out witha loan of $30,000 and now I owe $70,000 because I got sick, lost my job, etc. and couldn't pay for a while..."

STUDENT LOAN DEBTS ($70,000 in above example) CANNOT BE ERASED IN BANKRUPTCY. You owe them till you pay off debt plus penalties or until you die. Sallie Mae executives have become VERY wealthy and had a lot of influence in recent Republican Congresses.

For more stories, click on a state at the website.

I think these kids are wise not to take on large student loans. Hopefully they'll be able to start at a community college at some point.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. My kids may have to teach themselves

:( Not sure how I feel about those chemistry experiments in the house, though.

[lpbk2713]

4. Another victory for the BushCo war on the Middle Class.

Chimpy sees no need for ejukatin anyhow.



Sometimes I feel so damn helpless. I know the anguish these kids must feel.

[Bronyraurus]

22. Blame universities

They jack their tuition far more than any rise in inflation would justify, every damned year. State schools like Rutgers, Penn State, and SUNY are far better deals than their private counterparts.

[Igel]

43. Tell me about it.

I'm to teach a summer calss. Tuition for 3 credits is something like $2800. The class will only be taught if there are 5 students or more, and I get just over $4000; I'd get a bit more if I weren't still ABD.

Where the other $10k goes ... I have no idea. Some of it I can see--electricity, maintenance, the room, library. But that much? Hardly.

[RC Quake]

48. It helps to pay for so much more!

Mainly the exorbitant initial complement packages for administrators and faculty. At an average of $1,000,000 a pop for say...50...yeah, I'd say tuition needs to be raised so we can have the best of the best researchers money can buy that will never set foot in the classroom because they are just too important in the research community to demean themselves trying to teach college students.

Teaching Assistants will do just fine. :mad:

[electron_blue]

64. Where are new faculty getting $1,000,000 a pop?

I want to know so I can apply there. :)

[RC Quake]

75. Trust me, we lose more candidates to better offers.

You'd be better off looking at the ones that pay $3.0 mil initial complement. Of course, this is in the science colleges. Humanities is a much different story.

[electron_blue]

77. I guess I can believe that somewhere professors are getting $1 million, but you said average

At all the universities I've been to, an average hire package, if you included startup insurance and retirement, was $100K. These are state universities, not research institutions. The average research institutions I'm familiar with had average hire packages of $200K. And I'm talking sciences here. I don't know where a million is average. Seriously, the reason college costs are so high is not because it's in the average college professor's pockets. Check out the administrators pockets, I say.

[FormerDittoHead]

66. and don't forget about community colleges...

It was a great place to figure out what I wanted to study, get credits for transferring, etc.

Drexel took all but my credits except for statistics courses.

Many of my community college classes were more challenging than my private college classes, others were more useful and informative...

[Phredicles]

6. College costs will have to be addressed on a societal level;

of course, judging by the rate at which we're addressing health care costs, we should have this college thing totally solved by, oh, right around 2119.:eyes:

[MountainLaurel]

28. But by that point

The effects of climate change will be kicking in full force, and humans will probably be dying off in large numbers, so hey, it all works out in the end.

:sarcasm:

[ananda]

42. die off

"The effects of climate change will be kicking in full force, and humans will probably be dying off in large numbers, so hey, it all works out in the end."

Well.. I was thinking about the sorry future of humankind in much the same way.. only seriously. Sometimes I just don't think that much of anything that happens these days really matters.

[JHB]

7. "Just remember it's a new economy, folks...

...and your best prospects for the future is high education so you can retrain and adapt quickly to the changes in the workplace."

But paying for it? No, no, the Lords of the New Economy can't make higher education affordable. That would be so "socialist"; can't be seen doing that.

[Bronyraurus]

24. Who are the Lords of the New Economy?

The right-wingers in charge of higher education? *Snigger!*

[Jim__]

8. Why?

I went to college in the late 60's. All of it was financed through government backed loans. Are these not generally available anymore? Will they not suffice to pay tuition?

The article says that graduates who used student loans graduate about $19,000 in debt. I know from the perspective of someone just starting out, that looks like a lot of money. From my perspective, I would consider it an easily justifiable investment.

Are these valedictorians not going to college because they can't get the money to go? Or, are they unwilling to take on the debt load? Does anyone know? That number (20 out of 36) is absolutely flabbergasting to me.

