<p>A lot of those top notch schools will offer 100% of what students need, albeit with loans…are low income students aware of this?</p>
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<p>How exactly has the federal student loan program widened the financial gap between wealthy and poor?</p>
<p>College is becoming more and more a luxury for the wealthy.</p>
<p>How so?
In the 1980’s about 24% of Americans had a college degree, today 32% of people age 25 to 34 have a degree, and about 40% of all adults have some kind of degree.</p>
<p>However your outlook is poor if you drop out of high school like I did. Still there are ways to get back on track by taking the GED exam and entering a community college.</p>
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<p>Because the federal student loan program has driven tuition costs to levels that do not make financial sense for the poor to finish college since their expected salaries are relatively low compared to student loan amounts. In the past 20 years, the wealthy have made great gains in graduation rates, while the poor only inched up over that time period. The income gap continues to increase. [Income</a> gap continues to affect college graduation rates - Nov. 21, 2011](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/income_college/index.htm]Income”>Income gap continues to affect college graduation rates - Nov. 21, 2011). This is partly because of skyrocketing tuition levels that have rendered it financially idiotic for the poor to attend. In addition to skyrocketing tuition, attending college is a somewhat dubious investment given recent employment data. About 50% of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed. The poor, presumably the class most likely to take out large student loans, are similarly affected by the high unemployment rates and are the most heavily burdened with student loan debt that they cannot repay.</p>
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<p>Because tuition rates and unemployment rates are at levels that make attending college a dubious investment. Around 50% of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed. The costs of attending college have skyrocketed in the past 15 years (4, 5 times the real cost 15 years ago), rapidly outpacing inflation. Meanwhile, real salaries have declined in the past 20 years. A college degree has become a luxury item for the wealthy that can afford to spend 200k on a degree that does not remotely guarantee employment.</p>
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<p>For my generation, the outlook is poor even if you attend one of the top universities in the country and study an “employable” field. About half of my friends who studied EECS at Stanford and MIT are employed. Half of my friends who went to Harvard are employed. Who knows what liberal arts major do. (Not that they had jobs before the economy crashed anyway.) Their parents’ money may have been better invested by providing capital for a start-up or starting some other business instead of attending college. While they are overqualified for many desk jobs and retail, they are under-qualified for other jobs because they lack work experience. These employers are only hiring Boomers who may have a worse pedigree but more work experience. Fortunately, they are wealthy and have a backup (their parents). Those who went to medical school have jobs, along with 300k+ in student loans and are living worse than they did in college.</p>
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<p>What I’m not getting is how the federal student loan program can be said to be responsible for higher tuition costs. There is a federal student loan program, and tuition costs are high, but on what basis are you asserting that the first caused the second?</p>
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<p>The federal student loan program has increased the demand for college education, in effect increasing the price of education. Keep in mind that members of the middle class are also taking out loans, not just the poor. Plus, the “Bennett hypothesis” claims that readily available loans allow schools to increase tuition without regard to demand elasticity.</p>
<p>I would of thought low income students with high grades would apply even more since they have less resources.</p>
<p>IDK if federal loans which max out at 5-7K per year can be responsible for tuition rates that have done something like double in the past decade or two. Also, as demand increases, supply seems to keep up just fine…there are more seats in colleges than ever right now, I believe.</p>
<p>About 50% of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed</p>
<p>What are the stats of those with only a high school education? How about drop outs?</p>
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<p>Should they have saved that money and skipped college?</p>
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<p>“Study says many highly talented low-income students never apply to top colleges”</p>
<p>Does not suprise me at all, but who needs to go to a “top college”? There is something to be said for going to the low-cost and/or nearby state college. That is what my sister, who graduated Valedictorian, did. She never thought about applying to what people on CC consider as “top schools” and I’m sure she’ll end up just fine. </p>
