Reply to dont be in the 60th to 99th percentile in income

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]hat said the challenge is finding high income students who are absolutely committed to staying the full four years as well as academically willing to put in the effort to satisfy the graduation requirements that are tied to the university ranking.  This is no trivial challenge, finding high income students who are also studious.   [/quote]

That's not a challenge at all. The paper shows there are plenty of kids in the parental income 97-100% range who have high test scores and high GPA (i.e. they are studious). The trope that rich kids are lazy and stupid is simply false.[/quote]

Nobody is implying rich kids are lazy and stupid.

From a university point of view, finding high income and studious is a challenge.

Financial aid is the carrot the university offers to make a low income student to do one thing: 1) stay committed for full four years and graduate.  Whereas the university is asking a high income student do two things: 1) go ask your parents or get a loan but pay full tuition 2) please stay here for four years and put in the effort to graduate.  Within the high income student pool, the legacy students bring in the additional attribute of emotional commitment which may or may not be present in a random high income student.  [/quote]
If these colleges weren't so stupidly expensive, then they wouldn't have to worry about #2.  UMC could afford full pay without loans if they lowered the cost, but like expensive cars, the colleges like to keep it expensive to create a "in the club" experience.[/quote]

why shouldn't a for profit university raise prices if it can still keep demand?

Apple's iPhone is celebrated as an all American business success every time it raises prices, and everyone - high income as well as low income happily pay $1400+ for owning it over time. Same with other branded luxuries, resort vacations, etc... As long as everyone pays the same, no one complains.  Imagine what would happen if Apple changes its phone sales to something like half of their phone purchases to lower half will be funded by the upper half based on family income, color of their skin or some other social factor?

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The colleges mentioned in the article are NONprofits with tremendous tax benefits although they act like for-profits.[/quote]

they are nonprofit, but Private. all non-profit means profits made should be reinvested back into the college.  There is no law that says non-profits should not maximize profits.  [/quote]
Sure, but all this talk of "oh we have to charge that much so that we can cover the non rich kids" is BS.  If they lowered the costs, more people could afford to pay for it without taking out stupid sized loans.[/quote]

So what exactly do you propose a university eliminate or reduce to charge lower tuition?  Most 80k+ schools have smaller class sizes---so would you prefer your kid sit in lectures with 300-500 kids for most of their classes?  That way they can fire 1/3 of the professors.  Let's go back to 1 cafeteria on campus for the 6K undergrads and make it just a normal college cafeteria like we had 30+ years ago.....2 entrees, salad bar, cereal and 1 dessert option for each dinner.  No specialty dining or options because those truly cost money and it's much cheaper to run a basic cafeteria in one place everyone just has to walk 20 mins to get to.

Forget the new chemistry labs---kids can squeeze 100 into the lab space for their Orgo Chem lab instead of 25---more partners, less learning for you to do hands on.

I suppose I lived without shuttle busses on my campus 30+ years ago, so kids can just walk the 1.5 miles from one end to the other even at -5 degrees and 11pm, same for the campus security/safe walk---we lived without it, kids can today as well.

Yes they can cut some administration salaries, but the fact is universities cost a lot to run.  Dorms cost more than apartments because they are not cheap---the RAs/RHD/services provided to help kids on campus cost money.  Maintaining old dorms is expensive as well.

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A significant chunk of the increase in college costs is administrative salaries and expenses. During college tours, I was struck by the sheer number of support programs that didn’t exist when I was in college. Back then they let you in and it was sink or swim. Now there are countless counseling and tutoring services — study skills, 24 hour writing center, specialized tutoring, identity support groups, etc etc. As I understand it, the goal is to increase graduation rates, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. That’s great, but it’s not cheap, and a largely hidden cost of expanding the populations served by these institutions. [/quote]
All excellent services that should be available for college students.  Happy to pay for those, incase my kid needs it.  If this helps disadvantaged students make it thru college in 4-5 years, I'm happy to pay.  The benefits for getting those students thru college and onto great careers is too good to give up.    Adjusting to college and navigating your way thru is much more challenging for an 18yo whose parents didn't attend college, the lack of home support can be huge.  Add in often times lower income and the issues/stress of worrying how to pay for everything is added stress many do not understand.[/quote]

Good for you, I'd rather avoid the decades of debt and forgo the counseling services. [/quote]

Not to mention that student debt is a huge driver of mental illness in adulthood. Saddle a 20 year old with 100k in debt and watch what happens ..(nothing good)[/quote]

Or find a path that is affordable to you.  CC then onto a 4 year university.  Or better yet, if your kid is a candidate for an $80K university, they likely can handle DE in HS and graduate HS with their AA and the only cost is lab fees and books, so essentially getting your AA for under $2K.  Then 2 years at university.  My state has several schools with high admission rates (ie if you have a 3.5+ UW gpa you will get admitted) that offer virtually most majors (including CS and engineering)---those schools are less than $25K all in per year.  If you are a good student, you can get the costs down to ~$20K or less.  A kid can earn $10K per year to contribute fairly easily  with minimum wages being over $13+.  That leaves $10K/year and ~$5K of that can be the federal student loans.  So ~$5K for the family to come up with.  At most you can graduate with $40K in student loans.  
If a kid takes the DE approach, then it's $2K for the AA in HS and $20K/year for 2 years, so at most $20K in student loans.  
See---there is a way to not burden yourself with loans for college.  Why would you saddle yourself with $100K+ in student debt?  It's a choice to do that---but you can choose another path.

Even someone making $40K/year should be able to manage $20K in student loans spread over 10 years--only $222/month.  And that is if the kid has no parental/family help with college (besides co-signing the extra loans).  If parents can help with $4-5K, the kid might only need $10K total for the 2 years or $20K total for a 4 year university.  And in reality, $10K kid earning per year is low---if you work all summer, all breaks and have a PT job while in college (8-10 hours/week) you could earn close to $15K/year.

In reality, that is the smart approach----yes, it is not smart to go into major debt.  People need to learn that and stop doing it.  There are good choices that are more affordable, and if you are an excellent student, many of the private schools (not T50) will give you excellent merit to attract you to matriculate

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TLDR, but if you're saying we should make loans for education illegal, I'm here for it.  Minors should not take on this kind of debt, even if someone signs on their behalf. [/quote]

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