[madrchsod]

11. this is not a perfect example but you may get what i`m getting at

for a 5000 dollar investment one can learn to drive a truck and within two years can be making 50,000 per year. what is the investment and the gross for anyone who graduates with a humanities degree? a ba in humanities will get you a 25-30 thousand after a few years.

there are alternatives to the high cost of college but most students do not take advantage of them.

[Jim__]

29. I agree with you about there being alternatives to college.

My guess is that most high school valedictorians are more inclined toward academic work than most of the available alternatives - I just think that someone who works hard enough to become a valedictorian, enjoys academic work. I think it's a tremendous loss for both the individual and for society if large numbers of these people don't get the opportunity to realize their potential because of their financial circumstance when they are just starting out in life.

As a society, we really have to give these kids a shot.

[semillama]

35. I don't make $50k and I have a master's degree.

But trucking is more valued by society than what I do, so that makes sense.

[JTFrog]

18. How much interest did you pay on your loan?

I had an interest free loan in the 80's soI didn't pay any. The only requirement I had was to pay it off within 10 years of graduating.

"What became of the valedictorians priced out of their college dreams? Eight received ACCESS Scholarships that eliminated their funding gap, but limited resources have left the others to turn to high-interest loans, deferrals, or to forgoing college all together -- an unacceptable outcome for us all."

[Jim__]

26. I don't remember what the interest rate was.

My best guess is that it was around 5%. I think I owed something like $7500 when I left college - I hadn't graduated at that time, but have since. The $7500 seemd huge at the time. However, the work I had done toward a degree paid off later when I was able to transfer credits. Over the course of my working life, I think my degree (eventually I got a graduate degree) paid off tremendously.

It just seems like a tremendous waste of potential, both to the individuals involved and to society as a whole, for valedictorians to miss out on the opportunity to get a college education.

[wiggs]

38. This administration doubled the interest rate of some student loans

At 8%, they are actually making money off the students.

[wiggs]

40. Going to a public school (Univ of Cal) will cost 100,000 for four years

That includes room and board...does not include summers. We have two starting at the same time next year.

[JTFrog]

19. dupe

sorry glitch, double posted.

[Horse with no Name]

20. We are moving to Arizona

My daughter graduated from High School in 2006 and received her Associate of Science last week with highest honors--Phi Theta Kappa.
She applied to the University of Arizona and for financial aid they were kind enough to offer her in the neighborhood of $20k a year in loans. No scholarships. However, if she stays in Texas, she will pretty much receive full scholarship. As much as I hate it, she will stay here. That is too much of a debt load.
I am not sure that I completely believe this article or not, because we have a kid from here in Texas who graduated Valedictorian and went to Harvard. With work-study and scholarships--his family is only having to pay around $3k a year out of pocket. They have some pretty spectacular plans to help needy families with deserving kids.
We also know several kids who are going to Ouchita in Arkansas on full academic scholarships.
UT-Tyler has a new program geared towards people living in poverty--I believe if you make under $25k (very common around here) and meet eligibility requirements and are an incoming freshman, they basically pay for your college.
Perhaps they aren't being offered scholarships where they want to go...but as I told my daughter, sometimes that part just doesn't work out. If you have good grades and look hard enough, you WILL find someone willing to give you enough money to go to school on.

[Horse with no Name]

25. Here is a great article

http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_6582.shtml

>>>snip
But just what are early admission programs and how do they affect low-income students? According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s “Statement of Principles of Good Practice,” there are three types of early choice plans. Early admission programs — like early action, early decision and restrictive early action programs — allow students to apply for early consideration at their first-choice institution. However, early decision and restrictive early action policies prohibit students from applying to other early consideration programs. They may not require, but strongly encourage students to make nonrefundable enrollment deposits well before the national May 1 college commitment date and well before students and parents receive financial aid offers.

Clearly, making a decision about college admission without a financial aid offer is a high-risk decision for families who can’t fully finance a four-year college degree. But it’s even more complicated for the poorest students. Low-income students often don’t know about early admission programs. Studies have shown that many low-income students don’t even understand the basics of admission and financial aid. High-achieving, low-income students, who would be highly regarded, are less likely to apply via early admission, so they miss out on the opportunity to be part of this “elite” applicant pool.

