<p>JOE CAMPANELLI AND BOB GIANNINO-RACINE
Sending our kids to college</p>
<p>By Joe Campanelli and Bob Giannino-Racine | May 11, 2007</p>
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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.
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<p>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.
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What became of the valedictorians priced out of their college dreams?
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<p>Many of them end up at community college.</p>
<p>Also, there needs to be a way to emancipate some of these kids. I know that's hard to do without people taking advantage of it - but really, too many have moms (and a few dads) that just will not fork over FAFSA info. A lot of that has to do with Social Services issues, child support payment trouble, questionable immigration status of the parents, and lots of other government distrust or trouble.</p>
<p>There is missing information in that article.</p>
<p>For lowest income students, Pell = 4050/yr.
Subsidized low-interest Stafford = ~2700/yr
In NJ, Tuition Aid Grants = up to 6000/yr
(I don't know MASS FA, but I assume they have some similar program)</p>
<p>That doesn't even account for Work study, Perkins Loans (also very lo interest), and institutional grants.</p>
<p>The students I know where I work are almost all low income, and none of them are vals, or close to it. Getting through is not easy for them, much harder than for middle class students, but they do.</p>
<p>So something in this story, as presented in this editorial, does not add up.</p>
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[quote]
Third, put an end to the shift to merit-based aid at the expense of need-based in the universities -- a disturbing trend that has left many impoverished families receiving less financial aid than the most privileged students. As need-based aid rose 41 percent nationally during the 1990s, merit aid spiked more than 200 percent, according to the National Association of State Financial Aid Administrators. Since 1993, the number of wealthy students (top quarter of incomes) receiving aid at private colleges has grown at more than five times the rate of the number of needy students (bottom quarter of income).
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<p>In the meantime, the real culprit that is rampant and unabated rise in the cost of education remains mostly unanswered in all phases of the sector. As long as schools find loose strings to everyone's purse, you won't see them try to do more with less ... and trim the fat and the dead wood.</p>
<p>I looked at the Massachusetts FA website, and they have a variety of grant and scholarship programs. But, in light of the article, this one caught my eye:</p>
The Valedictorian Program Tuition Waiver is designed to attract and enroll Massachusetts's high school students who have been designated as valedictorians. The Program allows a high school valedictorian to become eligible to receive a waiver of tuition at any public higher education institution in Massachusetts. Since it opened, the program has predominantly supported the University of Massachusetts University Scholars Program.
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<p>Like I said before, paying for college is difficult for low income student, and getting in and graduating are, too. But articles like this perpetuate the idea that low income kids can't get money for college, so why bother trying, and it just isn't true. Ultimately, I think it can be damaging.</p>
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but really, too many have moms (and a few dads) that just will not fork over FAFSA info. A lot of that has to do with Social Services issues, child support payment trouble, questionable immigration status of the parents, and lots of other government distrust or trouble.
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I suspect this is a HUGE problem and why those that may be eligible, never get to the aid.</p>
<p>In our state, even when low-income students get into the state flagship, and have tuition waived, they still can't afford to go - even with loans. This is because many of them have to work to contribute to the upkeep of their own families. Indebtedness on top of that, in many cases, simply isn't a viable option. At the flagship, tuition is only around $5,500, but total cost of attendance is around $18k. So $50k in loans on top of contributing income back to the family just isn't a viable option for some.</p>
<p>$50k at 7.5% interest (if you can get it, which is increasingly rare) over 10 years works out to $593.51 a month for ten years. At a payback rate of 10% of income, it would require an income averaging $71,221 a year for the first 10 years out of college. That salary would be the equivalent in our state of a state departmental supervisor overseeing 30 or more employees (and getting the job without an advanced degree!). It simply isn't realistic. Under those terms, college is by any measure a poor economic investment.</p>
<p>Well, agreed, Mini. I'm assuming not living at school to make it workable for some. Not ideal, but still leaves one with a college education. </p>
<p>Most of mine work and take out loans. Some get enough aid to live on campus, some don't. It's not perfect, and i'd like to see it better for them, but the fact is, they are here, getting an education (in fact a private school one.) I still think there has to be more to this story; there is money for val's, not just tuition waivers.</p>
<p>Oh, of course. I see them at the community college all the time. In fact, the situation you describe is the norm - the average age of an undergraduate in the U.S. is 24.5 years old. All those 18-year-olds headed off to college are the exception, not the rule. My wife worked nights and weekends while going three years full-time to pick up the pre-reqs and then through two years of an RN program. It worked because I work, and could take care of the kids as needed. For a single parent, I can't imagine it.</p>
