This is common hyperbole around these forums. The actual situation for many lower level courses at big universities is that a faculty member will give the main lecture, but there will be TAs for smaller discussion and lab sections.
It’s not luck. There are tons of online reviews, older students on campus, grad students, etc. all of whom can provide context about individual professors. Sometimes the famous scholars are also fantastic teachers (my kids had a bunch of those). Sometimes the non-famous scholars who aren’t a big deal in their field are fantastic teachers. And sometimes it’s worth taking a class you’re interested in even if the teacher is just a B+ because other students have said that he or she takes a phenomenal interest in students, may not be the world’s most interesting lecturer but is happy to pick up the phone to get students an interview for a job, a fellowship, or a job at a colleague’s research lab.
it’s not luck and it’s not random. Some kids float through college like they have no agency whatsoever- you actually get to pick your classes, you know. And in most cases, the name of the professor is clearly designated well ahead of time.
I agree with @blossom. There are so many ways for students to vet their profs before signing up for their courses. Aside from the “rate my prof” kind of sites, many schools do their own student surveys after each class that are accessible to other students.
And most “research universities” don’t have TAs giving lectures. They are used for recitations and labs, and some TAs are amazingly talented instructors. At D’s schools, they are all PhD students and thus far, have been outstanding.
In one case, better than the prof teaching the course. I just don’t see utilizing TAs as a negative at all.
Exactly. Just like Professors, some TA’s are better teachers than others. But at a high quality research Uni, the TA;s will all be high quality. My spring Chem lab TA was a grad student who had just finished his doctorate. Once our class was done – last final of the week – he was off to NJ as he had just received a tenure track position at Princeton. So we called him a TA, but the P’ton Frosh called him Professor 8 weeks later!
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Let’s move on from discussing vetting professors/classes; not the purpose of this thread.
It seems to me that the real issue is that educational loans are not dischargeable in a bankruptcy… essentially making students (and their willing parents) debt slaves for life.
If loans could be discharged, then financing would be harder to get and schools would be forced to lower their prices.
The rise of college costs is largely due to all of the money being made on the backs of these students/families.
The theory behind educational loans not being dischargable is that students would rack up a ton of debt, graduate, immediately declare bankruptcy on account of being new graduates with little, if anything, in the way of established income or assests, and get everything wiped out.
Going back to the thread title: issues with FAFSA
The FAFSA is only used to determine eligibility for the ~$6k/year Pell Grant. It’s true it doesn’t take credit card debt into account, but that doesn’t just apply to middle and upper income families. It’s true for low income families too. Even if you qualified for a Pell Grant it isn’t going to get you very far. Iowa public universities cost $23k/year. A $0 EFC family can get the $6k/year Pell Grant and the $5500/year federal student loan. That’s only ~$11k/year. Where’s the other $12k/year coming from?
It sounds like you’re surprised by the cost of college and the limited (outside) funds available to pay for it. Families are first in line to pay. Some colleges offer merit grants. If your kid has high enough stats to get one and you can pay the remaining costs then your kid can attend that college. Other colleges offer need based aid. Usually that requires high stats. If your child has the stats for those schools and gets accepted, and you can cover any remaining costs, then your child can go there.
Many families have neither of those options. They focus on their in state publics. If they’re fortunate enough to have a branch near them, and their kiddo is accepted, their kid commutes for 4 years. Otherwise, they start at a community college and transfer after 2 years. But not all states have affordable public options and not everyone lives within commuting distance of a college. Those that do are very lucky.
You need to figure out how much you can pay for each of your children. Many people use savings, current earnings, student summer work earnings, and the federal student loan to calculate their base budget. Find some safety schools in that price range. Then you can add financial and academic reaches that might offer enough merit to meet your budget.
And eligibility for federal loans. In fact, for many, that is its only purpose. FAFSA is also used for gradplus loans.
My state (MN) uses the FAFSA for it’s grants and the income limits for those are a lot higher. It’s also used for the SEOG.