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loveduke22 · 12-23-2007, 01:22 PM

The problem lies in that there is a huge gap between income brackets in regards to both outright aid and loans.

I agree with bluedog completely that students should expect to take out loans to pay for their education...my friends take out loans, my parents had to take out loans...it is an essential part of financing an education for many people. We have all these schools making huge steps to eliminate loans for families making, say, under $60,000 a year. But then we have families in the middle to upper middle class who are taking out ridiculous amounts of loans. For instance, I consider my family to be upper middle class and we take out around $20,000 a year in loans, which is incredibly frustrating because it's not like we're rolling around in money or anything. It makes the burden less and and less for one income bracket but as tuition increases it makes it more and more miserable for another. SO I think bluedog is right to suggest that someone needs to step back and realize that student loans are not the end of the world and, well, graduating from a school like Duke, many students should certainly have no problem paying them back. It's important for all income brackets to realize that loans may factor into their aid decisions...and then schools can focus on making them less of a burden for the middle class.

That said, I think Harvard's 10 Percent plan is right on, and something schools like Duke should aspire to as endowments expand and whatnot. The plan allows families making up to $180,000 a year to benefit, which is a great number when you consider tuition to be around $45,000 a year. So if you make $70,000 a year, it puts it on your familiy to find a way to pay $7,000 a year. Likewise if you make $150,000 a year, $15,000 which is an incredibly reasonable pricetag, in my opinion, and makes things much more manageable and much less of a burden for a huge group of families sending students to these high-priced schools.

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but sometimes I think people forget that people pay taxes, and taking home $______ a year in annual salary doesnt mean you have $_______ to pay tuition.

12-23-2007, 01:22 PM	#19
loveduke22 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: North Carolina Threads: 21 Posts: 1,161	The problem lies in that there is a huge gap between income brackets in regards to both outright aid and loans. I agree with bluedog completely that students should expect to take out loans to pay for their education...my friends take out loans, my parents had to take out loans...it is an essential part of financing an education for many people. We have all these schools making huge steps to eliminate loans for families making, say, under $60,000 a year. But then we have families in the middle to upper middle class who are taking out ridiculous amounts of loans. For instance, I consider my family to be upper middle class and we take out around $20,000 a year in loans, which is incredibly frustrating because it's not like we're rolling around in money or anything. It makes the burden less and and less for one income bracket but as tuition increases it makes it more and more miserable for another. SO I think bluedog is right to suggest that someone needs to step back and realize that student loans are not the end of the world and, well, graduating from a school like Duke, many students should certainly have no problem paying them back. It's important for all income brackets to realize that loans may factor into their aid decisions...and then schools can focus on making them less of a burden for the middle class. That said, I think Harvard's 10 Percent plan is right on, and something schools like Duke should aspire to as endowments expand and whatnot. The plan allows families making up to $180,000 a year to benefit, which is a great number when you consider tuition to be around $45,000 a year. So if you make $70,000 a year, it puts it on your familiy to find a way to pay $7,000 a year. Likewise if you make $150,000 a year, $15,000 which is an incredibly reasonable pricetag, in my opinion, and makes things much more manageable and much less of a burden for a huge group of families sending students to these high-priced schools. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but sometimes I think people forget that people pay taxes, and taking home $______ a year in annual salary doesnt mean you have $_______ to pay tuition.