>>>snip
Is it good news that others are following Harvard’s lead in dropping early admission? Yes. Dropping these programs will end a history of advantage for already privileged students. But, this “yes” needs added qualification. As other institutions consider eliminating these programs, they should also strongly consider adopting another policy that has caught on at Harvard and other institutions — full financial aid, with minimum debt burden, for the most needy, academically eligible students. The decision to drop early admission should be seen as one positive step in the process of reframing admission and financial aid policy.

[Jim__]

Your daughter's story is encouraging.

I really hope that as a society, we have enough sense to invest in young people who are willing to work and have potential. Based on what you're saying, it sounds like we still have at least that minimal amount of sense left.

[Horse with no Name]

I think we do

and trust me--we meximized the tuition dollar even though she had scholarship money.
HER first choice wasn't to get a degree at a local community college but it made the most sense and, no matter what happens in the next few years, she at least has an Associates Degree.

[pnwmom]

72. I think starting out at a community college is a good option

for many students.

The price is right, and there are lots of options afterwards at 4 year colleges.

I have at least two friends that started out at community college. One is a physician and the other is a very successful business owner (who went on to get a 4 year degree and then a Masters).

I think starting out at a community college makes more sense than going into a lot of debt to attend a "name" college.

[Horse with no Name]

79. Oh absolutely

As one of the top students who never had to study in her High School class, she was kind of flippant about studying.
Her first semester proved to be a little tougher than she imagined and she let a couple of labs slide by.
Luckily, the Junior College Professor was kind enough to allow her to make them up at a slightly reduced grade.
Had she been at a University, I doubt she would have had that opportunity.
I did make note that she did NOT do it her second semester.;) So she learned a valuable lesson while being able to maintain her GPA and not have to drop a class to do it.

[lady lib]

44. The tuition for Arizona's state schools goes down quite a bit

once you've established residency. When we moved to Phoenix I waited and worked until I qualified as a resident, and then the cost was reasonable (of course that was about a century ago :))! That might not be practical for her or what she wants to do, but it is a possibility worth considering if she has her heart set on U of A.

[Horse with no Name]

46. That's kind of what we were hoping

I'm going to go ahead and move out there and establish residency while she attends school here in Texas.
Hopefully we will see a pretty large reduction in tuition.

[lady lib]

51. You've probably already done this,

but if you haven't, you should check with the school to see if she needs to be living and working in AZ with you.

[Horse with no Name]

52. As long as she is still a dependent

and I have residency...isn't that all that matters?

[lady lib]

53. That would make sense,

but you should verify it anyway. Here's a link with a phone number to call:
https://admissions.arizona.edu/index.aspx

[Horse with no Name]

54. Thank you.

:thumbsup:

[lady lib]

55. Happy to help!

(I just vagely remember there being very specific rules about residency that you have to follow.)

Best of luck to your daughter! Mine has U of A on her (ever growing) list for fall 2008. :)

[MissB]

30. Tuition has doubled at my alma mater

I earned my engineering degree in the early 90s. Tuition is now double what it was then, and the fees each term(the ones they tack on because you happen to be in a certain program like engineering) have tripled.

edited to add: My niece is obtaining high-interest private loans to finish her private college education (foolish, in my opinion). I didn't realize those even existed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Even loans are stingier than they used to be

When I was in school in the early 1970s, you could get a loan that was 10% forgiveable for each year that you spent in the military, the Peace Corps, VISTA, or as a schoolteacher. If you taught school in a designated poverty area, your loan was forgiveable 20% for each year you stayed there. In effect, you could get free college by teaching in a poverty area for five years.

Furthermore, there were more outright grants.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. Even state schools are more expensive than before

When I went to the University of Minnesota in the late 1960s, full-time tuition for a commuting student was $125 a term, or 100 times the minimum wage. Now it's $3,794, or 736 times the minimum wage. Compare the feasibility of working one's way through college at 100+ hours per term and 736+ hours per term.

This is the fault of Republican-dominated state legislatures, who follow Milton Friedman's philosophy that low tuition makes students not appreciate their education. (He arrived at this conclusion by comparing the dropout rates at state schools versus private schools.) The Friedman notion was that (1) schools should charge high tuition and (2) use it to subsidize scholarships. That's kind of a crazy way of increasing access to higher education, especially since item (2) has been largely neglected. They've raised tuition but not used the money to fund scholarships.

