<p>"So the headline should have been: Only FIVE percent of freshman do not attend their first choice school due to money "</p>
<p>Yes! That is amazing and wonderful. Even more amazing and wonderful is the fact that virtually any American graduating high school senior who wishes to go to college can find a way to do so. There are many countries where only the elite can go to college or only students with the very top grades and scores can do so. That's not the case in the U.S., and that's something to celebrate, not whine about.</p>
<p>kataomom:</p>
<p>the most egregious line is:
[quote]
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.
[/quote]
since half of those one-third were not accepted at their first choice college. If they weren't accepted, finances matter not.</p>
<p>The UCLA Dept of Ed and most journalists just have a personal point of view that they need to get across, particularly since it just so happens that Congress is voting on changes to federal student aid and, in UCLA's case, The Governator has proposed increasing state tuition (oope, "fees") next year.</p>