The Research after the Rant.

As I talked about earlier, the cost of college has been an issue for a long time. Things are just getting worse. Tuition is going up and Pell funding is going down as the criteria for eligibility changes. Fortunately, they didn't need me to tell them to start dealing with it. Here are several new approaches that are being taken towards financial aid:

A New Way for Need Based Aid This article talks about the program that Oregon is called a 'shared responsibility' plan. Students will be expected to pay the equivalent of what they could earn working full time during the summer and up to 12 hours a week while in class(Oregon's minimum wage is currently $7.50) for a community college. For a four year institution they will be expected to take out a loan for some of the additional costs. Student's families are also expected to contribute their portion as outlined by federal financial aid methodology. Oregon will pay what is left over.

This plan was developed after a committee polled citizens about starting an endowment and received negative reactions. The people who spoke out said that they didn't want to give students a sense of entitlement, and that higher education was a privilege not a right. This way students can prove themselves and earn their education.

I am troubled by this plan and it probably has a lot to do with my financial/academic history. I had a full ride to college that was a combination of need and merit based aid, so I earned part of my aid. However, the work I did to earn my scholarship was on school work, and it was my expectation that the work I would do here would be on school work. College is supposed to be a full time job. For every hour of class I’m suppose to spend 2 to 3 hours outside of class studying. This program is requiring students to have 1 ⅓ jobs if their parents or spouses are contributing. The article wasn’t clear about whether the family contribution was necessary to receive the funding or if it was just part of the calculation for how much the funding would be awarded. Another issue I have with this program is that they are setting the program up on students’ potential earnings. Do the students still have to pay tuition at the beginning of the school year? Has anyone taken into account the additional hours the student will have to work for living expenses? Are programs going to be put in place to ensure that students can find and maintain a minimum wage job? What about a full time job? What about the holiday breaks are students no longer going to be able to visit home for fall and spring break because they need to make those 12 hours that week?

Student is an occupation. Students are showing their responsibility by being successful on campus. I don’t think that they should have to prove their worth in any other way especially knowing that part time jobs have been shown to have negative impacts on student grades and involvement.

A different approach is coming from the University of Washington. Everyone who qualifies for Pell Grants or need based state aid will have their tuition and fees paid for by the university. A capital campaign is currently underway to raise funds and the program will be implemented at all of the University of Washington campuses. This plan is following the lead of some private colleges, but unlike their plans UW will not be covering room and board. Since the criteria is that they be eligible for other aid, students will be expected to use that aid for housing.

I suppose that it's a bit obvious that I support this program more. I don't have anything at all against giving away education. The GI Bill has proven that education is simply good for the country. In the most basic and measurable sense, if we educate people, they get better jobs. With those better jobs they make more money. When they make more money they spend more money and pay more taxes. Now we'll just have to develop a better system for determining need.

Its degrees that we shouldn't be giving away, but grade inflation should be a completely different post.

My Degree and My Debt

I was reading this article when I noticed the statement that, "the average student now graduates with $17,500 in student loan debt." It doesn't seem that hard to know why that is, but I'm wondering if there is just a whole different approach we should be taking. Students have never been able to afford college. However, one of the major differences is that in the 17, 18 and early 19 hundreds students were just skipping the bill. Now we carry around our debt for years. I'm not suggesting a grassroots movement that inspires students everywhere to dodge thier debt collectors, but if tuition for students doesn't work and has never worked, maybe it needs to be reassessed from top to bottom.

According to this simple College Cost Calculator, a high school freshman right now can expect to pay $90,591.93 for college. If that freshman starts working at 14 (when it becomes legal) for $7 an hour and 20 hours a week over the next 4 years she will earn $26,880. If she continues to work at the same rate through four years of college she will earn a total of $53,760. That student is short $36,831.93. She almost earned 60% of what she needs. Of course this doesn't take into account any living costs that she may have such as the car or the gas to get to this job. I could go on but there is no need to. We are knowingly marketing and selling a service to customers that cannot afford it. That is unethical.

I understand the importance of the commercial approach and that marketing universities supports the quality and diversity that we have in our country. I also understand that the students are people receiving the services rendered, but all of our campus programming on being responsible with a credit cards and staying out of debt seems ironic and perhaps a bit hypocritical given the situation we are putting them in.

During a discussion with one of my instructors she mentioned that tuition made up 15% or less of the University's budget. I don't have documentation for this but if it is true, we are expecting student to take out loans, be awarded scholarships, and work part time to provide us with only 15% of our budget. It doesn't seem like much to ask but it is enough to jeopardize their grades both in high school and college, cause them extra stress and anxiety, and edge them in to counseling (financial and mental). It has the potential to keep them from engaging in their community, visiting with their faculty, or even coming to college in the first place.

I don't know what the solution is. Maybe we should cut 15% of our budget. It's not a task I would want, but it wouldn't be the first or the last time a business has done it. Maybe employers should be recruiting students the same way sport coaches do, and whichever employer is lucky enough to get me is also lucky enough to pay off my debt. Maybe every potential student in the country should be given vouchers that equal the average cost of college. If they want to go somewhere more expensive then they should start worrying about scholarships and loans. It may be crazy talk, but crazy talk may be just what we need. This problem has been around for hundreds of years, we have to completely abandon the box in order to find an answer.