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0 pointssuperuser212y ago0 comments

Yep. If your parents are wealthy and don't want to help you, you are most definitely not going to a high-end school, not even a state flagship. At that point community college is the only reasonable option (because it's actually possible to earn enough without the degree to cover the cost).

You couldn't really have it any other way without drastically altering the structure of higher education: the alternative is that everyone's parents will "refuse" to pay and the financial aid system would be totally overwhelmed.

I am incredibly lucky and incredibly thankful that my parents value high-quality education and come from a tradition of academics who help their children through college. Some of my friends who are far smarter than me had to give up on dreams because their parents don't understand how inflation works and think you can still pay your own way through high-quality undergrad in the US.

That is, until you get to the high-end Ivies. Harvard would have cost me $12,500 over UW Madison's $24,000, but I was never going to get accepted there.

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9 comments · 4 top-level

bradleyjg12y ago· 2 in thread

The financial aid system shouldn't be pre hoc means tested, it should be post hoc means tested. 18 years old is old enough to vote, marry, and enlist in the military. The government ought not to be looking at parents to foot the bills for legal adults.

Something like the Harvard Law School debt repayment program: http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/sfs/lipp/participant-cont...

If a given college is worried that such a plan will bankrupt it, perhaps it should reconsider the value of the education it is providing.

superuser2OP12y ago

Students do not have anything close to enough money to cover the actual cost of their education before earning it.

The value of an education I can pay for by mowing lawns is going to be lower because that necessitates zero research, extremely poor student:faculty ratios, etc.

The solution, to me, is to drastically increase government's share of the burden. But try introducing that in Congress.

bradleyjg12y ago

The schools should lend students their education. They are in the best position to underwrite such loans, and such a system would eliminate the current perverse incentives the schools face.

EvanKelly12y ago· 2 in thread

I think your analysis is mostly correct, but it leaves out the option of really hustling for scholarship money.

My good friend from high school was in a position of not being able to afford our flagship state school, even though he got accepted.

He basically made it his full time job to scour all of the scholarship websites and apply to everything he was even minimally eligible for. He was constantly writing, or altering essays to fit a particular scholarship prompt.

All in all, he was able to afford school and has since graduated and become a pharmacist.

Like in a lot of things, hard work and hustle pays off.

superuser2OP12y ago

The problem is most scholarship programs with significant awards have a single-digit number of winners.

This strategy works for a few of the most shining individuals in the country in any given year who dedicate the time required and get extremely lucky. I tip my hat to your friend, but the nature of scholarship programs is that for every kid like your brother, hundreds more worked just as hard, had just as much hustle, and got nothing (or a little, but not enough to make college affordable).

Paying for school on outside scholarships is an impressive accomplishment, but not something we can reasonably expect kids in general to pull off.

gaadd3312y ago

I think he means his friend hustled for the ones that on their own were not significant. Like I think my credit union gives out 5 $500 scholarships a semester. It wouldn't surprise me if the only people who apply are those who's parents work there. If you found a ton of programs like that it can make a pretty sizable dent.

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jamesaguilar12y ago· 1 in thread

http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/basics/cost-of-attendance/

The incremental cost of going to school versus "just" living is like $6000. Even the child of a rich parent with no financial aid should be able to pull that together, especially if you manage to swing any scholarship money.

superuser2OP12y ago

No, they shouldn't, because "just" living gives you 40-60 hours/week to work, and going to college doesn't. Especially at a high-level, challenging school.

nutate12y ago

My parents had just gotten divorced. My dad had zero net worth, my mom very little. Full federal financial aid and need-blind admission at Columbia U. Super cheap, but only later did I realize how lucky I was (in a way) compared to a kid from a moderately wealthy family with two siblings in college. Let alone my friend who came to CU from a rich family but with no parental support who had to get an official parental divorce to make it work!

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9 comments · 4 top-level

bradleyjg12y ago· 2 in thread

Something like the Harvard Law School debt repayment program: http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/sfs/lipp/participant-cont...

If a given college is worried that such a plan will bankrupt it, perhaps it should reconsider the value of the education it is providing.

superuser2OP12y ago

Students do not have anything close to enough money to cover the actual cost of their education before earning it.

The value of an education I can pay for by mowing lawns is going to be lower because that necessitates zero research, extremely poor student:faculty ratios, etc.

The solution, to me, is to drastically increase government's share of the burden. But try introducing that in Congress.

bradleyjg12y ago

The schools should lend students their education. They are in the best position to underwrite such loans, and such a system would eliminate the current perverse incentives the schools face.

EvanKelly12y ago· 2 in thread

I think your analysis is mostly correct, but it leaves out the option of really hustling for scholarship money.

My good friend from high school was in a position of not being able to afford our flagship state school, even though he got accepted.

All in all, he was able to afford school and has since graduated and become a pharmacist.

Like in a lot of things, hard work and hustle pays off.

superuser2OP12y ago

The problem is most scholarship programs with significant awards have a single-digit number of winners.

Paying for school on outside scholarships is an impressive accomplishment, but not something we can reasonably expect kids in general to pull off.

gaadd3312y ago

1 more reply

jamesaguilar12y ago· 1 in thread

http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/basics/cost-of-attendance/

superuser2OP12y ago

No, they shouldn't, because "just" living gives you 40-60 hours/week to work, and going to college doesn't. Especially at a high-level, challenging school.

nutate12y ago

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