NY Times article on financial aid cutbacks (Reed College)

[Jane in NC]

The article begins:

 

The admissions team at Reed College, known for its free-spirited students, learned in March that the prospective freshman class it had so carefully composed after weeks of reviewing essays, scores and recommendations was unworkable.

 

Money was the problem. Too many of the students needed financial aid, and the college did not have enough. So the director of financial aid gave the team another task: drop more than 100 needy students before sending out acceptances, and substitute those who could pay full freight.

 

The whole idea of excluding a student simply because of money clashed with the college’s ideals, Leslie Limper, the aid director, acknowledged. “None of us are very happy,†she said, adding that Reed did not strike anyone from its list last year and that never before had it needed to weed out so many worthy students. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m still doing this.â€

 

 

You can read the rest of the article here.

[creekland]

This is both sad and scary... as I'm looking to put three into college in the next 5 years.

 

It definitely shows the need to make their high school years really meaningful to get those test scores high and qualify for 'other' scholarships.

[JFSinIL]

I'm with you, Creekland - I have one applying this fall, and two following within a few years. Even a state school, those kids will need financial aid. My son is hoping to go to a $40,000+ school he feels is "the one" - :glare: We are unable to pay as much as the government will say we can simply due to SillyAutismBoy, who once out of school will not be able to be left home alone...kinda ties me down and prevents working.

[Nicole M]

This really terrifies me. I work at a small college that is member of a consortium of schools that offer tuition remission for each other. Reed is one of those schools on our exchange list (which has been getting smaller every year). I have been very worried that my children won't get admitted into a school because of our eligibility for full tuition remission.

 

A little off topic, but another movement on the horizon is that many schools that have historically offered full tuition remission for staff are moving toward only offering 75%. I believe Willamette is taking this step. This is outrageous to me. Colleges typically have their own pay scale that is not on par with the going market rate (so our electricians, food service workers, etc. don't earn nearly what they would out in the "real world"), and this adjusted pay scale is justified by the "excellent benefits package" -- i.e., tuition. So when you're earning less money per year than the cost of tuition, and you're giving up that income knowing that your children can attend college tuition-free, it's a heavy, heavy blow.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Nicole M

[K-FL]

Colleges typically have their own pay scale that is not on par with the going market rate (so our electricians, food service workers, etc. don't earn nearly what they would out in the "real world"), and this adjusted pay scale is justified by the "excellent benefits package" -- i.e., tuition. So when you're earning less money per year than the cost of tuition, and you're giving up that income knowing that your children can attend college tuition-free, it's a heavy, heavy blow.

 

It will also make it harder for colleges to hire qualified trades-guys. If they have to hire private contractors instead of doing things "in house" it is possible it will cost them more in the long run.

[TravelingChris]

College costs are outrageous. SInce our EFC currently is almost 44k and in two years I can only expect it to be higher, we are having to really research colleges by cost. We can only expect merit aid and there is no way we can pay full ride to very expensive colleges. I am a non-employed homeschooling mom who will never get to be employed because I became sick with chronic illnesses before I could even qualify for disability. WE can afford to pay in state tuition and we could afford to pay more than that. But 40- 50K is not something we will be able to do.

 

I am completely amazedf that there are that many people who can pay full ride at these very expensive schools. DOn't they have to pay mortgages or rent? ARe their utilities free because mine aren't? Do they pay for gas in their cars? I don't even understand this since we aren't paying off cars and have ratehr good insurance. However, we can't afford to live on only half of our income.

[Nicole M]

It will also make it harder for colleges to hire qualified trades-guys. If they have to hire private contractors instead of doing things "in house" it is possible it will cost them more in the long run.

 

Well, I don't know how the numbers run nationally, but I know of only one child of a Facilities Services worker who has taken advantage of the tuition remission option in the last 25 years at the college where I work. Those jobs have a very high turn-over, and the it is very difficult to attract competent workers. I don't know if tuition remission is just not a high selling point for that cross-section of the population or what.

 

And you're right about contracted workers, though that does seem to be a trend.

 

But back to the article, I think Christina makes a good point. "Needy" and "poor" are very relative terms in this context. There are many middle and upper-middle class families who cannot afford 50K / year tuition costs.

 

Curiously, though, talking with the the folks in our financial aid department, I have learned that there are many students at our college coming from families earning enormous amounts of money who "cry poor" and are able to secure huge amounts of financial aid. Typically, these families have huge consumer debt. This is, of course, anecdotal evidence, and I sure hope it's not true, but it is a little sickening.

[Nicole M]

Here's a follow-up that clears up a few questions about Reed's process:

 

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/reed/?ref=economy

[Jane in NC]

Curiously, though, talking with the the folks in our financial aid department, I have learned that there are many students at our college coming from families earning enormous amounts of money who "cry poor" and are able to secure huge amounts of financial aid. Typically, these families have huge consumer debt. This is, of course, anecdotal evidence, and I sure hope it's not true, but it is a little sickening.

 

Thanks for the blog link in your other post. The reader comments are thought provoking.

 

What you wrote above reminds me of something witnessed when my son was younger. I cannot tell you how many people I encountered who were dissatisfied with the local public schools, but said they could not afford to send their children to the alternatives (private Montessori or Christian school in our community). At the same time, I knew that some of these folks owned very large and expensive boats or very pricey autos. It became clear that some people make education a priority while some prefer the acquisition of stuff. As one who has shunned consumer debt, I too have a hard time with a person pleading poverty because he could not control his own fiscal house.

 

That said, I agree that most "middle class" people are going to have a hard time funding a $200K college education for several children or even an only child. Which of course leads to the discussion of why college costs have risen so dramatically in the last decade or two.

 

A bit of good news is that the market has popped up a bit so while endowments (and college savings) may be down, they are not as dismal as they appeared to be in March.

 

Thanks for input, ladies!

Jane

[Renee in NC]

This really terrifies me. I work at a small college that is member of a consortium of schools that offer tuition remission for each other. Reed is one of those schools on our exchange list (which has been getting smaller every year). I have been very worried that my children won't get admitted into a school because of our eligibility for full tuition remission.

 

A little off topic, but another movement on the horizon is that many schools that have historically offered full tuition remission for staff are moving toward only offering 75%. I believe Willamette is taking this step. This is outrageous to me. Colleges typically have their own pay scale that is not on par with the going market rate (so our electricians, food service workers, etc. don't earn nearly what they would out in the "real world"), and this adjusted pay scale is justified by the "excellent benefits package" -- i.e., tuition. So when you're earning less money per year than the cost of tuition, and you're giving up that income knowing that your children can attend college tuition-free, it's a heavy, heavy blow.

 

This has already happened at Duke University - they used to do 75% of Duke's tuition at any school in the country, but now it is only $13,000 after the forst $1950 (so no in-state public schools.) This was the plan to send my oldest to college and now, while it will help some, it will only pay half the tuition at a private school (and nothing at a public school.)

[Nicole M]

This has already happened at Duke University - they used to do 75% of Duke's tuition at any school in the country, but now it is only $13,000 after the forst $1950 (so no in-state public schools.) This was the plan to send my oldest to college and now, while it will help some, it will only pay half the tuition at a private school (and nothing at a public school.)

 

I only have a minute, but have you looked into the National Tuition Exchange program? I'm not sure if Duke participates.

 

https://www.tuitionexchange.org/index.cfm?

 

That might be an option? I know we never considered NTE until this year, when the last college with a strong choral program on our already shrinking Northwest Colleges Tuition Exchange program dropped out of the program.