Student Debt

[c9]

Which scheme is more workable?

1. Universities charge $4000 per student in tuition, government supplies $10000 per student in funding. (essentially, status quo). Students graduate with an average of $20,000 student debt. Universities forced to cut programs and services to maintain best programs. Adding more students past a certain bar actually reduces the per-student funding from government. (this is also the status quo)

2. Universities let tuition float, completely capitalist, with one year of tuition rising to $10,000 or even $15,000. But almost all of the money is plowed back into bursaries and grants for lower-income students, and the remaining money is used to improve programs and services. This means that the richer students, the ones most able to afford high tuition, pay it, and the least able don't. Could be cynically called another tax.

Paul Wells, a conservative-yet-often-quite-socialist columnist in Maclean's, is blogging on about tuition fees of late. Interesting reading. Tell me (and him too) where his mistakes are. (visit the link and read from the bottom up)

He claims that average student debt for graduates of Harvard is $12,000 CDN. I can't find proof, but have only searched for a few minutes.

Comments

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

(side note. private schools in the US, (all the ivy leagues, and many many others) do not really receive government funding. so they are able to really pick-and-choose their admitted types. public schools, OTOH, are usually funded on a limited-basis federally, and hugely by the STATE they're located in. e.g. Univ. of VA got nearly 65% of it's total funding from Virginia...) of course, the observant would realize here that if the Federal Government cuts educational funding, then ALL states lose money in the deal, and thusly have less to give to the state schools.)

there are a range of required criteria... they take your SATs, SAT IIs, (even your ACT scores, sometimes). there's your entire high school record, and high school GPA. finally, there are usually two to three essay requirements.

of course, with affirmative action, the lines get a little blurred as well as far as racial concerns... but we won't go there.

U. Penn (an Ivy League school) is really tough. My school, Univ. of VA, only accepted 11% of the out-of-state engineering school applicants.

not too sure about B.U., but they are also a decently tough school to get into.

ok. this doesn't really answer your questions.

my SAT score was 1300 combined, and my ACT was a 33 composite. My high school GPA was a 4.08 our of 4.0 (because of college-level weighted classes), and my essays rocked, if i do say so myself.

keep in mind though, school funding works on many different levels here.

first, you have three types of aid: grant, loan, and work-study. within those three types, different people pay for them.

for example, almost anyone can get federal government subsidized and unsubsidized loans. these are loans directly from the govn't and are usually at a _great_ low-interest rate. you do not pay them back until you have been out of school for six months. the govn't offers a third type of loan, called a Ford Federal Direct loan, that your PARENTS must sign for, and they are the primary party responsible for payback. (but most parents just have their kids make the payments after school's over). keep in mind, however, the the highest amount you can get in federal loans, while fairly high, is limited each year. with every year you are in school, the amount avail. for borrowing increases. these loans are available to everyone, and are school-independent.

also in the loan department would be the types of loans that individual schools offer. for example, i took a small loan from UVA, which worked exactly like the federal loan: i was responsible for payments after graduation/leaving school. some schools do not offer these, and those that do have widely varying amounts.

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