<p>Do you think this will begin to effect Maryland's state University's? My thought process is the University system of Maryland will have an influx of brighter, more educated students. </p>
<p>California's public school system is getting worse but their University system continues to be far superior to any other state in the Country.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>The kids at USM schools are already bright! I attended MD public schools K-12, and had a good experience. Public education is public education. For everyone. Compared to some of my cousins who attended public schools in different states, I do feel like I have a better grasp on some subjects compared to them (especially math). Also, my high school offered AP classes taught by many competent teachers. I didn’t feel pressured to take tons of APs above my ability, though. I’m lucky. However, each person is different. Some of my friends disliked our schools. I think K-12 is about giving children the means and guidance to achieve. It’s up to the kids to fully own up to their opportunities.</p>
<p>UMCP is already pretty full of bright kidS. Have you checked out the admission stats lately? They have several limited enrollment programs that are particularly hard. To get accepted in engineering last year, the average GPA was over 4.2, and the average math SAT score was over 700.</p>
<p>I am not convinced that the public school ranking will attract brighter students to the Maryland universities. While we have many excellent universities, the state seems to be offering less financial incentives for our bright students to stay in-state. We have lost the MD Distinguished Scholar program; many of the Delegate scholarships technically use financial need as the decisive factor; and while not meaning to be politically incorrect, we are now offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. The only reason I am bringing this last point up is that now we have an increase in the number of applicants competing for the same pot of money. Mathematically, there will be less money per student since the number of students competing for instate scholarships has now increased. These were incentives that kept my older son in-state. Unfortunately, financially, my younger son has less reason to stay in-state.</p>
<p>davenmame, I don’t see how the Dream Act is relevant at all. If it is, it’s not in the way you’ve described.</p>
<p>The Dream Act allows undocumented students to qualify for resident tuition. That’s it. It doesn’t address merit aid.</p>
<p>Furthermore, you’ve assumed that if there are more applicants because of the Dream Act, there will be more merit-aid recipients, and the award per student will be reduced. That’s not necessarily so. They could give the same number of merit awards as always, but simply choose the recipients from a larger (and persumably more competitive) applicant pool. Under this model, the only people with less incentive to go to Maryland public colleges and universities would be students with documentation who are not quite as good as their undocumented counterparts. And they’ll still have an incentive: the sticker price for the University of Maryland will still be less than the sticker price for Loyola or Penn State.</p>
<p>I think your Dream Act talk is a red herring.</p>
<p>davenmame I completely agree with you. .</p>
<p>Sikorsky, I would love if you can explain more about the Dream Act and how it has no effect on merit aid. The poster asked if we thought that in light of the glowing report about our Maryland public schools, do we think there will be an influx of brighter students to our Maryland universities. My response was that I dont think it will due to the decline of scholarship opportunities to stay in state. Our top students used to be given $12,000 with the MD Distinguished Scholar Program as long as they attended an in-state school. Due to the poor economy, they had to cancel the program. Additionally, the Senatorial Scholarship (also for students who attend schools in Maryland) is questionable as last year, students at UMD were sent an e-mail telling them that their Senatorial scholarship was withdrawn from their account (it was later put back in after the emergency budget meeting in Annapolis). On top of that, many of the Delegate Scholarships (AGAIN, to encourage our bright students to stay in state) use financial need as a decisive factor to awarding merit scholarships. Now, our bright students are faced to compete for scholarships with a larger pool of applicants due to the Dream Act. As I understand it, and perhaps you can correct me, our illegal immigrants are now being granted in-state status. So while you are correct in that the Dream Act itself does not make mention of scholarships, by the simple fact that they are now in-state as opposed to out of state means just as you said, They will choose the recipients from a larger (and presumably more competitive) applicant pool. While I agree that the pool of applicants is larger, I am not convinced that it will make it more competitive. Perhaps you can explain that for me. I spoke with someone from the scholarship office at UMD two years ago (before the Dream Act) and was told that they are given a pot of money. The out-of-state students are given a smaller pot for merit scholarships and the in-state students have a larger pool of money. I asked what factors are considered when distributing scholarships and I was told SAT scores, GPAs, minority status, and a few other things. I asked what the few other things included and was told that it could be things such as number of AP classes, unusual circumstances,
So it seems that merit scholarships ARE impacted by the Dream Act if in fact the universities consider minority status and the state now has an increased number of minority status applicants. If the larger pool of applicants did NOT consider minority status when distributing scholarships, that would be another story. But, that is NOT what I was told by the office of scholarships at UMD. When you state, Under this model, the only people with less incentive to go to Maryland public colleges and universities would be students with documentation who are not quite as good as their undocumented counterparts that would not be true if it is the minority status that makes the decisive factor.
