Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
Very much so. As a foreigner who went to university for free in my country, it's obvious to me.
However now we're here and are forced to play by new rules. My kid got a cipher postcard from W&M. Hope he gets in.
What country?
Those countries usually take half of your income as tax.
There's no such thing as free.
The problem with US systems is more with fairness, not a cost comparison to European countries who pay 50% tax.
DP
Germany
the Netherlands
these countries all provide FREE university education,* often in English and you as a parent don't have to pay a cent of tax. There's a "tuition" levy of about $40 per semester or equivalent
For the small subset of students who the believe deserve a university education. Those not deemed worthy have been placed on a lower track for years by that point.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
Very much so. As a foreigner who went to university for free in my country, it's obvious to me.
However now we're here and are forced to play by new rules. My kid got a cipher postcard from W&M. Hope he gets in.
What country?
Those countries usually take half of your income as tax.
There's no such thing as free.
The problem with US systems is more with fairness, not a cost comparison to European countries who pay 50% tax.
DP
Germany
the Netherlands
these countries all provide FREE university education,* often in English and you as a parent don't have to pay a cent of tax. There's a "tuition" levy of about $40 per semester or equivalent
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
Very much so. As a foreigner who went to university for free in my country, it's obvious to me.
However now we're here and are forced to play by new rules. My kid got a cipher postcard from W&M. Hope he gets in.
What country?
Those countries usually take half of your income as tax.
There's no such thing as free.
The problem with US systems is more with fairness, not a cost comparison to European countries who pay 50% tax.
Anonymous wrote:I'm not a fan of ED generally. I think it serves the colleges much more than the students. And, especially not for public universities. VA is unusual in having it at so many schools.
My DD was interested in W&M but not 100% on board since she was looking at a variety of other schools. So she, rightly IMO, did not ED. But had to be aware that with her stats she was in that range where I think she would have gotten in ED but is unlikely to in RD (still waiting on that). Her various interests/priorities have evolved over the process and I think she now probably would prefer W&M but it's not likely to an option. She has other good (and less expensive) options so it's fine but it irks me that colleges expect students to make these decisions so early in the process, mainly to make their jobs a bit easier.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
What? You mean organizations try to take in more than they spend, ensuring their ability to continue to operate? It's an outrage!
Maybe, I dunno, they should be properly funded by taxpayer money?
Anonymous wrote:True, W&M does not have EA like UVA. However, they have a W&M scholarship for low-income students that covers 100% of the tuition costs, which UVA does not.
A friend of DD got into UVA (EA) & W&M(RD), was leaning towards UVA but the scholarship was too good to pass up on, and she is now attending W&M.
Overall, it looks like W&M ED filled about 1/3rd of the class of 2026 with ED.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
Very much so. As a foreigner who went to university for free in my country, it's obvious to me.
However now we're here and are forced to play by new rules. My kid got a cipher postcard from W&M. Hope he gets in.
What country?
Those countries usually take half of your income as tax.
There's no such thing as free.
The problem with US systems is more with fairness, not a cost comparison to European countries who pay 50% tax.
Anonymous wrote:It is outrageous that W&M, a public institution, only has early decision (not just one, but two ED dates) and no early action. The website says "While financial aid packaging at W&M will not be affected by applying Early Decision I or II, students who choose to apply early are making a commitment to attend W&M without having the opportunity to compare financial aid packages from other institutions. Therefore, if financial factors could impact your decision to attend W&M, Early Decision may not be the best choice."
Basically you have a state subsidized, taxpayer funded public institution that says upfront that they have two admissions tracks--one for rich kids who don't need to compare financial aid pkgs, and one for everyone else. What is the messaging to students from the get go?
W&M is the ONLY public (to my knowledge) institution in the country to have only ED and not any EA option. Very few publics have any ED. The other "public ivy" Miami U has ED and EA, as does UVA.
No wonder W&M lacks socioeconomic diversity. Contact your state delegate and demand better--our public state institutions should not be country clubs.
It's also problematic that UVA as a public institution even has an ED option. UVA always moans about how it lacks economic diversity...you'd think they'd understand that having a special track for full pay students is undermining their ability to consider everyone at the same time. (And yes, ED is linked with benefits, = 100 point boost on the SAT, see Christopher Avery from Harvard's research) Shameful.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All colleges in the USA, unlike the rest of the world, are basically #1 a business, money-making venture, whatever you call them otherwise, however they get their funding.
What? You mean organizations try to take in more than they spend, ensuring their ability to continue to operate? It's an outrage!
Maybe, I dunno, they should be properly funded by taxpayer money?