Is ‘Free College’ Just a Pointless Gimmick?
I have been very excited over the past three weeks as college after college announces financial aid renovations that offer free tuition for students from low income families. In fact, Pennsylvania's Lehigh University and New York's Vassar College just joined the group this week. But another blogger is less enthusiastic, saying:
Recent news reports about Ivy League colleges offering "free education" to students from middle-class families paint a highly unrealistic picture of the challenges facing the majority of college-bound students.
His primary indictment is that "less than one-half of one percent of young people entering college next fall will actually benefit."
I disagree. While it is true that few students will benefit from the Ivy Leagues' financial aid changes -- simply because few students gain acceptance to Ivy League schools -- I think it is necessary to look at the bigger picture. Non-Ivy League universities like MIT, Stanford, and other well-respected colleges have mirrored the Ivy League approach to free tuition. The philosophy is spreading. To that point, a much larger percentage of students benefit from the Ivy League's financial aid programs -- even if only indirectly -- than he suggests.
He further contends that "[i]t is disingenuous to suggest that de facto merit scholarships at these institutions create more access and opportunity." Remember, though, that no one is suggesting that unqualified students can suddenly find a home at Harvard or Yale. Rather, it is the supremely talented and bright young adults who previously were barred from higher education simply because of an unaffordable tuition price tag have who benefit. While the number of these students is small, there are still several hundred who have gained access where previously they had none.
I do have to agree with his closing points, though, when he says:
[T]he formula for affording college expenses is fairly simple: find institutions that value the student for what s/he does well. Colleges that are good "fits" will invest in the student's success [...] [F]ocusing on "fit" instead of famous names will reveal that the "long overdue help" for middle class families has been within reach all along.
The new tread of Free College should not influence students and their families to reach beyond their realistic goals. Finding a university program which matches with a student is an important objective, and one that will ultimately pay greater dividends than pursuing a potentially unreachable Ivy League dream. "Famous names" are, indeed, not everything.
In closing, I believe that this Free College fad is beneficial in many ways, even if only because it encourages colleges across the nation to invest more of their substantial endowments in financing their students' educations. This is good for all students, even those that just save a few thousand dollars from a loan-to-grant conversation program. In the end, however, the strategy for college admissions remains the same: find a university that is a good fit first, and leave financial concerns for later consideration. The wave of Free College is good news, but it shouldn't override your other university objectives.
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Have a question or comment? 2 people do.The Easy ‘A’ vs. the Honors ‘B’: The Myths and Lies of High School Class Selection
Reader Jason S., a high school Junior soon selecting classes for his Senior year, asks:
I have to choose between two classes, one that is IB/AP and will be really challenging, and one that's much easier and I'm sure I'll get an A in. People keep telling me that I should always take the hardest classes I can, but my GPA can really use a boost, and I'm afraid that if I don't get an 'A' in the class I pick, my GPA won't be good enough. What should I do?
Excellent question, Jason, and one almost every student has had to face at some time in their schooling. If anyone ever tells you to, "always take the hardest class," you're getting bad advice. Similarly, if anyone ever tells you to, "get the guaranteed 'A'," you're getting bad advice. The right answer, unfortunately, is "it depends."
There are two considerations you must make: balancing the numbers game of the college admissions process and the academic expectations the colleges will have. Which side of the balancing scale you put more weight on depends on your current status as a student and the college you want to get into. In general, if your target university has a particularly competitive application pool, it is more likely that the admissions officers will expect to see greater academic rigor. In these cases, they are already looking at a lot of very successful candidates, and need to use the strength of an academic program to further compare students.
In other words, if a specific college will deeply consider all applicants with a GPA above 3.6, it may prefer a student with a 3.8 who took rigorous courses over a 4.0 student who opted for an easier route. This, however, is no consolation for another applicant with a 3.4 and a history of great academic rigor who was rejected in favor of the 3.8 student who took an easy load.
You should absolutely not automatically register for the hardest classes available. Rather, you must know your scholastic capacity and move to the next reasonable, appropriate level of rigor for you personally in each academic discipline.
In practical terms, this means you should be comparing your GPA with the 25th and 75th percentiles of accepted students at the colleges you are interested in attending (these statistics are usually published by the admissions department and are available online). Let's say a hypothetical college has a 25th percentile admitted GPA of 3.42 and a 75th percentile GPA of 3.76. If your GPA is currently 3.8 (something above the 75th percentile number), you should aim to take the most challenging courses available to you, because a slight drop in GPA will not significantly hurt your chances. If, however, your GPA is 3.3 (under the 25th percentile), you should switch to an easier load to raise your GPA and make you more numerically competitive. Finally, if your GPA is somewhere in-between the two numbers, you should balance these two interests and aim to earn a GPA as close as possible to the 75th percentile while also maintaining a reasonably challenging course load.