<p>I think upper & upper-middle class students are more likely to dream of moving away to go to Harvard or X,Y,Z and their helicoptering parents are more likely to convince them to apply. Most normal students just want to get a good education in their state with their friends without it costing an arm and a leg.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the ethnic demographics of all people included in the research’s profile.</p>
<p>$5 and you may find out :)</p>
<p>[The</a> Missing “One-Offs”: The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students](<a href=“The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students | NBER”>The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students | NBER)</p>
<p>Well what luck. I have a old Hong Kong Yahoo! email account that I’ve not used in ages so free papers for me. But since when is Hong Kong a developing nation or a transitional economy? Well, for such a reason, my yahoo.hk email qualifies for free NBER articles.</p>
<p>Among low income, higher achievers, arround 60-77 % are whites,10-20% Asian, 3-10% black, 7-12% Hispanic.</p>
<p>Please note the actual numbers represented in the paper are exact percentages and not ranges that I’ve used to conceal teh specific numbers. I used ranges only to protect the author’s copyrights.</p>
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<p>AD, IL, LI, MO, SG, SM, TW, and VA are also on the list. So is SU, which is still in use by a few entities more than two decades after the country it refers to broke up.</p>
<p>Thanks. That’s interesting to know.</p>
<p>This article could have been written for us, and in fact, I’ve taken it a great deal to heart and had dd read it as well, to better understand the barriers we’ve erected for ourselves. We’re not poor-poor, but definitely lower-middle-class. Dad is high-school; I’ve got a college degree (in Art!) so we are desperately scrambling to deal with the situation we are (fortunate) to be in, and hoping so much not to screw it up for our daughter because we know so little. </p>
<p>DD, 16, is exceptionally smart; we homeschool and she has attended the local community college half-time since she was 14. Her professors – unaware of her age – have LOVED her; she’s interactive and interested and has earned exceptional, ceiling marks even in the tough science classes. Several-no, most- have given or offered glowing letters of recommendation. She wants to be a doctor, and we always thought we’d eke out a 4-year local college transfer when she was 18 and cross fingers for scholarships. Reach schools? I’d never even heard of that. SAT II’s? AP tests? First I’m hearing about it, right here. Ivies? Oh, that’s for rich people, who have money for $35,000 preschools and SAT coaches. Not for us, to be sure! Not even in the realm of possibility! </p>
<p>But a school financial counsellor we talked to a few years ago mentioned that the Ivies might actually be <em>cheaper</em> than local colleges, at our income level. We never thought that really might be an issue – there’s a quite good city college within commute distance, with an attached medical school. The path was easy and straight forward. </p>
<p>Now, dd has come up with a very good PSAT score, very likely Merit Scholarship. Without overstating its importance (really, it has not gone to my head) I see that reach schools (Ha! I know the term now!) are at least a possibility. I am trying to learn so much right now. We are looking into the AP tests, SAT II’s and whatever, and everything seems up in the air. Without any direction or support we’re so afraid of dropping the ball for her. I don’t know a single thing about reach, probable or safety schools. Ivies are not a status thing for us – we don’t go to cocktail parties 
– it’s more that, if dd can contribute more by doing research in stem cells or whatever than being a family doctor, it’s our obligation to help her get there so she can do it. But we need to do it without a mountain of debt. </p>
<p>So I guess I should end with questions. Which reach schools are most generous? Which are most highly esteemed for biological research? DD would be a junior in high school, if she were in school. We have transcripts of coursework covered, with no grades. (What would be the point?) And of course, she has her com. college transcript. What should we be doing right now? We are looking for AP tests she could do and a school where she could take them – but homeschoolers are not necessarily welcome. How can we find out more? Help, help, help, we are so clueless.</p>
<p>Welcome, and stick around. I have seen all these questions and more addressed here many times.</p>
<p>Right now, as a junior, I’d begin to focus on SAT and ACT tests. You can get test prep books at the library. The tests themselves are given every couple of months, see collegeboard.org and actstudent.org for dates and locations to register.</p>
<p>I’d also have her begin to put together a resume of sorts, of academic work, extra curricular and volunteer work, interests, hobbies, that sort of thing.</p>
<p>There are lists of schools that meet 100% of need for all accepted students (need as they define it, however), just google that for lists, I feel like there are around 50 or so.</p>
<p>I think there may be some homeschool-specific forums here but the Parents forum is a good place to start, and some home school parents post there.</p>