This is topic Interesting article on the cost of college in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=047580

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Link
 

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Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :
 
Thanks for posting that.


I'm a junior in High School, and college is very much on my mind. I have no idea where I want to go or what I'm planning to do, I'm just reasonably sure that when I go to college I'll be discriminated against for my political views and forced to live like a pauper for four to six years.

It's good to know I wont just be poor during college.
 

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Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
 
I bet the original book makes the point, but the article completely misses one big component of college cost: student aid.

The ready availability of student aid at better than typical rates means that $30k worth of college costs less than $30k of other things. It also helps students attend college, but it means colleges can disproportionately raise their price tags in comparison to other goods.
 

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Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
The article covered that.
 

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Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
 
Huh, weird, I went through it but completely missed that. I must have skipped over it when I went and did something else.

Good
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 
I saw this precisely as a junior in high school. My tuition at my private school was just as high as many an ivy league university. My parents could only afford to send me and my 5 brothers and sisters there because as part of my dad's employment package, the company picked up tuition.

Foreign business men in Asia get really good packages as they are considered to be working in "a hardship location." Hong Kong is anything but a hardship IMO, but YMMV.

My school has prospered in the last 50 years significantly. Preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school all have their own campuses. Teachers housing is completely provided by the school, and their facilities are state of the art. If it exists, my school probably has it.

Anyway as an 11th grader they sat us down and said that when we went on into our future careers they hoped we would remember them with fondness and find room in our pocket books for a donation. They projected a graph of schools like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, etc and displayed their annual endowments. They then put my school up on the graph and noted that their endowment was not quite up to par with these universities and that they hoped one day it would be.

I couldn't believe my school felt they needed millions of dollars a year. It was a wonderful school and I loved my teachers, it was definitely far above par, but what school needs millions of dollars to function?!

The ironic thing is that I love my school so much that if I ever am rich I will probably donate a chunk of money to my school, because I do think its one of the best to be found. I want to teach there one day as well.

But a note, I do think the oil comparison is invalid as that was a sharp jump in gas prices, whereas tuition has simply been increasing over a 50 year period. I was reading a Calvin and Hobbes comic where Rosalyn has to babysit Calvin and at the end of a stressful evening Calvin's parents come home and are astounded that Rosalyn was able to survive the evening and get Calvin to bed, Calvin's mom says, "Give Rosalyn alittle extra dear," Calvin's dad says, "Is five enough?" Rosalyn responds, "Could you make it seven? Tuition is up."

I thought "Seven dollars for an entire evening and Rosalyn is in college?!"

The times, they are a changin.
 

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Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
 
Blackblade- I'm planning to study abroad in Hong Kong this summer, could I maybe email you a little closer to when I leave for questions and advice?
 

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Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :
 
Meh. I'm spending a bit less than 100k for tuition on the major I chose and I'll probably end up living in a tent anyway. I was thinking that I wanted to go for another degree at CalArts (which is pretty much like Harvard for commercial artists), if I get accepted, that is.

The plus:
-Since I'm a minority, a woman and of a low-income family the government pays a LOT of my tuition. It basically throws the money in my face.

-It's the major I chose, and I'm happy with my decision since it's my dream.

-There are plenty of ways to accommodate yourself in the field so I'm thinking of a tent as a far, almost intangible possible future reality that I don't plan to live.
 

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Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by blacwolve:
Blackblade- I'm planning to study abroad in Hong Kong this summer, could I maybe email you a little closer to when I leave for questions and advice?

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quote:

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Originally posted by fugu13:
BlackBlade: most decent-sized schools need millions of dollars to function just in salaries (even if the salaries aren't particularly high). Forty teachers at the quite low salary of $25k apiece would be one million dollars right there.

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quote:

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Originally posted by fugu13:
I bet the original book makes the point, but the article completely misses one big component of college cost: student aid.

The ready availability of student aid at better than typical rates means that $30k worth of college costs less than $30k of other things. It also helps students attend college, but it means colleges can disproportionately raise their price tags in comparison to other goods.

