I say good for Davidson. Encouraging students with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to apply for admission to their school by eliminating student loans and increasing grants and work study type programs is a good thing.
Saying “if someone wants it a college education bad enough they should be willing to do whatever it takes to get it” is really not a reasonable statement in this day and age. Coming out of an undergrad situation owing over a hundred thousand dollars, not inclusive of interest, is not an easy thing to overcome. As a matter of fact it’s not only hard in many cases it is nearly impossible.
I come from a privileged background, through no fault of my own. ( people who are privileged always want to point out it is not their fault, and I am no different)
Privilege made me lazy. I have often looked at contemporaries who do not have the same financial perks I have and think they are much better than I for doing what they do. I would never in debt myself to go to school. I would be too lazy to have to pay back loans.
Those who do go in debt to go to college have greater ambition, a stronger sense of commitment than I do. I venture to guess they are stronger than many who have experienced nothing in the way of socioeconomic strife. I would have said “fuck it I’m gonna lay around the beach, surfing” or would have worked at a ski resort and become a board bum — come what may. I would not have been willing to work to pay back loans for even part of my life.
Notes: There will be a song of the day posted on the right side-bar, it will be largely dependent on my mood and possibly my post. The rating on the music may vary from time to time in that you may not want your ten year old to click on it.
Tomorrow: Blogging for “Back Up Your Birth Control”.
I agree with you on the Davidson post. There is much to be done in the way of this situation all around.
I’m not going to post for plan B. I’ll just post a link tomorrow.
I did go into debt to go to college, but was lucky enough to be able to pay it off very quickly.
I like the idea of grants and work-study instead of loans. I have seen many students who look at loans as something either someone else will be paying off, or else they can’t look beyond the present to think about just how much they are investing in their time at school. I compare them to the students who are taking night courses while working during the day and raising kids on their own (I have several of those in a single class this semester) and how much effort they put into their work. And it seriously shows.
Now, if they could just replace all the sports scholarships with academic ones … ahh, I know, I’m a dreamer.
I paid off my college loan this past June. Through some fault of my own
I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. If things were as they are today when I went to school (when there still was such a thing as an academic scholarship), I’d be driving a truck today. No way I could touch the place. No way would the kinds of things that interest me, and that I’m good at, would ever make enough money to pay off those loans. Even assuming anyone would give them to me. I’m absolutely certain that’s the situation for many people of less means (especially those not white or East Asian), regardless of their intellectual gifts.
I would call practically everything about our educational system criminal — if I didn’t live by the credo “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
That’s the only development I’ve seen of late to buck the trend of it becoming way too goddamned fucking hard for someone to pay for their own schooling. Increasing workloads preventing students from working as much during the year, increasing tuition… A friend of mine is going into an unpaid internship (a nicer word for slavery, really, given that it’s a requirement) this summer that’s going to screw over any chance he’d have of working for pay.
And the people coming out of school and going into careers with big, fat paychecks may be able to take care of their student loans without much trouble. But where’s the incentive for someone looking to teach?
Nice to know that at least one step has been taken back in the right direction
I’ve always thought I made a mistake in going to USC where they paid half of my tuition instead of NYU where I really wanted to go. I think the experience of having to fend for myself more in a foreign environment would have done wonders to push me to become a more ambitious and hungry individual when it comes to my career.
I agree.
I agree with the delightful Wombat too.
There are too many “what ifs” for those that cannot afford school too. I was admitted into some fabulous universities back in the day but due to both funding (because USC, which was one of them, did not give a full scholarshp and or grants blah, blah, blah to cover tuition) and lack of family support (to fully pursure my options) sticking with it was not easy and, as is, and due to the rollercoaster ride of life I have yet to finish 7 classes to be done and am already in debt. Wooh!
But it barely bothers me because all the choices made were mine and I have no regrets.
