So during high school, I have seen several kids who have just mediocre GPA, mediocre SAT/ACT, mediocre ECs, mediocre everything, and go to state colleges. They would complain about that how their parents wouldn’t pay for their educations, and I was somewhat on their sides until I realized that it would be no good to pay full cost them if the kids won’t do hard work as they barely did in high school. For example, my sister’s ex boyfriend had to take out loans, work and rely on FAFSA because their parents weren’t convinced that he did well enough to deserve their full supports.
However, my sister’s friend in OSU is VERY smart and hard working, and comes from a rich family but his parents would NOT pay a cent for his education! He is now struggling to work and study at the same time, and it pained me to hear his circumstances. Also, because of his parents’ income(really rich), he barely got any financial aid. He may have gotten some merit scholarships, but 1000$ is far from enough, is it? Also, funny thing is that his parents support his two siblings who are totally incorrigible delinquents.
What is wrong with these kinds of parents? Don’t they care about their children’s futures when it’s clear that their children would be very successful if given proper support? I try to see any reasoning behind it, but I have failed so far.
How do colleges deal with kids in this predicament? Do they just say, " Sorry but your parents are too rich"?
It is hard to say without knowing the full story. If they are “really rich”, they would probably not have received any financial aid at all, so they may not have as much money as you think. It is also possible that they did not plan ahead for college costs and that their money is tied up in a business or other place where it is not available.
Colleges can’t do anything. If they gave extra money to a kid because wealthy parents said they wouldn’t pay, then every parent would start refusing to pay to get more money from the school. I knew a family like this - they weren’t wealthy, but they could have helped their kids. However, they felt since they put themselves through school, their kids should be able to do the same. They just didn’t realize - or want to realize - how college costs have skyrocketed and how hard it is to work your way through college these days.
It’s not fair to the kids, but who should be responsible for payment? And sometimes circumstances mean you have to make compromises, like commuting from home, starting at a community college, going to school part-time while working.
Maybe I am extrapolating too much here, but surely if your friend is so brilliant, they could have gotten some merit aid based on test scores and GPA? State colleges do have scholarships, maybe not for everything, but probably at least some of tuition.
He goes to Oregon State U, and unfortunately the biggest merit scholarship is only 9k, I think…not sure if he has gotten it.
Freshmen are only allowed to borrow a maximum of $5500 for a year. So, he either had to pay a lot of money out of his own savings or his parents really did pay for part of his schooling.