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quote:

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Originally posted by BlackBlade:
Calvin's mom says, "Give Rosalyn alittle extra dear," Calvin's dad says, "Is five enough?" Rosalyn responds, "Could you make it seven? Tuition is up."

I thought "Seven dollars for an entire evening and Rosalyn is in college?!"

The times, they are a changin.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Phanto:
Let's not talk about paying for college while good ol' money-deprived, angry/despondent Phanto is listening.

*walks away mumbling and wailing*

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Have you filed your FAFSA yet, young man? *waggles finger* The CalGrants deadline is next week! (Ok, so you're not in California and that makes no difference to you, but every state has some form of state-sponsored aid as well. If you're in NY, you need to file for TAP.)




Dana, that was my read of the cartoon too.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
BTW, if any Hatrackers would like some help with financial aid forms, I know the FAFSA pretty well.
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
Financial aid laughed me out of the office. Apparently, my husband makes "too much money" for me to qualify for any aid.

I wish they'd come spend a month in my household of seven people, pay my exorbitant food and utility bills and then tell me again that he makes "too much."

So we struggle, and penny-pinch and do what we can to save enough each month so that when tuition rolls around again we can pay it. Then I'll get a job in a traditionally low-paying career field. Yay!
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Belle, that sucks. And rudeness from financial aid counselors is inexcusable. It is confusing and difficult enough for most students to navigate the FA maze without that sort of response.

Have you checked out fastweb.com?
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
Ah, rivka, I exaggerate. And I mean no disrespect to those who try to navigate what must be a confusing system. They were apologetic, but did tell me to shoot for scholarships that weren't need-based.

I am applying for one currently, but so many of the ones out there do have need components and/or ethnic background requirements that I'm not left with all that many options.

I'd be set if I were an education major planning to teach math or science. Sadly, they aren't clamoring for more English teachers at the moment.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Good luck with that. And do check out fastweb; they're really the only reliable (and free) online FA search engine.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
[Edited because I can't remember if you talk about your location here, either! *facepalm]
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Hmmm. Belle, do you go to [edited]? I remember at least one scholarship specifically geared (if I recall correctly) to women returning to get further education in the [25+] year old age range. Does this sound familiar?

(Or are you not at [edited]? I'm getting too much grey hair -- I forget so much. )

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Edited to add:

Ah. It's on [their link deleted] online list of scholarships:
[#1 link deleted]and
[#2 link deleted]

Of course, you probably know all this already. Or are not at [deleted] anyway. But it came to mind, and just in case, you know?

[ February 22, 2007, 09:56 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
 

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Posted by Abhi (Member # 9142) on :
 
For high schoolers, I'd just say concentrate on your grades, and college will take care of itself...

I didn't have to take any loans for college, I had a pretty big scholarship, and I worked full-time during every vacation and 20hrs/week during the school year [most of the time], went home only twice during the four years of college [i think for a total of 8 or 9 weeks].

As for rising tuition fees etc, the article was pretty good explaining why... from my own experience [I worked in IT at my college, and was project manager at a startup company], a lot of money could be saved by streamlining operations and reducing redundancy. But most colleges dont want to fire people since a lot of the staff are spouses of professors etc.
 

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Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
 
I have to say that high schoolers do need to do more than attend to grades, although that is important too. They need to start applying for scholarships...now. And it's better if you're reading this as a freshman because you can get a jump on everyone else who will inevitably wait until they are seniors.

There are thousands of scholarships out there -- most not tied to specific schools so it doesn't even matter if you know where you're going. You can do a search on-line for scholarship opportunities or you can talk to your local reference librarian for help.

I didn't know this when I was in college, but my husband got a head's up and had thousands of dollars waiting to follow him to whatever school he chose by his junior year of high school.

We looked into saving for our son's college education shortly before we had him (he's 15 months now). We were thinking of trying to squirrel away $50 a month or something until he's in school. Turns out, that's not nearly enough! Even to go to the cheap public university up the road we would need to save $200 a month for 18 years!! (The guy who told us this was funny, because the word "only" was applied to this $200 a month.)