Furthermore, the ONLY "free" source of financial aid these days is ROTC scholarships. Guess where those lead.

[KamaAina]

57. Ha! I would've made Friedman rewrite his essay!

And I have only a BA, albeit Yale '85 cum laude!

(He arrived at this conclusion by comparing the dropout rates at state schools versus private schools.)

Milton, did it occur to you that the lower dropout rates at private schools might stem from the fact that they selectively admit only those whose privileged backgrounds have prepared them to succeed in college?

See me after class. :dunce:

[Zodiak]

59. Lydia is right

the "Friedman Report" was disseminated amongst the administration here at Ohio State a couple of years ago. Since then, tuition has been raised so much that the NEW Democratic governor is proposing capping it.

Republican governors do a lot of damage to educational systems.

[Horse with no Name]

47. They have those for healthcare professionals

You just have to agree to practice in a designated area for a few years and your loans will be forgiven (at least here in Texas).

[madrchsod]

9. the rest of the world is passing us by.

oh well, all empires have their day in the sun.

[Red Zelda]

10. Don't worry ...

I'm sure the NFL, NBA and Major League baseball will step in and help them all.
Yep.

[Jim Warren]

12. HEW........Health, Educatiion and Welfare

Remember that? It's like a foreign concept now. Foreign as in Norway.

WTF is wrong with this country that it can't recognize the implications of this?

The social safety net drowned in the bathtub; the concept of commonwealth morphed into police state.
Health care costs through the roof; answerable only to corporate bottom line.
Higher education now privilege.

I remember wishing in 1992, after 12 years of reagan-bush, that Clinton would simply address just three issues: HEW, rather than lose focus and be all over the map.

2000 with another bushie:::::forget about it!

A recent report by the Gates Foundation found that only one in three students entering high school will obtain a college degree. Perhaps not so shockingly, for America's low-income youth the number drops to one in seven.

1 in 3 and 1 in 7! Do we realize what the time frame is here for the implications of this to be realized and the negative downward spiral we are about to encounter?

[Telly Savalas]

37. It'd be nice if there was a party at the federal level which would make this their agenda.

[HereSince1628]

13. Not every college gives access to the poor but every poor person

can find access somewhere. That's based on all my experience across my post-Vietnam life. It may actually be truer now than ever.

This is a big country, with more than 2500 institutions of higher education. Many of those schools have internal scholarships based on "funny money" & philanthropic giving. Student loans are available to most who apply. No Valedictorian need go without higher education because a few schools are too expensive.

Valedictorians may not get access to the school of their dreams, but fulfillment of their dreams through other routes may, in the end, give them access to most everything else.

A detour around schools for the financially elite still leaves great educations to be had throughout the country for academically strong students.

[Horse with no Name]

21. My point exactly.

Thank you.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. The article mentions formal studies showing how much harder it is now than it was say 20 years ago.

When I applied to college it was at the height of funding for low income students. The maximum BEOG grant amount (the program that was later rolled into the Pell Grant) was enough to pay for about one fifth of the cost of an education at a good private college and about 1/7 the cost of attending an Ivy-League school. Combining that with NDSL (flat rate of interest at 3%) and GSL (rate of interest capped at 8%) and work study loans, lower income youth had a broad range of colleges within their reach. That is just not the case today. Unless your state university system has generous scholarships you may not be able to find any college that is affordable, never mind one with a quality education. Part time while working full time is often the only way to make it work and even then it's difficult because you need to find classes at times that don't conflict with your job. The obstacles seem insurmountable to kids who come from families where college is not a tradition. It's much easier to go get a job and hope for the best.

[HereSince1628]

69. If you can give me the name of a Valedictorian who can't finance college

I'm willing to help solve that problem.

Please just send me a PM with contact info for the student and the parent.

[Gormy Cuss]

74. That's a generous offer but the broader issue is at the governmental policy level.

Should we, as a nation, support the potential of students who are smart and talented and poor, or is it in the best interests of our country from an social and economic viewpoint to make the effort to produce more of our own engineers, scientists, medical professionals, etc. rather than relying on the global market? In the current environment the notion seems to be buying or rent educated professionals from around the world is preferred to giving a hand up to the homegrown talent.