<p>If I were king (I don't believe in kings), I'd probably keep merit aid at public institutions, but eliminate it for anyone under age 22.</p>
<p>Yeah, it's the norm, Mini, but it's not just at CC's. As i said, we're a private four-year, and kids like these fill many of the state four-year publics, too. They may not finish in four years (some do, some don't) but most are coming in here traditional aged. So that's why I think the situation described in the above article is more complicated than what is depicted.</p>
<p>The data spread for four-year graduation rates at state u's closely parallels income. Want to know which ones have the highest rankings? It's simple: find those with the highest four-year grad rate? Want to find those with the highest grad rate? Also simple: find those with the highest median income.</p>
<p>It is much more complicated than depicted. I just wished they would do more profiling of what "average" college students look like. It ain't vals and sals, and they aren't anything close to 18 years old.</p>
<p>The world has changed. My parents had no financial help from their parents - there was none to give.</p>
<p>My mother was a 7th daughter and only the 2nd to graduate from HS in her family. Were he sisters lazy? No. They had to go to work full time before HS was finished. My mother had just turned 16 when she graduated and received a full tuition offer from a somewhat local college. She could not take it because she could not afford the room and board. Instead, she had to get a job.</p>
<p>My father graduated HS just before his 17th birthday. He got in to MIT twice and could not afford to go there. Instead he had to take a year off to earn enough money to go to Northeastern with their co-op plan. His schooling was interrupted by WWII, and when he got back, and got married - even with the GI bill and my mother's income - he still couldn't afford MIT - so he went back to NU.</p>
<p>Somehow they managed to well enough to pay in full for three children to go to college and graduate school.</p>
<p>This subject is near and dear to my heart right now. I have a friend in my life who was the val of his class, 34 ACT, and with a "complicated home life", it's so difficult for him. I'm trying as hard as I can to provide advice on how he can get to a 4 year university.</p>
<p>He's 23 years old and has been taking classes at his local community college. He's so bored, the classes are not challenging for him at all. His GPA at CC is a 4.0, he really is a high acheiver. His family life is so complicated and he's supporting his mother, not the other way around.</p>
<p>This is the first year that he has been declared an independent student. Last year he made a grand total of $17,000, he's living with his sister but paying rent and a car payment. As you can imagine he's not living the high life and his EFC was $4,000. He just received his package from the local university and all they offered him were loans. Argggh, I want to scream.</p>
<p>Adding to everything, of course he hasn't had great counseling about how to manage things and no support at home. Imagine your kids trying to circumvent the system without any help. </p>
<p>I'm crossing my fingers, he's applied to his dream university after I did a web search and found that they offer quite a few transfer scholarships from community college. I'm hoping that they will come up with enough money that he will be able to get out of the situation that he's in and into the program that he wants to major in.</p>
<p>These kids do exist. I just hope in this one case, I can make a difference. This kid really deserves it.</p>
<p>My son as a teenager attended a summer arts program in downtown Chicago. The program is supported by corporate donors, and championed by the Mayor's wife. The kids are paid for their participation.
Paying them made no sense to the elites in my neighborhood. They didn't understand that poor kids have to MAKE money during the summer. For them, free was NOT "good enough".</p>
<p>In my state, Vermont, all vals get offered the Green and Gold full tuition scholarship to University of Vermont. My kid got that. Also as val, she was offered a full ride to St. Michael's College in our state and was actually allowed to pass that offer down to the next person in line (not so with the UVM full ride). BTW, she had not planned on applying to either school...these were automatic offers without applying. So, vals do not that have problem here. However, I care about more than vals. </p>
<p>If someone IS a top student, they should be able to apply to schools some tiers down and be an excellent candidate for a very large merit scholarship. </p>
<p>None of this is easy for those without means or without support with the process but I think there are ways and paths to an education for all.</p>
<p>Deb922, tell your friend to check out the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship for undergrad transfer students. It's specifically for those transferring from community college to a four-year university.</p>
<p>"In my state, Vermont, all vals get offered the Green and Gold full tuition scholarship to University of Vermont."</p>
<p>According to the UVM website, if one received a full tuition scholarship, it would still cost more than $12k a year to attend. So the $50k over four years in loans is about right.</p>
<p>How many low-income Vermont residents who attend and manage to graduate from UVM, and then don't take out more loans to go to grad school, average an income of more than $71k their first 10 years out of college?</p>
<p>I don't buy this story, either. Besides government programs, I've come across hundreds of scholarships that are need-based . Applying for them is a lot of work, but the $$ is there. And mini, there is even free childcare offered at state colleges for needy single moms. I agree with Garland. It will be challenging, but it is possible. Living at home, a few loans, whatever it takes.</p>