<p>Its stinks that my family can’t get any aid at a 50k school. Just 10k in aid would make it a lot easier to justify going to a private school.</p>
<p>Did you guys know that College at Sweden is free?</p>
<p>^ Eh. Can’t disagree with you there.</p>
<p>How about (the government that is, private institutions can do what they want) offering every student the option to take a loan with the interest rate the same as the inflation rate? That way, no one needs to get penalized for financial aid AND if they do that, they can use the money given in grants to lower the tuition rate at public colleges? Back in the day, my teacher told me that he was able to work over the summer and to go to an elite public college with a work/study program and graduate with little to no debt. There’s no way that’s possible today with 30k a year in tuition and $8.25 an hour jobs.</p>
<p>I think we definitely need ways to make public colleges affordable. If I ruled, that would be a priority for me. Hopefully, some of you college students will be part of the solution in the future.</p>
<p>mom2kids states “Taxguy…you’re mixing up federal aid with institutional aid. When a school gives its own aid, then “we” aren’t subsidizing anyone.”</p>
<p>Not quite accurate. A school like Harvard or Yale with huge endowments has managed to get tax free status for it’s endowments. Prior to 2006 they were using a very small part of it for financial aid. When congress threatened them with with drawl of the the tax free status for the endowments, they suddenly made major changes to their financial aid structures. But of course there are only probably a dozen or so schools with sizable endowments where this matters. Most of the time schools will jack the cost of tuition up for those who can afford it so that they can create a pool for scholarships.</p>
<p>Anyway one looks at it, it seems to create a set of strange incentives for saving or not saving for college education.</p>
<p>The only thing one can really do to make public schools cheaper is raise taxes…</p>
<p>^Save if you know your child is going to a state school with no financial aid and don’t save if you know your child is going to go to a private endowed school?</p>
<p>Just like Sweden has LOTS of problems with their socialized system, we cann’t subsidize everyone. It would be nice to be able to do so,but we can’t.</p>
<p>A basic principle of economics is about how we allocate limited resources. My prior post dealt with undergraduate education. I do feel that we should provide monies for needed occupations such as medicine and subsidize the needy for those few needed occupations. However, generally for most school, if somone can’t afford it, the government shouldn’t bail them out, as hard as that is to accept. If everyone paid cash for what they could afford, we would have a much better society and certainly much cheaper tuition.</p>
<p>Xaniamom, yes, you did get some subsidies. I don’t have a problem with LIMITED amounts of subsidies as long as they are very limited. We as a society can not afford to subsidize everyone 10s of thousands of dollars. We just can’t and don’t have the funds. If it takes someone like you to go to school a year or two longer due to a lack of subsidy, so be it.</p>
<p>Rocket6louise notes,"I come from a family where my mom and dad both work VERY hard. They carry no debt other than the house and my father’s hospital bills. There has been no possible way for them to save for college. They’ve been frugal but the extra inevitably goes to some kind of emergency. I’ve been working since I was 14, and couldn’t save as much as I’d like because I had things i HAD to pay for, like new clothes, college applications, and even groceries when money got tight. "</p>
<p>Response: My answer is tough luck. Yes, I know that sounds hard. Life isn’t fair. It never has been. I worked my way through school and worked every summer that I can remember to help pay for my undergrad and law school education. I HATED having to work by day and go to law school at night. It was VERY tough, but I did it.</p>
<p>We have a 14+ trillion dollar deficit and rising. I want that to sink it!
We cann’t afford to subsidize most people. We just don’t have the money.</p>
<p>My mom can’t save for me… she’s in school</p>
<p>@Scales:</p>
<p>Or take the money going into the bureaucracy and use it for other things? Do we really need 435 members of the house? Really? There’s not much you can get 435 people to agree on.</p>
<p>And like I said, the financial aid in grants can be used to subsidize tuition costs… for public schools that is.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>There’s no guarantee that the proceeds would go only towards college costs.</p>
<p>*it seems to create a set of strange incentives for saving or not saving for college education. *</p>
<p>You don’t really understand financial aid if you think that the people who don’t save for college magically get more financial aid.</p>
<p>Savings doesn’t count that much towards qualifying for aid.</p>
<p>And, people who can afford to save big for college are typically the people who wouldn’t qualify for aid (or much aid) anyway.</p>
<p>
[quote]
We have a 14+ trillion dollar deficit and rising.
[quote]
</p>
<p>14 trillion dollar DEBT. The deficit is closer to 1 trillion.</p>
<p>Do we really need 435 members of the house? Really? There’s not much you can get 435 people to agree on.</p>
<p>Uh…that’s federal. If you want STATES to better fund their colleges, then have the states do that.</p>
<p>And, yes, we do need local rep in the HoR. And, no one says you need 435 to agree…you only need a majority. And that would be just as difficult with 435 people or with 200 people or with 100 people (you don’t see all the senators agreeing on much, do you?)</p>
<p>the only thing you can really do is raise taxes… but I don’t want that to happen</p>
<p>Public schools work for most people; middle class families with children that are average. Your 1500-1800 SATs.The average Joe, basically. They usually can’t get into an elite private school like Rice, Northwestern etc. which would net them tons in financial aid, but are good enough to get into college.</p>
<p>Private schools work for other people, the wealthy and the brilliant.</p>
<p>The wealthy will pay more to get their child into an elite private school and that will effectively subsidize the brilliant kid that can’t afford to go to that school, but is a National merit finalist, 2300+ SAT, etc.</p>
<p>good thing I’m brilliant… hahaha</p>
<p>The problem is, what about the other 90% that are NOT brilliant nor wealthy.</p>
<p>Public Schools, that is.</p>
<p>true… raise the admission standards?</p>
<p>Well, for example, California has 50 representatives. If they had, oh even 25, per say, that would shrink the amount to 200-ish. Then, you have 200 less house members, 200 less people with tons of secretaries, airplane fees, etc. </p>
<p>Do the same with state governments.</p>