Posted on 12/30/2006 9:40:26 AM PST by shrinkermd
COLLEGE COSTS can be daunting. A year at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst costs Massachusetts residents more than $17,000. A year at a private college can run more than $45,000. At those prices, some students fall into a tuition gap. Even with financial aid, they do not have enough money to pay all their college bills, according to a report from the state's Board of Higher Education.
In Massachusetts, the average size of that gap is $4,500 -- a cold reminder that having money matters.
Some wealthy schools provide relief. At Harvard, families with earnings of $60,000 or less are not asked to pay any of the bills.
Despite these efforts, the fact remains that college is expensive.... and those students may be hounded by collection agencies and further buried under punitive fees.
The board of education is calling for more help from the proverbial village: government, business, and foundations....
In its fiscal 2008 budget request, the board seeks to expand the MassGrant program for low-income students by $154 million: $79 million would go to low-income students and another $75 million would extend the program to middle-income families earning up to $70,000. A modest request for $100,000 would fund a study of the task force's recommendations for a student loan forgiveness program, and for offering a free community college education to eligible students.
The payoff could be huge. One test case is the Gates Millennium Scholars program. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the program paves a way to college for low-income minority students. They get "last dollar" scholarships to pay for costs that aren't covered by other scholarships or grants. Students are not required to take out loans or get work-study jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
With families with earnings of $60,001 or more expected to pay all of the bills for families with earning of $60,000 or less.
I hear that in California, the state had to pony up several million dollars because the professors can't keep their hands off the students.
I'm trying to get into an MA program, and even the "lesser" universities are pretty out there in terms of price. I'm trying to do it without loans, but geez!
"Trophy colleges and universities have a seller's market. They have the keys to the upper class kingdom and they sell these dearly.
I'm not so sure if that's the case any more. They are poisoning their own well.
Exactly.
"they are poisoning their own well"
I agree. I am sick of hearing how the cost of college is out of reach for kids these days. First, not everyone is suited to college. Secondly, as long as a kid does not insist on a "trophy" school, there are plenty of options available. In- state fees are pretty reasonable. Academic Scholarships are available at many small, private schools and only require a "B" average to maintain them.
Have read, in online Diversity/EO forums and such, that the aging hippies who totally dominate education are finally beginning to understand and regret the way that they've priced higher education out of the reach of the kids they want to "help" the most.
most who go to these trophy schools wind up as big lib/dem dopes!!!
I am not addressing the business schools...viv a vis wharton but rather the liberal arts programs/the black studies programs/the women studies programs.....these all prepare the students for profitable contributions to society...just look what it did for fat ted...he went to harvard!!!!!...well..kinda!!!
You can basically get the same education by going to a much lower-priced junior or technical college.
Ding, ding, ding! You get the cigar!!!
The same thing happened when gubmint started financing health care back in the 60's.
Stanford has a similar policy.
I didn't mean cost.
I mean that the students coming out of Ivy League schools these days are not well-educated, and do not have the skills employers are looking for.
Of course, the better ones can go to law and business school. But that's an additional-cost option.
You can send your kid to a community college for the first two years (ours have a scholarship so they go free), and then transfer to a 4-year college. Ideally you live in a city with colleges in town. Have the kid live at home for the remaining two years. Even if you buy them a car, it's still cheaper than paying for room and board - and the college student isn't living in those sewers that pass for dormitories these days.
If they complain, let them pay their own bills.
families with earnings of $60,000 or less are not asked to pay any of the bills.
Wow so the same people who get the grants are getting the free ride too. Not very many families make less that 60,000 dollars anymore especially with two incomes coming in. This looks nice but I wonder how many really qualify.
I looked into going back to a local private college to finish up a professional degree. (I am in my late 50s, but planned to enjoy a new part time career in a service field that needs extra practictioners.) It would have cost me $19K for two years in tuition for a Saturday only program. They said I could fund it with student loans. Sure- I am going to sign up for heavy debt in my semi-retirement years. (This is not a lucrative field.)
The public better rethink some of its tuition policies to encourage boomers to retrain. There aren't enough younger folk to fill the void and we are running out of public health nurses and other professionals.
The fee decrease - from $26 to $20 per unit - was approved this fall over concerns about falling enrollment in the state community college system.
"I will be able to pay for more classes and pay for them quickly I won't have to wait," said Orange Coast College student Josh Aden, who works about 35 hours a week as an assistant manager of a movie theater.
Enrollment at the state's 109 community colleges dropped from 1.16 million full-time students in 2002-2003, to 1.12 million in 2005-2006.
Fees rose from $11 to $26 over the past three years.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/breaking_news/16335594.htm
"With families with earnings of $60,001 or more expected to pay all of the bills for families with earning of $60,000 or less."
Don't forget the size of the endowment.
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