Or it’s possible that you can drop out of a first-tier school like Harvard, start Microsoft or Facebook and be worth billions. BILLIONS. Or you can drop out of a lowered-tier school and be the Governor of a State and run for President.
I have a question about military colleges. Are those part of our defense budget? Or does education pay for them?
I don’t see this plan affecting private colleges as much as some have suggested. K-12 is free here, and highly rated, yet the Maryland suburbs are flush with parents willing to spend $35k+ per year on private schools.
I agree.
Despite being free, Maryland has a graduation rate of around 85%. Making state college TUITION-free (not overall free, since still need housing, food and supplies), is not the right focus if we already lost so many people not even getting a HS degree.
The military academies are part of the DoD budget. ROTC scholarships are the same.
The DoD also has some scholarships where a student can apply, with the contract that they will work for the DoD a certain number of years. They have to find a sponsoring agency I think, and it is certain STEM fields only. Co ops / internships over the summers mandatory.
I think the CIA also has similar scholarships.
My point, @skyoverme, is that students are allowed (and sometimes encouraged) to incur debt which they may not be able to repay in a timely manner, or perhaps at all. When banks tried this with home loans (remember “liar loans” where applicants didn’t have to prove their income or assets?), we had the financial crisis.
I don’t think we’ll see a sudden crash as in the GFC, but I do think we’ll have a lot of adults struggling to pay off loans from many years earlier. We already do.
But, when Sanders gets elected and gets this passed, no worries for anyone, right? 
Can’t beat “free!”
How have I missed hearing about this? This appears to be a fabulous program. Benefits include:
- Free tuition
- Stipend of $25K-$38K
- Guaranteed job placement after graduation
What’s not to like? We don’t need the financial aid, but maybe I will just push my kids towards this so I can blow their college fund on nice cars and vacations. :))
Website is smart.asee.org.
I think it’s a great idea, but there has to be a continuation of satisfactory academic progress requirements.
Student debt undermines economic growth. States cover a lot less of the cost of public higher education than they used to. There was a time when students could earn their tuition over the summer. Now it’s nigh impossible.
Opposition to this is reminiscent of opponents to the GI Bill. Yet that policy built the American middle class.
@scholarme, you weren’t suppose to let the cat out of the bag until my daughter got her scholarship.
@hebegebe, when I was in college and once we got our ROTC scholarship, we asked each other what our/their parents went out and bought since they were no longer paying tuition. Cars were the number one choice with the occasional boat.
@dadoftwingirls
At first glance, this appears even better than the ROTC scholarships as this is a civilian job afterwards rather than in the military. I greatly admire the people in the armed forces, but the parent in me wants to keep my children out of harm’s way.
@dadoftwingirls good luck to your D!
Iirc, she has to enrol as a freshman first before she can apply, correct?
That is what I read. So at most it is a 3 year scholarship.
@hebegebe, I was only commenting on what our parents bought after we got ROTC scholarships.
The time requirement is less for the SMART program. It is one year working for a federal agency for each year they pay. What wasn’t mentioned was the 10 week summer internship that is required at one DOD location.
It is DOD and they do deploy civilians. I work at an army post and the workforce here is mostly civilians to the point I am the minority as a person in uniform. They have a meeting room named after a civilian that was killed overseas.
The danger is less but the DOD civilians work alongside their military counterparts overseas on military bases in hostile areas. I don’t want you to have your child take the scholarship, start working a great job at a DOD location and then be surprised when they are deployed overseas to a dangerous area. Even thought there wasn’t any shooting, how comfortable would you be to find out your child was in Africa helping with the Ebola response.
another benefit is that a person could be stationed overseas at a DOD facility. So it is possible to be stationed in Europe or Asia and work on a military post.
Here is another program but we can’t talk about it. Don’t talk about it as they are watching us. Trust no one (cue music)
https://www.nsa.gov/careers/opportunities_4_u/students/stokes.shtml
Benefits
•Tuition and mandatory fees of up to $30,000 per year at the college of your choice
•Housing and travel entitlements available during summer employment (if the distance between NSA and the school exceeds 75 miles)
•Year-round salary
•Guaranteed continued employment with NSA after graduation
•Receive annual and sick leave and paid federal holidays
•Health and life insurance
•Participation in federal retirement plans
Qualifications for High School Students - You must major in computer science or computer/electrical engineering and meet the following requirements:
•Must be a U.S. citizen
•Must be eligible to be granted a security clearance
•A high school senior at the time of application
•A minimum SAT/College Board score of 1600 (1100 Critical Reading and Math, 500 in Writing) or ACT of 25
•A GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale is preferred
•Demonstrated leadership abilities
Computer Science
NSA computer scientists work in such areas as applications programming, computer security and graphics, and the design and implementation of software involving database management systems, real-time systems, networking and distributed processing systems.
Computer or Electrical Engineering
The challenges and experiences in these areas range from pure and applied research, design, development and testing to project management and systems analysis. You will be involved in projects that focus on communication systems, computer security and networking, microprocessor applications, software engineering and optics.
@scholarme, in case you hadn’t seen this one. Tell no one as they are watching us.
Not that I support this proposal in any way whatsoever, but one thing it fails to take into account is the drop out rate. In states where there is some kind of a program for lower tuition (ex: Wyoming’s Hathaway) the drop out rate is absurdly high. Kids who shouldn’t go to college do because it’s very cheap and they don’t really know what they want to do. They just end up dropping out, which is a waste of their time, the professors’ time and the system’s time.
That sounds like a very interesting opportunity. Thanks for informing us of it; I might actually look into it.
I will not even toy with this idea until it hits congress’s desk.
I haven’t read the entire thread but does anyone else think it ironic that Sanders’ home state, Vermont, has among the highest in state tuitions in the country?