NYTimes: Cost May Keep Students From First-Choice Colleges

Parent Cafe
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<p>According to the NYT, the latest survey by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles confirms that: </p>

<p>"Many students are settling for their second- and third-choice colleges, at least partly for financial reasons... The study, by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, surveyed more than 271,000 students at 393 colleges and universities. It found 32.7 percent of freshmen at a college other than their first choice. Almost half of those at their second choice had been accepted at their first. Of the students accepted at their first-choice university who did not enroll, a third said they could not afford it. Other reasons included geography and athletics."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/education/19brfs-COSTMAYKEEPS_BRF.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/education/19brfs-COSTMAYKEEPS_BRF.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Inside Higher Ed gives us a more nuanced report of the survey results:</p>

<p>"Two of three students surveyed said they have “some” or “major” concerns about paying for college. For those who were admitted to their first-choice college but who didn’t attend, the inability to afford tuition at the institution was a primarily reason to enroll elsewhere, according to the report.</p>

<p>The survey also measures who is taking advanced placement courses in high school. In all, an increasing number of students are taking at least one AP course during their senior year. Asian students led in this category, ahead of white students. Fewer than half of black students took one or more AP course as seniors — the lowest of any racial or ethnic group. The report found that black students are the most likely to attend high schools that don’t offer the courses.</p>

<p>Making more money and getting a better job were two of the top reasons that students cited for choosing to go to college. And Lake Wobegon lives: Seventy-two percent of men and 66 percent of women surveyed said they are either “above average” or in the “highest 10 percent” of academic ability."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/19/freshmen%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01/19/freshmen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>'


Huh. I'd have said that if they didn't make the "cut" or like the "geographic" location, then that wasn't there first choice school now was it? How does that work? Harvard is my "first choice" but I decided I didn't want to leave Alabama? I always wanted to go to UCLA but they didn't give me a spot on the team?</p>

<p>They should have asked different questions to rule things like that out. I would wager that the 1/3 number who couldn't afford "first choice college" (defined as "if the money were available I'd pick blank") would go through the roof. Plus there is always the multitudes of kids who never apply to their first choice schools because they make the assumption that there is no way they can pay what will be expected of them.</p>

<p>If they really want to know why kids turn down (or never apply) to their first choice schools they need to change their methodology. IMO, it will almost always be "money".</p>

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<p>And this is a surprise because . . .?</p>

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<p>Not to be a contrarian, but it seems to me that the financial imposition may serve to be inspiring and motivational to the student that takes their education seriously. That is to say, they are not able to aimlessly drift about from party to gut course to general intellectual laziness.</p>

<p>Reflecting on my financial burden, and that of my parents, helped me to keep my head on straight; my family bet the farm on my first choice: so far so good.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
And this is a surprise because . . .?

[/quote]
My thought exactly.</p>

<p>Dorothy, I hope it goes well. Remember, though, that most serious, dedicated students don't need the burden of crushing debt as a motivator. They manage to find other inspiration.</p>

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<p>"Not to be a contrarian, but it seems to me that the financial imposition may serve to be inspiring and motivational to the student that takes their education seriously. That is to say, they are not able to aimlessly drift about from party to gut course to general intellectual laziness."</p>

<p>Where is church lady when I need her? </p>

<p>Intellectual laziness?</p>

<p>As someone who is slowly going deeper into poverty from student loans we owe, and looking at yet another child who shall need us to borrow to attend school at all ...
Thinking that a form of guilt or shame, ie they bet the farm so I better work, is a sensible goad is not correct. Do you think YOU would be drifting aimlessly and taking gut courses if your parents were not borrowing? Do you feel you need outside motivation to work hard? If you think you'd work hard anyway, why assume no one else would be so motivated.
The hardest worker and I think easily the most intellectual kid I know breezed debt free through private hs and is about to graduate debt free from Harvard. She loves learning and hard work.<br>
It is wonderful you are proud your parents are helping and inspired by this to work hard. There is nothing morally superior about them, or you though, and does not cause, imho, intellectual rigor.</p>

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<p>Stickershock,</p>

<p>I don't know that I would term the educational debt "motivational"--certainly there are so many wonderful things on campus and in class to motivate a curious mind…forever--I refer more to the seriousness and constant focus required of the student who has invested more than their precious time into their education. Inasmuch as there is, in addition to the otherworldly love of knowledge and intellectual curiosity, a real world accounting; put bluntly, a debt that one takes to be a rather large part of a life lived after the pleasures of a multiyear campus sojourn. </p>

<p>I suppose, to some degree, it is like purchasing a home.
The house itself may be a dream home, as a college could be a dream college, but it is more than a wonderful place to live and bears more than the responsibility of upkeep; it must be paid for, or earned, I would suppose. Such a pleasure and such a burden brings focus to a life of liberty.</p>

<p>I do not by any means wish a financial responsibility on any student or family, but should one exist I think it may bring focus, and clear the mind of a young adult fresh out of high school and straight into college.</p>

<p>There is, otoh, nothing particularly wrong with doing it on the cheap. Many do.</p>

<p>
[quote]
There is nothing morally superior about them, or you though, and does not cause, imho, intellectual rigor.