When valedictorians in Boston, a city with several dozen institutions of higher learning within day student range, can't find a way to afford college there is something seriously amiss.

From the article, one finding of the economic impact of letting those lower income students fall out of the education system after high school:
A report released by the US Department of Education explained that significantly narrowing the gap between college-going rates of the highest- and lowest-income students would add approximately $250 billion to the gross domestic product.

The sad part of it IMO is that we WERE providing the opportunities to a greater number of students not so long ago. When I applied to college there were ways to make it work for even the lowest income students. We may not have had the privilege of going to the college of our choice, but we had the choice to go to college.

[NashVegas]

14. The Education Industry Is a Farce, Anyhow

Many of the $20k-$100k specialized "degrees" we force young people to compete for being are little more than high-stakes vocational training. If they wish to be well-promoted or "Fast tracked" within a company, they'll need to return and take a broader course for an advanced degree in most professions.

All this so our corporations don't need to invest in training.

We had two interns from an ORD(?) (human-resources-type) program at a *major* university last fall. They were each required to work 32 hours per week, unpaid. That's right: 8 hours short of full-time employment, which *they* paid for.

I'd love to see next year's graduating class out-and-out boycott a college education for 2008-2009. Then we just might see tuition forced down to something reasonable.

[bigscott]

15. my alma mater

is up to $35,000 per year - $140,000 for 4 years - I graduated 25 years ago with $6000 in debt and I thought that was a lot. My son will not be so fortunate and I have been saving my ass off for 14 years. But as my ex says (she is a teacher) "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance" Sad but truer every day

[Jim Warren]

17. Education Industry

Health care industry.

That's the problem, isn't it?

[Horse with no Name]

16. That is one nice thing about Texas

They have a Valedictorian scholarship. Any Valedictorian graduating in Texas gets a scholarship to go to any State funded college.
http://www.window.state.tx.us/scholars/aid/txval.html

[gatorboy]

23. This story can get more recommendations?

If you want to know what's wrong with this country, look no further than this story. Even the smartest & brightest cannot get a proper education to improve their lives. Only the richest.

[corkhead]

27. Too bad for them, they should have inherited more.

oh, and in case you need it... :sarcasm:

[KG]

34. in some countries, post secondary education is free. time for the US to join

the rest of the civilized world.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. In the countries where university education is free,

admission is restricted to the most academically capable, and that is as it should be. No reason that the Bushboy and his ilk should go to Yale just because their parents have money while some ghetto youth with real academic talent should have to work his way through community college.

I'd love to see a system in which academic college was free but restricted to students with real academic interests while the rest, including the rich, were sent into vocational training of some sort.

And I agree with one of the posters above who said that too much vocational training takes place in colleges. You didn't used to be able to take college majors in Leisure Studies or Human Resources Management or Fashion Merchandising, each of which could easily be a two-year vocational degree.

Even the requirements for specific majors is bogus, outside a few highly specialized scientific and engineering fields. It all started about 25 years ago (like a lot of undesirable trends in this country), and I believe that the purpose was to funnel students OUT of liberal arts majors, where they learned to think critically, and into business administration and finance majors, where they learned Republican "free market" ideology for the most part.

In 1972, when I graduated, people from every major were getting interviews with every conceivable kind of company. The word was that taking an accounting course gave you a leg up, but otherwise, large businesses were happy to hire English, history, music, and psychology majors. An alumna of one of the colleges I taught at, a French major, was hired for management training by a major department store because they were impressed with her story of going to France on her own and finding a job as a hotel maid. They thought it showed initiative, and she won out over, as she put it, "marketing majors who had been treasurers of their sorority."

But that was then.

Now we have what one writer has called "credentialism." It doesn't matter how talented you are; you have to have that piece of paper that certifies you as having sat through a certain number of courses. Interviewers won't even consider someone who doesn't have the proper paperwork, no matter how much aptitude that person has for a particular position.

Basically, they want to minimize their training costs.

[HughBeaumont]

50. War is profitable. Helping people isn't.

Where's the return business on sheltering and feeding the needy?

Where's the profit of schooling kids that are eventually gonna be too expensive and too demanding compared to their overseas counterparts?

This is why there's ALWAYS money for war: because in a defense corporation's eyes, you can't bomb ENOUGH brown people!

