Higher Ed Struggles as Economy Falters
Competition for financial aid and seats at the most affordable schools is fierce. The worst is yet to come
Reader Comments
heyyyy
hey
This is a very competitive socity.
This is a very competitive society in every aspect. College admission, too. If you are really good (actually good is not enough, better be excellent), you do not worry very much. The kids just need to have a good study habit and work very hard when they are in high school (better start from elementry school). The ordinary colleges have plenty scholarships for the students of academic excellence. The few top national universities which do not offer merit scholarship to any one (they do no need this to attract excellent students) but they have extremely good finanancial aid program.
The KEY is that you have to be excellent and competitive to be admitted. My children are very typical American youth and both of them are in college now. My daughter is still a freshman. Both are in the top most universities of the country. Our financial situation should belong to the upper-middle class and even so, with both kids in college, we mainly help them to pay room and board and nearly all tuition and fees are paid by the aid from the schools.
Agree With Disagree
A small worldview is increasingly dangerous in an increasingly smaller world. Both Kathy and Agree seem upset that some of the student population on campuses they visited was made up of "others"; those who are different from them. By bringing "diverse" (yes, it's a pc word, but one that nonetheless has merit) populations together in a safe environment, these schools are creating an opportunity for us to learn that we aren't all that different, really. The college experience is so much more than one happens in the classroom, otherwise we'd all just stay home and earn degrees online. Learning to recognize the humanity of those who have different backgrounds from us is imperative if we are to have any hope of refraining from killing each other. The fact that there are diverse populations on campus, and yes, even foreigners (what a word!) is of enormous benefit to everyone on campus, especially "mainstream" (I take this to mean white & middle class, if I'm wrong please correct me) students.
I also believe it is especially damaging to young people to model attitudes of victimhood. "It's not your fault you weren't selected by this school; their priority is to take minorities" is a crippling attitude. It takes power away from your child. Really, it doesn't matter if foreign children or minority children are getting scholarships or spots in school. There's plenty of money and places available to mainstreamers as well, IF they work hard and dedicate themselves to finding them. To focus on what others are getting has never been a good strategy for getting anything yourself. Rather focus on what your child CAN control: attitude, effort, service to others. If they don't get something they wanted, they can then start thinking "maybe my essay could have been better" or "I need more practice for scholarship interviewing" - things that will eventually lead to success.
Once they start thinking "I didn't get it because they like brown people better (or people with funny accents)" they are done. All that is left is more failure and excuses, and you have unwittingly contributed to that.
Anyone else ever been at the point to where..
..they think that college is a scam, teachers are rude, and with this economy I'm just paying for more debt with similar prospects for employment as before I started my education? Here's a plan. Realize that EVERY college wants to make money(with no regard for you), pick an affordable one(by your standards)at which you can get your desired degreem then work while getting your degree and pay a bit along while getting you loans. It helped me, also if you happen to find a decent(paying) job beforehand you won't freak out when you graduate and have to pay a couple hundred or however much a month for you student loans. This world really doesn't care about you and thats a hard lesson if you are fresh to life on your own but you have to do it some time right?
BTW
"When I graduated I was faulted for "taking the easy way" out of education by doing it so slowly. I was also criticized sharply for not availing myself of career-related internships and jobs which would have given me insight and connections within my chosen career."
Who the hell can criticize you for working through college and then call it easy? Thats one of the things that gets you hired. Also internships are usually just a way to get work experience(which people don't like to hire you without even with the sacred degree), if this was someone at your school, well, no school likes to take responsibility for students difficulty finding work, but they LOVE to claim you if you've searched hard and made your own way after graduating. They just don't sincerely care and won't admit when their plan wasn't quite as beneficial as they were telling you it was during the admissions process.
Xenaphohia? Really? I am one of the student of whom you speak - an American-born graduate student with years of near 4.0 grades and lower middle class parents who were unable to contribute to my education. I was refused anything but student loans to pay for school, even when wealthier Americans and international students received them easily. My debt is about $70,000 at this point. I struggled by with lousy, dangerous and poorly paid work that challenged my ability to complete my studies, stretching my undergrad degree out to 8 virtually intolerable years - with a raise in tuition at the end of each one. When I graduated I was faulted for "taking the easy way" out of education by doing it so slowly. I was also criticized sharply for not availing myself of career-related internships and jobs which would have given me insight and connections within my chosen career.
Meanwhile, friends who were international students received full aid, scholarships and all sorts of specialized workshops, internships and hiring assistance. Why? Most of them were good students, true, but so were many, many others who did not receive such treatment. I hardly think that if I were to attend school in India, China or Russia that I would receive preferential treatment or specialized assistance over local students. And if I did, it would be grossly unfair. It would be robbing from the tax rolls of the local population. The U.S. is the only nation I can think of which does such a thing, and much to its detriment. It is one of the reason why we are quickly losing ground in the world. And for the record, my parents were European immigrants. They came here and worked crappy jobs for low pay. My father was able to attend college only on the GI bill - for fighting in a world war. I would say he earned it.
The backlash against preferential treatment for international students has nothing to do with cultural insensitivity or racial discrimination for most people. It has to do with being disenfranchised in your own country. NO country should do that to its own.
Disagree with Both
The article does not, in my view, examine the ‘typical’ American kid – but rather a financially cushioned American applicant unlikely to be impacted by this economic recession beyond a further examination of one’s options (referring to the anecdote in paragraph three of the article). Many American (and non-American) college attendees do not have ‘options’ financially. In addition, the reader comments address an issue unrelated to the economic recession – an inherent xenophobia in the apparent melting pot of the American elite. Ineligible already for numerous scholarships on the basis of citizenship, many countries and cultures do not carry with it the assumption that parents will finance college education. This calls into question whether economics can explain some cultural insensitivity – does it not explain the heated illegal immigration debate today? Suggestively, then, before consigning discrimination to an unfortunate aspect of American history, college education might serve to eradicate rather than enforce such disparity.
Agree with Kathy
We've just completed our 16th college trip with our daughter. Every other word out of the mouths of university guides was 'diversity'. That's fine to the point where you walk across campus and don't even feel that you're in the US. These are Tier 1 schools, boasting a diverse student population of up to 50%, quite out of line with the population at large. For her 'crime' of being an all-American kid (and super student, BTW) my daughter's chances of admission are diminished. And, most of the schools had the same price tag for foreign students as for out-of-state American students. Enough already! Well-educated,non-xenophobic American parents are tired of remaining silent. Schools would be well advised to begin understanding what's on our minds, although not usually on our politically correct lips. There are still enough of us with 529 plans in cash that will be watching.
kathy
Curiously, US kids are suffering, yet some colleges still persist in giving precious scholarship $$ & financial aid money to FOREIGN children! Colleges continue to employ foreign kids as teaching assistants, while the American-born sling hash. Foreign kids are recruited with a ferocity; meanwhile, only a few colleges meet need at the 100% level. It is time to re-think the priorities of colleges. They exist here in america. OUR kids should have priority, especially in these times of scarcity.