[/quote]
That was by no means my point, and I am sorry if you think it was.</p>

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<p>This issue of the student's awareness of the financial burden as a motivator came up in another thread.</p>

<p>The discussion there seemed to convey the idea that this sort of motivator would work well for some students but not others. </p>

<p>For some students, intellectual passion may be enough of a motivator. For others, whose eyes are on a future career, the need for a suitable degree in order to launch that career may be the motivator (my son is one of these). Still others have long obtained satisfaction and recognition from doing well academically and would like to continue to do so (my daughter is like this, although the career thing motivates her as well). And yes, there are others for whom "My parents are paying a fortune for this; I had better not foul up" or "I am going to owe $50,000 when this is all over; I had better make it worthwhile" are good motivators. </p>

<p>For some students, though, knowing that their college education is creating a huge financial burden for their parents or will create a huge future financial burden for themselves might be more of a motivator to drop out of college -- thus decreasing the burden -- than to do well.</p>

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<p>wow -- only the NYT would mangle statistics so badly to garner a headline. </p>

<p>Lemme see: ~32% did not attend their first choice college. BUT, less than half of them were accepted, so we really have ~16% of total Frosh choosing to go elsewhere. But, wait: less than a third of those, or ~5% of the total Frosh class, chose to go elsewhere due to financial reasons. Only FIVE % of the total frosh class chose to go elsewhere for financial reasons. And this a headline makes?</p>

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<p>My first-choice car is a Bentley.</p>

<p>Big deal.</p>

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<p>No surprises for me in that story. The same thing happened to many students when I was a h.s. senior.</p>

<p>My first choice car is one of those cute VW Beetles. I also like Mustangs. I settle for what I can afford.</p>

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<p>For most of us it's part of growing up. Having dreams, but living in reality.</p>

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<p>mini, Do you only drive the Bentley on weekends?</p>

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<p>Only on days when alternate side of the street parking goes my way. ;)</p>

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<p>blubayou, I looked at the article again, and I believe your math is correct based on the information we are given. So the headline should have been: Only FIVE percent of freshman do not attend their first choice school due to money </p>

<p>That to me is truly surprising. So the vast majority either has the money or begs borrows and/or steals enough money to attend their first choice school... or chooses an affordable 1st choice in the first place.... or decides they love where they are after all.</p>

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<p>Reporters with numbers are dangerous. Many went into it because no math was required--and it shows.
The only people with more egg on their face are the good folks at Consumer Reports.</p>

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<p>I think what the numbers really show is that, for the vast majority of students, the prestige colleges we spend so much time on here are simply NOT the most desirable, and are not the first choice. (and that's somewhat distasteful to a NY Times readership and journalist corps.)</p>

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<p>NJres - great comment especially in light of the above CBS evening news story:</p>

<p>"Economics major Seth Anagnostis got a quick lesson in math when it came time to go to college, CBS News correspondent Jerry Bowen reports.</p>

<p>He got accepted at his top choice, Tufts. But he ended up at Rutgers. That made the most dollars and sense.</p>

<p>"It was frustrating getting into your No. 1 choice that you worked so hard to get into high school and then it is right there for you and it's just not a realistic possibility," Anagnostis says.</p>

<p>And he isn't alone, according to a UCLA nationwide survey of this year's college freshmen.</p>

<p>Nearly one-third of the 271,000 freshmen surveyed are attending schools that were not their first choice. That's the highest percentage since 1988.</p>

<p>Of those students who were accepted but didn't go to their first choice college, more than one-third said money was the issue: They couldn't afford it.</p>

<p>"Over the last 30 years, we've seen a precipitous increase in the number of students reporting that they have a major concern about how they're going to finance their college education," says Victor B. Saenz, with the Higher Education Research Institute.</p>

<p>The cost of a college education has soared 35 percent over the last five years, to an average of nearly $13,000 a year at public colleges, and more than $30,000 a year at private schools.</p>

<p>The survey results come as Congress is working on ways to make college more affordable. The House just passed a bill to cut student loan interest rates by half over the next five years. But it's unclear how much that will influence the choice of a school.</p>

<p>What is clear is that finding a way to pay for college is fast becoming an education in itself. "</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/19/eveningnews/main2379266.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/19/eveningnews/main2379266.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I agree with Mini. Also, as college costs keep increasing, more students and parents will seriously consider the public universities - and these schools will most likely become more and more competitive as the years go on. The private colleges will be affordable for the wealthy - or the exceptionally bright students who are eligible for merit awards.</p>

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<p>Don't forget that prior to the most successful entitlement program in the history of the world, the GI bill, college mostly was for the rich.<br>
The children today are the grandchildren of the first generation of Americans to have full access to college education. I hope it will not return to the days when private colleges were just for rich guys. The top schools have enough money to let anyone in for free, forever it seems like, but no clue how the rest of the private schools can survive without mostly cash students.</p>