[xzins]

If I pay taxes to it, I should be allowed to gain some benefit from it.

There's a difference between Harvard, a private school, and Ohio State, a taxpayer supported school. The first can have just about any exclusive entry rule it wants. The second must come up with some kind of entry policy that recognizes that everyone in Ohio has contributed to the school's upkeep and should have X chance of getting in.

The school should be allowed to do some things for its own benefit that make money....giving a scholarship to a top quarterback who will bring in millions in gate receipts and help fund music, sports, and other programs.

Other than that there should be a list of applicants....those who are fully qualified and would probably graduate, and those who are not qualified and probably won't make it to graduation. The first INDIVIDUAL hurdle then is to qualify oneself to be on the fully qualified list.

The fully qualified list should be run as a lottey and if 5000 names are needed, then 5000 names should be pulled randomly.

[Jim Noble]

>>If I pay taxes to it, I should be allowed to gain some benefit from it. There's a difference between Harvard, a private school, and Ohio State, a taxpayer supported school. The first can have just about any exclusive entry rule it wants. The second must come up with some kind of entry policy that recognizes that everyone in Ohio has contributed to the school's upkeep and should have X chance of getting in.<<

First of all, your benefit is that the State of Ohio gets a shot at retaining some smart, educated people who might otherwise move to Indiana.

Secondly, it is wrong to demand a personalized benefit ("having x chance of getting in"). If you are qualified, you do have "x" chance of getting in. If you aren't, you have "y" chance of getting in.

The debate is about whether there are any reasonable non-zero values of "y".

I would say no.