That is a bit disconcerting to read, in light of the suggestion that transfer students are less likely to receive financial aid, or as much aid; it appears highly prejudicial against non-trad students, who might be seen as needing the help more than those under their parents’ jurisdiction. This leads me to wonder what percentage of colleges might follow such a policy. It has been noted above that a college is, at least in a free market economy, forced to be primarily “a business”. Should it not be the student’s choice to determine the nature of his matriculation, especially in light of the fact that empowerment of one’s customers is one of the best means to customer satisfaction and retention available to businesses of all sorts?
Thanks, @thumper1. My guess would be that since virtually everyone at Stanford and MIT are academic stars…since those schools can attract an entire student body thereof, the giving of academic scholarships is rendered unavailing. Is there anyplace to find a list of colleges that do offer academic scholarships? Some Peterson’s guide, perhaps?
Whether or not you or any of us agree with it, that’s the reality. The only schools that have an obligation to serve you as a transfer and/or non-traditional student are your in-state publics.
I was a non-traditional student and didn’t attend college until I was already married. I got excellent financial aid because of that, since they didn’t take my parents’ finances into account, and my spouse was a student at the time. I was able to attend my in-state public flagship for very little cost. I had a Pell grant, and then I got a full-tuition continuing student merit scholarship for my 2nd and 3rd years. I took the max number of credits my scholarship allowed, and graduated early. So in that case my non-traditional circumstances were an advantage, and I would have had the same dealio even if I’d been a transfer student.
If you have financial need, you can go to your in-state public, and probably get excellent financial aid, even as a transfer student.
You can look here for schools that offer merit aid (the last two columns). The source of this information is Section H of each school’s common data set (CDS).
I second the advice to look at your in-state four year college options (assuming you are a US citizen or permanent resident.) You could do the first two years of school at a CC, then transfer to a four year in-state school. Many CCs have articulation agreements with their state’s four year colleges, which means generally all your credits will transfer if you stick to the articulation agreement. Many transfers from CC lose a lot of credits if they transfer to private or OOS public schools.
That is quite obvious. I am fairly impressed by the level of competence apparent here.
Well, being American, it seems natural for me to focus on trying for my education here in the States, and I must say that I have always been very impressed with, and enamored of, the suggestion of exclusivity and the seductive prestige, almost a romantic quality, which attends our great private universities. It is a system not replicated anywhere else in the world that I have seen. I frankly don’t like that the government should be involved so profoundly there as it is within every other facet of our lives.
These schools (and any other privates) can do whatever they want. Those that accept federal funding have some restrictions, but are pretty much free to admit who they want and give aid to who they want.
There are a small number of private schools that do not accept federal funding and thus have no restrictions, as noted above. Probably the most “academic” of these is Hillsdale. This school could be a great fit for you, and you should look into it.
Otherwise, you’re stuck with your in-state publics who are obligated to help you, or other schools that can do as they see fit with few restrictions. Elite privates only give need-based aid, and are VERY hard to gain admission.
Welp, as long as you are admitted, and can pay their fees, you can matriculate wherever you want. These schools do not lack “empowered” qualified applicants.
There are nearly 4000 colleges and universities in the US.
There are too many good students applying out of 20K High schools (20K Valedictorians every year), and thousands of community colleges for the few spots at the elite colleges (and that doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world who expect to get into Harvard).
Since you seem to be bent on only the exclusive schools,If you can pay, and you have strong academics at the CC, then you can matriculate to wherever you’ve been accepted. The elites take a handful of transfers and most of the ones that you’ve listed, are private schools which are not subsidized by their State budgets. The privates are not large schools and have already reserved spaces from their continuing students. They know what their numbers are.
Most employers aren’t going to be mesmerized by your college degree unless you’ve cured cancer, so the idea of “seductive prestige” on a budget, probably should include your public feeder universities if you hope to gain a degree.
Oh and another note, university applications provide limited space for prose, so it would be to your benefit to practice being concise and succinct.
If you don’t like the government involvement in higher ed in the US, you should spend some time seeing what it’s like elsewhere. In many countries, there is a national curriculum in grades K-12 (or comparable), national entrance exams which are highly determinative not just of where you get accepted, but your career track and options after that, strict gate-keeping at a national level to determine who is “college material” and who is getting an apprenticeship or trade school education. Why? Because the government runs the higher ed system and gets to decide who can study three languages and history and qualify for the diplomatic corps, and who gets to learn plumbing and heating. Government is involved in virtually every aspect of the educational system except for housing (in many countries universities take the attitude “you can live at home and commute, or find an apartment”).
So if you are looking for less involvement by government- you’re in luck, you’re already here.
I have to agree with @blossom, if the US government wasn’t “involved” in the higher educational facet of our lives, you wouldn’t be given the second chance and opportunity that you are currently seeking. A higher education is not a guarantee to anyone. You are not owed an elite education.
Those who complain about the system of government in higher education, should spend time volunteering at an inner city public elementary school, watching kids who have to use government funding to get breakfast and lunch because their parents can’t afford to feed them.
I am a product of one of those schools. I received some funding for my Bachelor’s degree and I worked three jobs to get through my Masters. If you don’t want to fill out forms, that’s on you. You shouldn’t expect free money from any agency that seems so contrary to your goals.
My entire career was made possible by government subsidized/guaranteed loans. I had no credit history when I applied to graduate school, I had no assets, and was a lousy credit risk in every possible way.
To my astonishment, a major bank gave me a loan (technically a series of loans- one for each semester) which was backstopped by the federal government. I am still astonished and grateful that a government program made my education possible.
So there are two sides to the “government is too involved in our lives” discussion. Yes, there were forms to fill out, mandatory credit counseling to attend (government requirement- the bank couldn’t care less if I understood what I was signing) and more paperwork than I’d ever seen in my life. But I would have been stuck in my post-BA job for a decade, doing an MBA one course at a time, if it hadn’t been for the loan.
Tripled my income post-MBA vs. pre-MBA, so a pretty good ROI even with interest costs.
Talent Acquisition… specifically recruiting for large global corporations for over 30 years… I was in a management training program for a big company after undergrad…hated it. But I graduated into a recession and that was the best offer I had. Many more options after my MBA even though the economy was still sluggish. But I was willing to move anywhere which really helped. A lot of my classmates had a Boston NY Chicago DC SF LA mindset but I was willing to go anywhere for a good opportunity.
Can anybody explain what might have induced this, to that which seems a fairly innocuous comment? I admit to having neglected to read the community guidelines…
The terms of service are at the bottom here…just scroll down. And remember that politics are for the political forum which you can join if you wish to discuss politics.
