joecollegedad

northeastmom said--
lfk good point. Loans are not aid.

YES!

It irritates me that loans are folded into the 'final price' and included in the financial aid package - the familiar assortment of grants, scholarships, work study, and LOANS. Since a loan has to be paid back, you never really 'have it' in the first place. It creates illusions and delusions and can cause problems of all sorts, more problems than are solved.

By including loans in the financial aid package at the time of application to (of buying) the college, it APPEARS to make the NET PRICE (vs sticker), or the 'final price', to go down. It appears to make something in reach which is probably out of reach and not purchasable.

This is a HUGE point in the process that misdirects people. Me included. Jason Yoder, too.



somebody is gaining in this process, too. We should ask,

'Who is gaining?'

The colleges? --which can continue jacking up the costs far above what most everyone else can afford at a rate higher than the rate of earnings, therefore higher than the rate of savings, due to the student demand *AND* the fictitious availability of money?

The money lenders? --who must gain significantly on the considerable interest of the transactions? The magnitudue and volume of the money involved here, even state schools, are like a house PER KID. These are not trivial numbers for most people, or for anyone not in the upper crust.

So the college price numbers are like house numbers, but there is no corresponding security for the loans. It is anomalous. It is an accident waiting to happen.