Who should pay for college?

JoShan1719 · May 2011

I found this article on yahoo and thought I'd share it with you all. Thoughts?

kaesha · May 2011

I think students should be paying for education, but I also think that the fees in a lot of US universities are insane. I'd be curious to compare (hello? Chart anyone?) what the yearly tuition fee was at everyone's undergrad. I think mine was 4700.

raynes · May 2011

I think students should be responsible for the bulk for their tuition costs. I think that to some extent paying for it makes you more accountable.

I like how it's done here, you still pay, but it is subsidized by the federal and provincial governments.

We could pull the data together somehow, if people want to share. It will be hard because of the span of years between when some of us went to school.

My tuition (and fees and all that jazz) was about $4500 a term, so nearer to $9000/year. Gotta love being in a deregulated program (or whatever) where they can jack tuition up WAY more each year!

rebaann · May 2011

kaesha:
I think students should be paying for education, but I also think that the fees in a lot of US universities are insane. I'd be curious to compare (hello? Chart anyone?) what the yearly tuition fee was at everyone's undergrad. I think mine was 4700.

I think students/families should foot most of the bill, but I think it's critically important that financial aid be available for those who need it.

I just checked on my alma mater's tuition for Fall semester and for in-state at 12 credit hours, it's $5,200. That doesn't include books or room & board, so it could easily be >$15,000 for a year. I graduated 20 years ago and I was lucky that between my parents and scholarships that I didn't have to get any student loans. I worked for my own spending money and that was it. My tuition rate doesn't really compare, but it feel like it was about half that amount.

abarber340 · May 2011

When I was in school tuition was less than $2K/semester, so less than $4,000 per year. Now for next fall, tuition is up to $11,000 per year for in-state students. Ouch! And that is only tuition. There are still fees, room and board, books, etc. It's amazing what a few years (ok maybe more than a few) and continually declining state support will do to a once reasonably priced education.

sushisamba · May 2011

My tuition for undergrad was about C$3,000 for the year. I just checked the website, and it doesn't seem to be much different now and that's ten years later. It is one of the lowest in the Canada thanks to subsidies by the government.

I also agree with others that students/families should be responsible for the tuition. However, scholarships and aid should be available for those deserving and in need.

I'm not as familiar with the system in the US, but I think it should be noted that there is a big difference between the state and private colleges. My understanding is the private institutions are a lot more expensive, but then again they are for-profit companies. Applications and enrollment for these schools are going up, and the rise in tuition reflects this demand to some extent. That being said, these schools also have some of the highest endowments and hand out a lot of scholarhips. The tuition for my MBA at NYU was about US$45k a year (I think it's $60k now), which sounds ridiculously high, but I was so lucky to have a full scholarship and I know a lot of others in my class did as well.

abarber340 · May 2011

The US tuition model is typically that privates offer high tuition and high aid while publics offer lower tuition and less aid (although the aid is definitely still there for those who need it the most). Recently the model is changing somewhat as many states are reducing their support and publics are becoming more dependent on tuition increases. Also, at the public that I attended, and quoted prices for, only about half of the students pay full sticker price for their education. The other half receive some amount of aid.

SusiOT · May 2011

My undergrad was $5,700 per semester for the first two years, $6,400 for the last two years; Michigan makes a distinction and charges us accordingly. They still do it, but the tuition hasn't changed much--$5,800 for lower division, $6,500 for upper. This is in-state, so we're probably talking $20,000 per semester for out-of-state students.

I do think students/families should shoulder the responsibility of paying, but with financial aid and scholarships provided. The article says that aid isn't keeping pace with costs, and I'm inclined to believe that given a variety of factors, including state moves to reduce support like abarber pointed out; I've also always thought that the financial aid thresholds people have to meet to get aid are unrealistic given the cost of living.