They try to make it sound like good parents will think ahead and plan for their children's college future but I don't see how the average parent can do this. I'm afraid scholarships are just going to become more and more important as tuition becomes more and more outrageous.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Christine:
I have to say that high schoolers do need to do more than attend to grades, although that is important too. They need to start applying for scholarships...now. And it's better if you're reading this as a freshman because you can get a jump on everyone else who will inevitably wait until they are seniors.

There are thousands of scholarships out there -- most not tied to specific schools so it doesn't even matter if you know where you're going. You can do a search on-line for scholarship opportunities or you can talk to your local reference librarian for help.

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Fastweb! Really! And avoid ANY website that charges you a fee to search.

And while I agree that high school students are well served by looking for scholarships before their senior year, I'd say that beginning late in their sophomore year or early in their junior year is sufficient.

And yeah, most of us are just not going to be able to save enough to put our kids through college. Especially if we have more than one! However, if you are saving money for your kids' (or future kids') tuition, I strongly recommend consulting with an accountant or other tax advisor. There are special accounts and other options available that have different tax consequences. However, they also have different affects on eligilibility for financial aid. And for both tax purposes and financial aid eligibility, it matters whether the account is in the parent's name or the child's (some of the choices don't have that flexibility).
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
*mildly disappointed that no one has FA questions*

Which is weird, because you'd think I'd get enough of answering them all day at work. The CalGrants are coming! The CalGrants are coming!
 

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Posted by Chanie (Member # 9544) on :
 
I went to a private college with a large endowment during the late 90's.

They could actually have afforded to lower tuition because of how well the endowment was doing (invested into various capital markets). There were many discussions about how that would make the school look less competitive. Instead, they chose to replace all of the loans that were given with grants. I know that this made a huge difference for many of my friends, giving them more freedom to chose a career in a non-profit when they graduated.

However, while some of that endowment went to things that could be considered frivolous (like beautiful grounds, art, etc) a fair amount went to things that really made a difference. Such as the grants I mentioned above. And $3000/summer for anyone doing an unpaid internship for a non-profit. And a whole bunch of other things like health insurance for all students, enough professors to keep the average class size around 15, state-of-the-art science labs and computers, etc.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Very nice.
 

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Posted by Christine (Member # 8594) on :
 

quote:

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And while I agree that high school students are well served by looking for scholarships before their senior year, I'd say that beginning late in their sophomore year or early in their junior year is sufficient.

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Probably, yeah. I didn't mean that you should start looking as a freshman, my point was just that you need to start sooner rather than later. I was trying to light a fire under some people. I wish I would have known to start sooner.
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
Major in something that has a chance of a decent salary. >_<
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 

quote:

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Major in something that has a chance of a decent salary. >_<

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NOW you tell me!



CT, I go to UAB. Don't mind if anyone knows. If they want to stalk the campus hoping to find me, well, it's a pretty big campus.
 

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Posted by happysmiley (Member # 9703) on :
 
Thanks for that.

I'm only in 7th grade but next year my parents are making me take algebra so in highschool I can skip two years of basic science and 1 year of geometry. They also made me take the SAT test so I could go to educational summer camps. woopie. With it all leading up to: college.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Belle:
CT, I go to UAB. Don't mind if anyone knows. If they want to stalk the campus hoping to find me, well, it's a pretty big campus.

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Well, then, I'll repost. Cool!

It just suddenly occurred to me that you might want the control over the information, even if I thought I'd seen you talk about UAB here. I'm trying to be more mindful these days.

Here are the scholarships I wanted to make sure you were aware of:

quote:

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UAB Faculty Women’s Club Scholarship: Scholarships are awarded to women over 25 years of age returning to complete an undergraduate degree. An essay is required.
...
Nellie Whitworth Flaherty and Lula McCord Whitworth Scholarship: This award is reserved for a deserving female student. Preference will be given to those students who have been or are in the work force and are returning to school to complete their education on either a part-time or full-time basis.

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(from UAB's main scholarship opportunity online list)

There are others which may work for you, too.
 

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Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
Thanks, CT.

I'm applying to a couple this year that are for juniors entering their senior years, so I'll add these to the lists of ones to try for.
 

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Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 


I would be honored to have assisted [in a very small way] in funding the gift of Belle to teaching.
 

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