What I am TRYING to say, is that our Maryland scholars have lost the appeal of staying in-state when the state did away with the $12,000 from the MD Distinguished Scholars; the uncertainty of the Senatorial Scholarship; the factor of financial need for the Delegate scholarship; and the uncertainty of how the state will handle the scholarship awards to the now larger pool of applicants due to the Dream Act. </p>
<p>Last, I completely agree with your comment about Loyola and PSU. I am referring to the Harvards, who have very large endowments to entice the exceptional students. Without all of the scholarships to encourage our Maryland scholars to stay in state, the debt difference between these schools is suddenly not as large of a difference.</p>
<p>First of all, the elimination of the scholarships you named had nothing to do with the Dream Act. Those things happened before the Dream Act became law. I don’t disagree with the assertion that the elimination of those scholarships may make Maryland public colleges less attractive to the highest-achieving Marylanders–only with your coupling that fact with the Dream Act.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Maryland Dream Act, in fact, has no impact on freshman admissions in Maryland’s public four-year colleges. The Dream Act specifies that students who are in the U.S. illegally may attend Maryland community colleges<a href=“which%20have%20open%20enrollment”>/U</a> at in-state tuition (and in-county, where applicable) if they meet certain conditions. Such students do not qualify for in-state tuition at public four-year colleges or universities until after they have completed 60 credits at a community college:</p>
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<p>[Maryland</a> passes Dream Act | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/11/07/maryland-passes-dream-act]Maryland”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/11/07/maryland-passes-dream-act)</p>
<p>So, in fact, the Dream Act isn’t going to affect the competition for freshman admission or for such awards as Banneker-Key or Presidential Scholarships at College Park–or at any other four-year college or university–in the slightest.</p>
<p>Thanks for explaining the Dream Act so clearly. I still have some concerns about its impact on the merit scholarships for in-state tuition though. Namely I am concerned about how the estimated cost of $3.5 million by 2016 is going to affect the state scholarship money. (The Washington Examiner,“Md. law granting illegals reduced tuition to cost millions,” April 17,2011.) History has recently shown us that when our economy is hurting, the state scholarship programs are either rescinded or reduced or cancelled completely. I dont know if this will or will not happen, but I stand by my original view that due to the cancelling of MD Distinguished Scholar Program, uncertainty of Senatorial scholarships, factor of financial need used as the decisive factor in Delegate Scholarships, and the UNCERTAINTY of the effect of the Dream Act on the in-state scholarships, I dont see the enrollment of Marylands scholars increasing their commitment to in-state schools. Perhaps the next year or two will prove me wrong in all of these areas and will show that you are right about the Dream Act having no effect on the scholarship money. I can only hope that you are right.</p>
<p>I have read that figure, too. What I can’t figure out is how big a number $3.5 million really is in this context. I can’t find how much that’s out of–in other words, what the budget was for merit aid in the state’s public colleges and universities before.</p>
<p>Obviously, if it means you don’t get your $10K or $12K per year, it makes a huge difference to you. But policy is really seldom, if ever, made at the individual level.</p>