<p>True, CountingDown, mealplans are expensive. Full-ride FA students pay nothing for their meals, however.</p>
<p>Live it. Then tell me how it works out for you. </p>
<p>There are expenses these students have. Many need dress clothes for interviews and internships, and travel to conferences, and meetings with alumni, and ....but you don't want to hear that. You already know that. Travel home has never been more expensive. Computers and peripherals aren't cheap. Copying expenses are not minimal. I could go on and on. None of these things happened in high school. </p>
<p>As I have said throughout, this is the most disturbing and disappointing discussion I have ever seen on CC. It hasn't gotten any better. </p>
<p>Are you totally ignoring the great benefits a college gets from having all walks of life represented? Is there value in socio-economic diversity? What do you want, dull, white, and wealthy? Kill need based aid and that's what you have. Is it private socialism? Absolutely. It's intended to be . For a few. Just enough to keep congress off their doorsteps. If you are going to the best, you need to attract the best kids from everywhere. Not just Highland Park, Memorial, Grosse Point, and Tiburon. You need the kid from South Texas that's friends with marite's son. You need the girl from my kid's school who is a ward of the court.
You won't get them with y'all in charge. But you will get your kid in, which I guess might be the goal of all of this. Is it?</p>
<p>Edit: It's messing up when I try to edit. But I wanted to change few to few of the poorest kids.</p>
<p>one thing to check out- for the next one as I guess it may be a little late if they are starting in sept, is that some schools allow minimal board plans, some require their health ins, others don't & some have co-ops or RA opportunities to lower room and board costs.
A few hundred here and a few thousand there adds up quicker than a couple extra boxes on your cart at Costco.</p>
<p>Wow, you have some anger issues, imo, Curmudgeon. Just because a discussion doesn't go your way doesn't give you the right to insult other people.</p>
<p>Curm, who is "y'all"? There are almost 300 posts here. Surely we can't ALL be disappointing you...</p>
<p>bay, look whose talking. ;)</p>
<p>And the issue is going just fine thank you.</p>
<p>That particular use of y'all that would be bay and a few others. Not everybody by a long shot. But enough to where my ranking of the thread stands. ;)</p>
<p>And bay, two things. I never called you anything. Look at your words . And , I answered your question, answer mine.</p>
<p>The obligatory link for a thread like this: </p>
<p>
[quote]
And bay, two things. I never called you anything. Look at your words . And , I answered your question, answer mine.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What was the question?</p>
<p>Please direct me to which of my words I should look at.</p>
<p>
<p>Just because a discussion doesn't go your way doesn't give you the right to insult other people.
I insulted no one. I was rude to no one. You ramped it up with your accusations, not me. It is a tactic often seen on the 'net but I am not a noob.</p>
<p>
That's why I think you are very out of touch with the lives of the less privileged in our society. You really think that low income parents have been paying for all of that stuff? I am wondering if you can fathom what a huge help and relief it was to me when my son was in high school and got a job with a pizzaria where he could eat on the job, rather than at home ... and where he sometimes was able to bring home unclaimed pizzas and feed the whole family. And we're not poor ... but the point is that in many families, the high school kid is using after school employment to help subsidize household expenses as well as to pay their own way.</p>
<p>So bottom line: at a certain level of family income (maybe around ~$35-$40K?), the transition to college means the departure of a wage-earning contributor to the household. The "incidentals" part of the COA calculated by the college is rarely enough to cover all expenses... and the break point at which the parent will cover the difference is probably above the typical breakpoint at which a handful of elite colleges give that kid a break on loans.</p>
<p>
Here are the questions, bay. You can go back and read the rest of the post for context. </p>
<p>I'm genuinely interested in why all the antipathy for need based aid? From where does the hatred come? Do you object to what some call "government giveaway programs", too? Like AFDC? Rent assistance? Food stamps? Medicaid?</p>
<p>Where I come from, telling someone to "dream on" in response to a legitimate statement, is rude. </p>
<p>Answering your questions: No. Yes. No. But I have not been addressing any of those issues any where in this thread, so I don't understand how you concluded that those questions even apply to me.</p>
<p>Intimating that my postings were only concerned with "getting my kid in" was insulting. I don't even have a kid trying to get in anywhere right now.</p>
<p>I'm genuinely interested in why all the antipathy for need based aid? From where does the hatred come? Do you object to what some call "government giveaway programs", too? Like AFDC? Rent assistance? Food stamps? Medicaid?</p>
<p>What "hatred" are you talking about Curm?? Seriously, you need to go back and read my posts, because you are conjuring something out of absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>Once is all I needed, thanks.</p>
<p>Without your answers I think I'm done here. If you ver do want to discuss your dislike of need based aid, p.m. me. </p>
<p>I don't like how it's applied. But as an unfulfilled concept, it is one of the finest things we have in American higher education. We need more of it, not less.</p>
<p>Well I reread them. In a nutshell, I wondered why all FA students are not given loans. I felt OP deserved some compassion for his frustration in paying for college. And I questioned why certain expenses would require a loan in college when they must have been paid for while the child lived at home. I have absolutely no hatred for the less-fortunate, and I welcome anyone to point to anything I have written that shows otherwise.</p>
<p>What does it matter if some kids get a break on loans? My kids colleges didn't give any break to lower income students for loans ... like 99% of colleges, financial aid packages are built from loans up, and as far as I know, the lower income students get stuck with even MORE loans. But I don't think the OP is looking for a break on loans -- sounds to me that OP wants a break on price.</p>
<p>O.K. Bay, do you want a mulligan on that last challenge? </p>
<p>How about this gem. It's a tasty bit .
[quote]
OP,</p>
<p>Your frustration is understandable. I've always thought FA was "bass-ackward" as they say, by having the goal be all grants and no loans. </p>
<p>It seems more fair to me (ridiculous to expect fairness, I know) that all FA should be loans and not grants. That way, those who did not earn/save their college tuition will pay the same as those who did, just in reverse order.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hmmm. Seems to me that you are not a fan of need based grants. ;)</p>
<p>I see the quote, but I don't see any hatred for the less fortunate in it. The concept makes sense to me. </p>
<p>Years ago, I received college loans that I repaid over a period of 15 years. I was and am proud of the fact that I paid for much of my education myself. I don't see any shame or unfairness it in.</p>