Who Really Gets the Most College Financial Aid?

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PLEASE HELP! I am an educator with 2 children that can not get enough financial aide to attend a community college full time. Where does an average student, that has a parent that makes over $25,000 a year, get the financial support they need to pursue a career and become positive, contributing members of this country?

lindsey of TX 3:41PM April 05, 2012

Frank Johnson,
You comments are horrendous, and ignorant at best. Why should a bright mind suffer because their parents had to put their education aside to put food on the table and pay the bills? You should be ashamed of yourself thinking the poor are lazy. Some of the hardest working people I know do not make much money and would love the opportunity to obtain higher education. I myself finished an associated degree and a majority of a bachelors degree while working full time . I did this when I had the time and funds available to finish more schooling. While attending school I would be mandated to work 12/hr shifts and often time both my days off. Working in the perishable food industry, the shipping industry and auto industry while trying to attend school was not easy but I am getting through it every chance I get. I have worked for four Companies that have close and yes at times I had to drop classes to take other job just to survive. Even with an associate's degree I cannot find easier work to help me finish my senior year of college. The problem I see is people like you don't really understand the meaning behind the work "Work". In my eyes someone posting a comment like yours has never really had to work a day in their life. Stop criticizing others when you don't know what you are talking about. I have watched students with lower GPA's than me go onto med school because they have opportunities I was not afforded. I am now 35 years old and suffer from major back pain arthritis, and degenerative disc disease most likely causes by some of the harshest work condition you could imagine. The food on your table was shipped by people like myself, and the automobiles you drive were fixed by people like me. People who get up every day and "Work" for themselves and the people of our society. It makes me sick when people who are more fortunate and have had more opportunity put people down who have been less fortunate and have not been afforded the same opportunities.

Educated of MA 8:07PM January 18, 2012

I have read most of these threads and it makes me crazy when folks decide to attend an optional education program and then do not want to pay for it. If you cant afford to pay for school then you or your children should not attend. I do not believe the tax payers should pay for your defualts are so call bankruptcy attempts. This is the probelm with our country, the lazy get welfare and the workers get to pay for it.

Frank Johnson of MD 12:01PM November 02, 2011

Years ago I went to Mount Holyoke. Of all the schools I applied to it was the only one that calculated everything -- allowing for one or two round-trip air tickets/year (the budget cost to my home town already figured in), money for books, laundry, and pocket expenses, as well as tuition, health insurance, and room and board. Half of its students received some form of financial aid at the time.
There were four children in my family; my mother who had been a substitute teacher and then a store clerk had been out of work for a year but had just gotten a new (and much better) job; my father's income was modest. Nevertheless, Mt. Holyoke had calculated things so my parents would not have to pay that much.
I nevertheless wanted to be independent. This entailed taking jobs--such as waitressing--mainly for money rather than procuring an internship, working some over the Winter Term, and taking a year off to work, as well as borrowing a bit more.
I even managed to pay for one a la carte course with money from work (tuition, public and private, was not so high when I went).
One other note: in-state tuition at a public university is relatively modest for middle class students and for the children of professionals -- so even without financial aid, if students are careful about spending, state schools are possibilities for the middle.
But I am shocked at how much private non-profit tuition has increased, and just in general about the increased cost of living. I feel it would have been much more difficult for me to do what I did today, mainly because of the increased cost of living.
I also do feel that internships are important and I wonder if having to choose a job that pays money discourages poorer students from internships they need.

cew of FL 10:20PM January 19, 2011

Education is not the only area where the poor and working class get the shaft. My father split when I could barely walk. My mother was poor and worked 60 or more hours her whole life without ever accepting a dime of welfare nor food stamps. College was out of the question when I graduated high school- with honors.
This year at 39, I decided to throw everything I had into going back to school and finishing my engineering degree. The term Financial "Aid" is a joke. There is no aid... only a guarantee that you can rack up 6 figures worth of federal debt and still not have enough. My husband and I grossed $45K last year and it was calculated that our family contribution is $12K. They do not account for the fact that 50% of our income is for housing alone. That isn't even a question on the form. So where do I get the rest? Sallie Mae turned me down.
I had about a year's worth of credits under my belt already that I did one or two classes at a time paid for in full out of pocket as I went. I had a 3.7 GPA while working more than full time. I moved my work schedule around this year so that I could dedicate myself to a full time school schedule. Yet now I have a hold on my account because I simply cannot come up with the rest. I was told today that if I cannot pay, by Friday that I should just withdraw by next Tuesday so I don't owe the loans despite not being able to go. I am devastated.
I have worked 2-4 jobs since the age of 16. I have paid into this system my whole life, and never asked for assistance of any kind. I have never had health insurance because without a college degree, the likelihood of getting a job with benefits is about slim to none. Broken bones were paid for out of pocket (casts cut off at home because I could not afford to go back for follow up). Urgent care is about the only care I have ever gotten. I have not been to the dentist in 15 years. And now that I want to finish what I started and improve my life and that of my family, the door is being slammed in my face.
Seems to me the government wants suckers like me to just keep to my station and continue to pay for the "others" to succeed. In fact, it seems like this country's system is not set up to benefit the VAST MAJORITY of those paying into it. The fact that folks just accept this blindly is infuriating. I love this country but right about now an feeling betrayed by it.