A private school example: my brother goes to MIT--because of their tuition costs and room/board (~$53K/year), he gets scholarships based on financial need, but my parents do supplement quite a bit (I send the kid spending money). It's ridiculously expensive, but he is getting all kinds of exposure to people and research that he wouldn't have experienced at Michigan (where they offered him a full ride). The MIT degree will definitely open doors for him. Michigan's a great school (hell, I'm a product), but MIT is, well, MIT. It was worth the expense for my parents, so they agree with the college presidents there.

eeeeva · May 2011

In Georgia, residents pay less then out of state. I was/am a resident and paid about 4,500 per year. That did not include any of my specific art/tech fees which added another 1,000.00. I was extremely fortunate that my education was paid for by a scholarship. It paid for my education for as long as I kept a 3.0 GPA.Both DH and I had the hope scholarship for undergrad. It was stupid money, it was easy to keep and it paid for my education.

I do think that students should have to pay for their education or be kept accountable to do well somehow.

eouellet · May 2011

It was about $12,000/yr in tuition for me to go to University of Michigan as a state resident - it is currently over $36,000 for an out-of-state resident to go.

I think the costs of tuition have gotten out of hand - they are rising far faster than inflation rates. Growing up, my parents were not super wealthy (comfortable middle class) and I planned to go to Georgetown for undergrad - but at G-town and many other private schools, I was offered pretty minimal financial assistance so I chose to get a public education instead (I'm pretty glad I have very little undergrad debt now, seeing as I currently owe over $200K for my law degree!)

So I do feel like there is a disconnect here - if you're not from either a low-enough or high-enough income family, some of the better private schools can be out-of-reach financially, particularly if you plan to go on to graduate studies after college.

ECHC829 · May 2011

ugh... I feel sick to my stomach now....

I think when I was there, my school was just under $30K/yr.... however, it was cheaper for me to go there because of all the aid (grants & scholarships) because it was a private university (more grants available) and I played sports (scholarship)... I wanted to go PSU, but that was $23K for out of state at the time (2001) and offered zero aid since it was state school....

I agree with eouellet about schools being out of reach for the middle class (over the threshold for FAFSA aid and under the threshold of having buttloads of money and not needing a bunch of loans)....

stephkay · May 2011

EHayes1183:
ugh... I feel sick to my stomach now....

I think when I was there, my school was just under $30K/yr.... however, it was cheaper for me to go there because of all the aid (grants & scholarships) because it was a private university (more grants available) and I played sports (scholarship)... I wanted to go PSU, but that was $23K for out of state at the time (2001) and offered zero aid since it was state school....

I agree with eouellet about schools being out of reach for the middle class (over the threshold for FAFSA aid and under the threshold of having buttloads of money and not needing a bunch of loans)....

Mine was about the same. Also a private college and I had the help of academic and sports scholarships.

amandasw · May 2011

I don't know who "should" pay, but I can tell you I'm jealous of places like Germany where college is free! Also, I hate hearing how much they want to raise tuition (they just passed some bill in WA about it going up a ton over the next 5 years) and what the salary is of those presidents... I think if we all have to pay more and they're going to cut financial aid, everyone needs to sacrifice.

cortneyloo · May 2011

Talking school finances makes me sad

DH was fortunate enough to have his first two years paid for but for the other two years we are in $12,000 worth of debt and in this economy and the particular area we're in he still doesn't have a job to show for it. I took a hiatus after getting my associates because it was too hard to afford to not only pay for tuition, but also suffer financially because of not being able to work many hours due to all the classes and clinicals that were required of me for the particular majors I was interested in. I had a car loan already and we knew we wanted to buy a house so I just didn't feel comfortable getting a student loan and putting us into any more debt until we'd paid down some of our existing obligations. I agree students should pay for their education (although some parental help is certainly acceptable in my opinion) but I think schools should make it easier to do that. Tuition was raised every semester I was in school, and the vast majority of the scholarships offered were only for minorities, athletes, or for students in a certain major. When I applied for financial aid I was told I made too much money to receive the free government aid, even though I barely had savings left over at the end of each month after paying my car, rent, health insurance, utilities, and prescriptions.

Who should pay for college?

Re: Who should pay for college?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards