<p>I was one of those students. I wanted my upper-class transfers dorm to offer apartment-style living. I scouted colleges that offered that. However, that left a huge list of colleges to consider. And the few colleges I left off my list aren’t shuttered up or tanking in the US News rankings either.</p>
<p>It’s an arms race for sure.
What I don’t understand is why people refuse to call it that. And very few (alumni, governments, etc. and certainly not lowly prospective or current students) that hold some leverage over colleges and their administrators are not taking any step to stop it.</p>
<p>While the “arms-race” is obvious to talk about, not sure that it (capital projects) contributes that much to the increased cost of running a college, which is labor-intensive. </p>
<p>“Free laundry” for example maybe less expensive than paid. Manually collecting quarters (or dollar bills) requires a lot of personnel expense, not to mention bank fees (banks can charge large businesses a LOT to deposit cash). Sure, electronic cards have replaced coin ops, but those cards require maintenance…</p>
<p>Could someone clarify for me what the entity is that put this study and these recommendations forward and what relationship it has with the federal gov’t?</p>
<p>On the college amenities thing, is there anywhere in higher education a ‘minds race’ where colleges try to out-do others in offering a better ‘life of the mind’? I recall Chaucer’s Oxford Cleric who spent all his money on books and did without many of the physical amenities.</p>
<p>The entity is a study group convened by the College Board. It has no particular relationship with any unit of government. </p>
<p>I think some of the colleges that gain enrolled classes with the highest test scores coincidentally have gained reputations as places where eager learners can find intellectual peers, and thus draw applicants from all over the world who are looking for a life of the mind.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think it’s odd that “young” retirees (especially those who are “double dipping”) don’t have to include their retirement earnings when figuring their EFCs. I live in an area where many military officers retire in their 40’s (collecting half of their salaries as retirement), then they accept great high tech jobs, but only have to include the income from their “jobs” as income on FAFSA. A friend’s husband is a retired full bird colonel who collects over $70K a year in retirement, plus he earns about $130k at his new job. But they didn’t have to declare any of the $70+k on their kids’ FAFSA forms. He is 51 years old.</p>
<p>I just think that is odd.</p>
<p>I can understand retirement protections for those older than 65… but for 44 year olds??? That is a bit odd.</p>
<p>“A friend’s husband is a retired full bird colonel who collects over $70K a year in retirement, plus he earns about $130k at his new job. But they didn’t have to declare any of the $70+k on their kids’ FAFSA forms. He is 51 years old.”</p>
<p>The $70K annual income gets reported on FAFSA, along with the $130K. So the family wouldn’t be eligible for any need-based financial aid, unless they had multiple kids in college at the same time.</p>
<p>(what doesn’t get reported on FAFSA are the assets in a retirement account. The income received during the year from the military pension is income-- if untaxed, it gets reported on Sched B)</p>
<p>Thanks… I wonder if they have been misinformed. They truly believe that they don’t have to include his retirement income. Another friend’s husband is a retired Lutheran minister, they believe they don’t have to include his retirement on FAFSA either. Why the confusion???</p>
<p>I suspect the confusion is that certain types of income aren’t taxable, and don’t have to be reported on the 1040. They don’t end up being included as part of the AGI-- I believe that military pension income and some religious income falls into that category.</p>
<p>But FAFSA is different-- it includes a schedule where you include any untaxed income that’s not reported elsewhere, and that gets added to the other income when calculating aid.</p>
<p>Next year’s FAFSA does away with the schedules. The questions requesting untaxed income are right in the body of the income section, which will help people to better understand what they are being asked to report. Some untaxed income that used to be reported no longer will be, but that does not include pensions - it’s low-income benefits (TANF, WIC, food stamps, untaxed SSI - plus earned income credit). The instructions for reporting untaxed portions of pensions & IRA distributions are really clear. That should help keep people from not realizing what must be included in income.</p>