Maile Wood of WV 3:04PM September 07, 2010

I completely respect your approval of community colleges, and I completely agree with you that community colleges offer good education, but the problem we face is that not only students shun on the thought of going to community college, but employers do as well.
I attended a few minor classes at a Community College and LOVED it. The teachers were great, and I learned a lot before I moved onto enrolling at a University. Unfortunately, like you said, noone knows the kind of education they get at a good CC until they take a few classes there.
But the problem is not with students, it's with the entire country as a whole. If you're an employer of a profitable company, and you have the resumes of 5 different people. It's likely you're going to trust your company to someone who had a full education at a major university rather than community college.
It's not anyone's fault, that's why I agree with you that we shun on the term "community college". It's just gotten a bad rap for accepting anyone and everyone that has money. The fact is, at least where I live, those who go to community college didn't care too much about school, didn't work hard in school, and can get into community college.
Perhaps the word "Community" should be taken out of all CC's all across the country.

Robert of MI 5:13PM August 10, 2010

Maybe it's because I go to a top school (Vanderbilt) that gives me amazing financial aid packages that I'm incapable of sympathizing with many of the commenters here, but I don't get why so many people are complaining about how they had to rack up unnecessary debt by going to a college they couldn't afford without taking out five-figure loans. I'm sorry, but community college is a perfectly viable option for those with monetary restrictions. What frustrates me is the fact that so many people CHOOSE to go to a more expensive public/private school and then later have the nerve to complain about how the government should give them more aid and how much debt they've had to accrue to go to the more expensive school. The thing is, so many high schoolers think that they're 'too good' for community college. "That's where are the (insert derogatory term) go" they say with contempt. And I think it's actually kind of sad because there will be plenty of kids who will rack up an extra two to three years worth of debt at a 4-year, when they could have just as easily attended a community college and received the same credit for a fraction of the costs. In general, it doesn't matter where you started college, it only matters where you ended aka graduated from. Just swallow your 'pride' and go to the cheaper option.

TXan of TX 6:44AM August 05, 2010

My daughter was in the top 1/4 of her class, B+ average, while taking AP and CP classes. Many of the kids with a higher GPA than hers did not take AP or CP classes. Most of the kids that ranked below her in her graduating class qualifed for aid. She did not. We make roughly $70,000 per year total (husband and I), until my husband was laid off in March of 2009, and have another son in college. We have never qualified for any aid or "subsidized" loans. On top of that, I have seen many, many kids who did poorly in school qualify for aid, enroll in college and then drop out. I know it sounds self-serving, but I really think we are giving aid to the wrong people! If a student didn't graduate with at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, they simply should not qualify for aid. Let's not waste taxpayer dollars on students who aren't even serious about school. Too many really good kids are getting left out of the loop and either have to work to put themselves through school, or as in our case, we had to sell the house and move into a condo just to be able to help the kids with school. I have seen lots of really good students not go to school at all because they didn't qualify for any help. If you think this sounds like sour grapes, you are correct!! By the way, my daughter is half Hispanic and has a Hispanic last name and still didn't qualify! All this talk about ethnic students getting a break is bull!

Jean Jimenez of CO 9:30PM August 04, 2010

My father has been unemployed recently, I have 3 younger siblings who are all going to aspire to go to college, my parents have mortgage payments and car payments to make. My mother makes about $40,000 a year. What did the government give me? $3,750 worth of loans. That's it. Not a single grant, not a work-study, nothing. So I'm forced to take out $15,000 in private student loans for every single semester of school, and we're close to being declined because we're nearing our debt-to-income ratio.
Something has GOT to change.

Janele of NH 10:42PM July 22, 2010