<p>poetgrl–first, if you look at unionized states, most of them consistently rank in the top of the nation for school quality, those without unions are consistently ranked in the bottom for school quality–correlation there??</p>
<p>As for the per pupil spending amount–colleges don’t have the extensive special education programs, busing, school lunch programs, etc. either. </p>
<p>I think a lot of it too is you get what you pay for. I would discourage my children from looking at colleges that suddenly drop their price by that much. What is getting cut to meet those costs? Is a college education something you really want done on the cheep? Sure, find good schools that are affordable via scholarships or whatever but do you really want to go to what was a community college and has been renamed a 4 year college to meet some governor goal of having $10,000/year colleges–which, btw, is MORE than the net after merit aid our kids will be paying at their private 4 year colleges :D.</p>
<p>Stevema, I was referring to teachers unions. We have plenty of those in the Chicago school system. I’m trying to see where our schools rank in the top…wait. Looking, looking, looking. Nope. Can’t find it.</p>
<p>I volunteer with helping clean up the literacy mess these union teachers are leaving in their wake.</p>
<p>All that said, why on earth have wisconsin, indiana and michigan all gone “right to work?”</p>
<p>Also, for that matter, go and put the merit aid comment on the bragging thread, where it belongs. Plenty of us have kids going to school for nothing or next to nothing. It’s not that big a deal.</p>
<p>But, when a kid grows up in a less than stellar school system, and doesn’t know the college ropes, and doesn’t have merit options, I really, personally, am a fan of offering an affordable academic option for them. Heck, people used to say the same thing about the directionals, which were mostly teachers colleges a while back.</p>
<p>Things evolve. Sometimes even for the better.</p>