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Financial Aid Unfair? psh, It's Absurd!
tipa891
Registered User Posts: 351 Member
Warning this is a rant. Does anyone else think that financial aid is absurdly unfair to middle-upper-middle class students? Even the ivy leagues charge absurd amounts. I find it funny how if you make less than 100k a year, then they're super gracious, but one penny more and nope, all that help is gone! I find it very hard to believe that most of those families can easily dispose 25% of their yearly income to helping one of their children go to college. It's absolutely ridiculous! The reality is that most of those kids will have to either take out insane amounts of loans, or wind up being forced to say no to ivy league schools and their dreams for Community College which is often the only affordable option.
Why do colleges expect that students with a tad bit wealthier parents can take out more in loans than their sub 40k counterparts? These loans are the students responsibility, not the parents. As everyone exits college with a clean slate, why should a kid with poor parents come out debt free while a middle class kid has 80k in debt for just their undergraduate years? It's wrong! Punishing students and their parents because their parents worked hard and with some luck got a better job than others?
Schools that are holistic in their admissions process should be more so with their financial aid. Numbers don't tell the entire tale, and it's cruel to lead kids to believe that if their accepted, college will be affordable because they "Don't want finances to be a barrier" from attending. Grade A BS is what that is.
Why do colleges expect that students with a tad bit wealthier parents can take out more in loans than their sub 40k counterparts? These loans are the students responsibility, not the parents. As everyone exits college with a clean slate, why should a kid with poor parents come out debt free while a middle class kid has 80k in debt for just their undergraduate years? It's wrong! Punishing students and their parents because their parents worked hard and with some luck got a better job than others?
Schools that are holistic in their admissions process should be more so with their financial aid. Numbers don't tell the entire tale, and it's cruel to lead kids to believe that if their accepted, college will be affordable because they "Don't want finances to be a barrier" from attending. Grade A BS is what that is.
Post edited by tipa891 on
This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: Financial Aid Unfair? psh, It's Absurd!
Not sure how this solves anything.
Outside scholarships don't help because most that could do anything significant to an ivy league fin aid package are also based on "financial need". You don't receive Pell? Oh, sucks to be you!
The number of options for low income students to attend and afford college if they work for it are boundless. There are opportunities everywhere, but for these middle income kids? You better either cure aides or be a football prodigy or your dreams are out the window.
Financial aid needs to be distributed better. Much better.
In this income range. Now if you HAVE to attend HTPSM or the like, that is another issue. No one HAS to attend these colleges to get a more than fine education.
My main issue is I hate how kids are punished due to this system. Some parents expect their kids to go to good colleges and have a game plan for them fresh out of the womb, some are in the middle ground, and some never expected it and find themselves blindsided. Who gets punished by this? The student who's tirelessly worked for their goals to see them fall right before their eyes because the schools they applied too put on false white hats and gave them the impression that it would be possible.
I know tons of kids in this situation and it deeply upsets me.
I've seen their homes and their lifestyles and I've seen mine, and I KNOW that they deserve more funding then they so often receive. My family doesn't make much, but they could contribute some. 3k? 4k? Would it be hard, yes, but it wouldn't be any harder than many of these other kids? No, it would not.
There has to be a cut-off for aid somewhere. Being just on the other side of it is no fun, but every time you move it, someone else is just on the other side.
It's been said before, but life is not fair. It just isn't. But there are options available to students, and even if it takes a few extra years because you have to work to get through school, it can be done. Sure, the expensive schools might not be open to you, but many other fine schools are.
Stanford sets undergraduate tuition, reaffirms commitment to financial aid
FAFSA EFC is typically 1/3 to 1/4 of before tax income for everyone.
So even if you are attending a school that meets 100% of need, and your family BEFORE tax income is less than $50,000, your EFC will be 1/4 of that.
Say $14,000.
If families living on 48,000 can spend 1/4 of their income, is it really that much of a hardship for families making six figures to do the same thing?
Those in the middle need to decide how to spend their limited resources. As the Stanford example in #9 shows, the elite colleges will continue to need more and more full pays to subsidize their FA students. IMHO, the smart middle class will refuse the option to subsidize and move on to institutions which provide a fantastic education for a considerably lesser cost.
I'm not saying raise the cutoff exactly, I'm saying the system needs reform. Instead of plugging everything into a calculator, they should really look at the family and what their real expenses are. Instead of a novel of numbers like the CSS profile, maybe they should ask for an essay explaining household life? What about people from large families? Often upper middle class (I'm saying this because as I said earlier, I'm friends with several kids in this income range, and I would definitely not consider them wealthy). Often people with large families contribute to many family members not considered dependents, but these schools don't care about that. That's just one example. The list of circumstances goes on and on, and although these can be reported, they don't get much weight.
These students were admitted holistically and their aid should be holistic. Family tax brackets and finances are definitely not one size fits all.
Having a large family is a choice. Schools dont feel obligated to subsidize those choices.
I wouldn't be so upset if these institutions were straight up about this whole mess, but no. They act all Mother Teresa like. Talk about false advertising :/