What I like about you, having been raised with financial perks, is the fact that you have compassion and a consciousness of a “something more” to life… you have a depth I do not tend to see in people who are “lazy” (and here I make fun of you because you, my dear, are anything but lazy)…
I did have financial perks in my childhood, though it did not for a much easier life make, and lost it during my teenage years. My cousins have had it all their lives and they have been so laid back in life, have fought for nothing and therefore have had no need to believe in anything that they are very bland people with a spark missing in their eyes… I see too much emptiness when I look into their eyes and after an afternoon with them, they leave no imprint of an existence or an encounter… they are just there… and though some may envy their comfort, I envy nothing for I would never trade what all the suffering and hardship has enriched my life with for their comfort and subsequent emptiness… though hey, money does make things easier so for those that have it and still advance as humans then I applaud them and I am happy for their comfort. But my cousins could have done with less comfort that’s for sure…
But yeah, hardship does a more determined individual make and these continuous three years of it in Spain (plus some prior to our move) have me itching to get back to the States and get my hungry hands on life and just do my utmost with everything and there is no room for quitting and insecurity and such BS… I don’t think I would be who I am and have this drive where it not for the mere fact that I simply had no choice…
Oh humans… f-ed up bunch we can be DAS FO SHO!
But you? Delightful amiga mia and I disagree on one thing… you would have kicked ass and pursued your education, don’t try to tell us otherwise chica ’cause I do not buy it or my name ain’t BoheMia! Ha, ha, haaaa! Well, the other name but I am not gonna say that here!
Oh my god I wrote a fucking book!
Oy!
I never had to take out a student loan. When I was in grad school, I did a two year unpaid internship
When a grant was given out, it was between me and another woman. She was 33, living at her parents house, working, going to school, and doing her field placement in as few hours a week possible
I was told that I deserved it more but because of her financial situation she was going to get it. They had to tell me. It was that obviously wrong.
She was living at home etc because she had married a man who married her for a green card, wracked up many debts and she had to pay them off. Her parents were rather rich and would have paid for her if she hadn’t used such poor judgment. They didn’t ask for rent money. Her mother cooked for her.
I began grad school thinking that it was a good thing I had saved money and could afford this. I paid my own rent etc.
It became the most embittering experience of my life. Most older women students were accepted simply because they knew we would do well, pass the licensing exam while still in school and thus help keep their ranking up
I was supposed to understand that many other students didn’t have to do good papers or sometimes any to get an A, They weren’t really grad school material but the city needed social workers with grad degrees even if they couldn’t pass a test that was so simple, I could have passed it before entering school — and you could take it as many times as needed to pass. It was on a damn computer – the correct answers to many questions followed a pattern – questions in various parts of the test related to each other – and you could look back at your prior answers if you understood that.
I understand that I come from a privileged background, and have worked hard to keep my finances in order
I never expected this to be used against me.
I think all college and grad school admissions should be on a merit basis, without financial need looked at until after acceptance
Then grants should be awarded on both a need and a merit basis
If we want a country that performs well, we shouldn’t excuse people from not performing well in school simply because they don’t have resources
I did this course because I wanted the license. I would have been much happier studying policy
Yes big cases can be made for me not getting grants, but don’t tell me somebody less qualified is getting it because they need it more.
Don’t excuse other students from doing the work because they’re not really grad school material. It takes much away from the so called profession.
I hope this was very era specific to the mid 90’s when political correctness was at its height
Sorry for the dissertation
You always hit one of the 10,000 most important subjects to me
Humility is the most beautiful characteristic anyone can possess, and you seem to have much.
I’m going to school to be a fortune cookie writer.…but I’m not quite there just yet. I’m paying it back by buying sushi, which by the way is great food, and I I think it seriously helps efforts to continue not smoking. I think it’s something in the fish. It also makes me babble because I drink so much caffeine…okay, I’ll stop now.
It’s true. My education is paid for but I am probably the poorest out of state student at this school. The school is upwards of thirty-five grand a year.
The good thing is Ohio has something going on that students attending private institutions partake in which allows the in-state students to take advantage of significant financial aid in the form of grants. I’m not sure what it is but I know my roommates freshman year are from this state and all were paying only a few thousand a year to go here and still are.
Doesn’t apply to out of state, and the majority of students are either from out of state or India but the in– state benefits are decent.