[porphyrian]

36. I guessed "unemployment," so I was close. - n/t

[Selatius]

41. You're better off raising your kids under the French or German education system

If your kids make the grade, at least they won't have the burden of knowing they will have to go into debt to graduate. Over there, tuition is subsidized by taxpayer dollars as a form of social investment, an investment in their future.

[BlooInBloo]

45. Who cares? Americans don't value knowledge in the least.

[hvn_nbr_2]

49. You don't need a college education to flip burgers and stock shelves at Wal-Mart

Those are the only jobs they intend to have left for Americans, so what's the big deal?
:mad: :grr: :argh: :nuke:

Oh, I almost forgot. Education can actually be more than preparation to serve corporations. Goodness, the purpose of human life on earth might actually be more than to serve corporations. So, I repeat:
:mad: :grr: :argh: :nuke:

[debbierlus]

56. Well, there aren't any jobs for them anyway...

Doesn't take much to say...'Welcome to Walmart'...

Sorry, I know that is really defeatist - but MAN.

[sadiesworld]

60. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy for Gates...

give it a few more years and he'll actually have a point when he says we need cheap foreign labor b/c US citizens aren't qualified.

[bluestateguy]

61. A college education should be considered a RIGHT for a good student who earns good grades

It's a loss for all of us when talented students lack the resources to continue their education. What a loss for America.

Instead, our colleges are filling up with mediocre students of the rich elite who get by in life through good looks and "connections".

It's time to dispose of legacy admissions and provide free college education for excellent students who have earned it.

[krkaufman]

63. Aristocracy over Meritocracy. Been moving this way since Reagan. n/t

[Nikia]

65. Their guidance counselors should do a better job

Of idenitfying colleges with good track records of meeting poor students' financial needs. Several competitive colleges including Ivies offer good fincial need based scholarships. There are also some less competitive colleges which offer good academic scholarships to students who have a high level of academic achievement.
I always wanted to go to college so I thoroughly researched this since I was getting reduced lunches my senior year of high school. I am still paying off my government subsidized loans but I was able to pay my part of tuition, room, and board working full time during the summer and pay for my books and other micellaneous expenses working less than 10 hours per week during the academic year. Despite the fact that I was able to find this out of myself, I still charge guidance counselors to do this because many students get discouraged.

[MountainLaurel]

68. Absolutely, but I doubt it will happen

When I was in high school getting ready for college, in the late 80s, the "counselors" were too busy dealing with disciplinary problems, their administrative duties (one was assistant principal, of a school with 1400+ students), and students who needed intensive services like home tutors (had to get those pregnant girls out of school ASAP). Also, I think the counselors assumed that if anyone in our school was going to college (and maybe 1/4 of all graduates did), they were going to the state college 10 miles away. No information was provided about schools out of state. I figure the students who managed to escape the state did all of the research on their own, usually because they had clued-in parents or older brothers and sisters who had gone before them. Because a lot of us were the first in our families to go to college, we did not know what resources were out there or where to look for them.

Hell, my brother's high school guidance counselor did not realize that in our state he could go to college for FREE because he is legally disabled and had the appropriate GPA. It was an advisor in the athletic department where he had received a partial scholarship who provided that information, a couple weeks before the semester started.

[eridani]

67. College access was at a peak when I was that age

We have badly failed our kids for not maintaining that.

[tom_paine]

70. Unquestionably we are becoming a Third World Country

[ironflange]

71. Serves them right

Why should they get scholarships if they can't throw a football through a tire 40 yards away?



(Yes, this is :sarcasm:)

[GeorgeGist]

73. Just another sign that the American experiment ...

is based on false hypotheses. For one, America had only founding fathers; no mothers were allowed.

[northzax]

76. yeah, right

i call bullshit without names. do they really expect anyone to believe that a minority who is valedictorian of their public high school can't get a ride somewhere? you're telling me that in a city of 20 colleges and universities or so, every single one of them desperate to increase their minority enrollment, not one wants to take a valedictorian on a ride? This particular issue is not a problem with access to education money, it is a problem of bad college counseling at the high school level.

[rug]

78. The expense of college is even less fathomable than the cost of health care.

[lonestarnot]

80. There's yer bushitler no child left behind bushit for ya.

[piesRsquare]

81. Hey! That policy is working perfectly!

If no child gets ahead, then no child is left behind!

:sarcasm: