The Warring States of NPF - Paying for College

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Paying for College

A couple stories came out today that got my attention:

Financial Aid Can't Keep Up With College Tuition
The result, two reports say, is that enrollment and graduation rates hinge on family income.

Quote:

As tuition across the nation continues to outpace gains in financial aid, students' chances of attending college and finishing with a degree increasingly are linked to their families' income, the College Board reported Tuesday.

The nonprofit group, in releasing two reports on college costs and financial aid, noted big gaps in graduation rates even among students who had high test scores.

Those from families with the highest income and education levels finished college at more than double the rate of high-scoring students from the lowest socioeconomic grouping.

Sandy Baum, a College Board analyst, said the data showed that college completion increasingly was "not about academic preparation; it's about money."

Not including room, board and books, the tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose this year by a national average of about 7%, to $5,491.

(University of California fees this year average $6,769 for resident undergraduates, and the Cal State system charges on average $3,102 for state residents.)

Private four-year schools raised their tuition by an average of about 6%, to $21,235, the group reported.

The increase in public college tuition was smaller than the double-digit increases of the last two years, when numerous states experienced budget strains and passed more costs on to students.

Private college tuition increased at about the same rate as the previous year.

Average total charges nationwide this year, including room and board, are $12,127 for public colleges and $29,026 for private schools.

Financial aid did not keep pace with tuition increases this year, continuing a trend, the reports said. The average net tuition and fees � the price paid after financial aid is awarded � was $11,600 for private college students, up from an inflation-adjusted $9,500 a decade ago. Public college net tuition and fees averaged $2,200, increasing from a real price of $1,900 a decade ago.

House Republicans struggle to find spending cuts

Quote:

Republicans struggled on Wednesday to gain support for another round of domestic spending cuts, leaving uncertain the fate of legislation that was to have been debated on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

"We'll bring the first part of our package ... to the floor when we have 218 votes," said Rep. Roy Blunt (news, bio, voting record), the Missouri Republican who has temporarily replaced indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Blunt was referring a bill that Republican leaders had hoped to pass in the House on Thursday to cut mandatory federal programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and student loans, by $50 billion over the next five years, instead of the previously planned $35 billion.

The bit about the public schools seems particularly cruel - first the cash-strapped states dump the burden of funding education onto the students, who then have to acquire greater and greater levels of debt. And now, even that route seems up for the chopping block.

It certainly doesn't say much for America's claims to meritocracy.

Sort of a "not my problem anymore" factor to this for myself (except for the matter of some still-outstanding loans requiring payment), but I'm pretty sure there's one or two academians about who might find this of interest.

Any of y'all feeling the squeeze?

I chose a local state university over a private university due to money. Sure it would be nice to have a degree from a "name brand" or even an ivy league, but I don't want to lose a decade of my life paying back loans.

I'd like to see some reasons as for WHY prices are rising EVERYWHERE. I have a few theories, but I'd like solid facts on the matter; not that it would change anything, but just to know why..

That's a bitch it's not about how smart you are it's about how much money you got wow, have we gone off the path.

Scolarships are good things. I'm very fortunante in the fact that college tuition isn't a HUGE issue with me, but I still hope to get a good scolarship.

Zero, that's not totally true, but it's pretty close.

I WOULD like to know why prices are soaring up, that implies infllation, right? So... why isn't anything being done about the inflation?

Funny fact: the best predictor of who'll become a doctor or a lawyer is not IQ, but financial status.
It's my understanding that tuition fees are quite a bit higher in the US (they certainly were for the one university I checked out in New York) compared with Canada, but here I'm in the pleasant condition of paying for my schooling myself. It's fun and I get to work 12 hour shifts in a factory for 4 months out of the year, which pays for tuition all on its own.

Incidentally, Queen's University is cheap. If I had gone to Ottawa instead I would have a $10,000 scholarship right now. As it stands: not so much.

Wow, this is just too good not to include here:

Wal-Mart heiress in cheat probe returns diploma
Former roommate says she did homework for $20,000

Quote:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Elizabeth Paige Laurie's name was on a sports arena when a former University of Southern California roommate alleged the Wal-Mart heiress paid her $20,000 to do her homework. Now it isn't even on a USC diploma.

Laurie, the granddaughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton, has returned her degree, nearly a year after Elena Martinez told ABC's "20/20" that she had written term papers and done assignments for Laurie for three-and-a-half years.

"Paige Laurie voluntarily has surrendered her degree and returned her diploma to the university. She is not a graduate of USC," the school said in a statement dated September 30 but not widely disseminated until the school newspaper wrote about it late last week. "This concludes the university's review of the allegations concerning Ms. Laurie."

USC spokesman James Grant said Wednesday the university had no further comment. Laurie had been given a bachelor's degree by the USC Annenberg School for Communication in May 2004.

After the homework allegations surfaced last November, the University of Missouri changed the name of what was then Paige Sports Arena.

Laurie's billionaire parents, Bill and Nancy Laurie, had received naming rights in exchange for donating $25 million toward the building's construction. Nancy Laurie is Walton's daughter.

A call seeking comment from Bill Laurie at his Paige Sports Entertainment company was not immediately returned. The family has repeatedly declined to comment on the cheating allegation.

Martinez has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment.

At the time of the "20/20" broadcast, Martinez said she dropped out of USC because she couldn't afford the tuition. She said she learned a great deal by doing Laurie's class work.

I mean doesn't that basically sum it up right there?

The part I like better than everything else is that, even though she got caught, had her diploma yanked, and her name taken off the stadium, she's still a billionaire heiress.

Incidentally, have I mentioned that I hate the Waltons?

Yeah I know how this feels. My tuition went up another $1,000 this year and I believe it's suppose to go up even further next year. The reason they told us that tuition was going to cost more this year for my school was because all the other colleges were raising their tuition costs also. They wanted to stay on bar with the other schools which frankly makes no sense. Pricing for school is just getting ridiculous. I'm hoping to get out as fast as I can.

As the Snickers commercial said, "Join a cult...you know they don't pay any taxes?"

you seem like someone who wouldn't wacth much TV Dasmundus. Anywyas this is why I plan on getting A's in all my courses from here on out. I just began junior year so I hope If I get A's across the oard that and a merger of eagle scout and theatre elective will help me with a scholarship.

I've been living a monastic lifestyle for about a year and a half. Before that I was very much a nihilistic hedonist. I've watched a lot of TV and still have quite a few bad habits to get rid of, one of which is spending too much time online (ahh well...I AM trying to rework my time here into things to further my practice). But you're right, I haven't seen a TV show in over a year, and frankly I don't miss any of it. I just think that funny because my tradition has a stigma in the US of being a cult - that and it is true that as an official religion we don't pay taxes.