Don't forget, though, that part of high school is about preparing yourself for the rigors of college. Wherever you end up going, you will likely find that academic expectations exceed what you were used to in high school. By constantly increasing the difficulty of your high school classes, the step up to college will be more comfortable. Not only does this make for a smoother first year, but it also increases your likelihood of a higher college GPA.
So, Jason, I wish I could say that there was an easier answer to your question. Naturally, I must suggest that you take the harder class and strive for an 'A' as this would be the most preferential outcome, but I understand that it might not be feasible. You must look at your own situation and consider your current competitiveness at your selected universities. Only then can you devise a plan which maximizes your chances for admission at each. Good luck!
Have a question or comment? 1 person does.Columbia Is Final Ivy League to Offer Free College
Joining its Ivy League brothers, Columbia University has announced its new financial aid plan starting in the 2008-2009 academic year which includes the Free College program I've discussed several times over the past few days.
Columbia currently leads the Ivy Leagues in the proportion of its students who receive Pell grants at roughly 15%. With the new changes, which increased its financial aid budget by 17%, Columbia University has become even more generous with aid. Already $260 million of the sought $440 million for the undergraduate financial aid endowment has been raised.
According to Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas B. Dirks, "[Columbia's] new financial aid policies reflect a more realistic view of the challenges that lower- and middle-income families face in paying for college." The changes include four main areas:
- Students from families earning less than $60,000 a year will have no financial obligation for tuition, room, board, or other college fees.
- Students from families earning between $60,000 and $100,000 a year will see a significant reduction in the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
- All students, regardless of income, will have all loans replaced with University grants.
- All aid recipients may receive exemptions work-study expectations if they participate in community service or accept unpaid research or internship opportunities. Students studying abroad will have work-study expectations replaced with grants.
All in all, Columbia's new financial aid program is phenomenal. With now every one of the Ivy League universities offering free college programs for students of low-income families, and also programs of substantially reduced or subsidized tuition for all students, access to education is more open than ever. I look forward to these philosophies trickling down to other colleges, as has already happened with MIT, Stanford, Washington, and others.
Have a question or comment? Leave me one.Join the Carnival of College Admissions
If you're a blogger, college admissions coach, or anyone who maintains a website with tips for the college admissions process, please consider submitting an article to this week's edition of the Carnival of College Admissions, which will be hosted here.If you have never heard of one before, a Carnival is like a magazine with a collection of different article contributors. Each contributor submits an article from his or her own website which is then linked at the Carnival site.Submissions must pertain to a topic regarding college admissions. Some potential categories include financial aid, standardized tests (SAT or ACT), choosing a college, application tips, essay tips, or any other related topic.Click here to submit an article. It's free and takes only a couple of minutes.
Have a question or comment? Leave me one.MIT Becomes Newest Free College Pioneer
Joining the ranks of Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Brown Universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has become the latest college to revise its financial aid package policies to offer free college to low income families. And though MIT's tuition is rising by 4% next year to $36,390, its financial aid budget, which will have increased by $74 million, will help to offset this. In fact, net tuition is expected to drop approximately 15%.
MIT, which does not offer any merit-based financial aid, plans to make three big changes to its need-based plans for the 2008-2009 academic year:
- Families earning less than $75,000 a year will have all tuition covered through scholarships, federal and state grants, and outside scholarship funds. This means 0 student loan obligation. Almost 30% of MIT's students fall into this Free College category.
- Families earning less than $100,000 will no longer have their home equity used to determine their financial need On average, this will reduce the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) by $1,600 for students in this category. Families who rent and do not have home equity will also see a comparable reduction.
- All students will have work study requirements reduced. All financial aid recipients currently on a work study program will have their minimum expectations lowered by 10%.
Says MIT Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Daniel Hastings, "we will continue our long-standing financial commitment to students and their families in the years ahead. That we can welcome to our campus such extraordinary students, regardless of their economic background, is due to our historic dedication to need-based financial aid."
I welcome the latest entrant into the Free College empire. With yet another elite university riding this wave, I can only hope the trend will continue to spread and receive even wider participation.
Have a question or comment? 4 people do.How to Get a Homeschooled Student Into College
Homeschooling is catching on, and colleges are becoming increasingly sensitive to the needs of homeschooled students in the admissions process. However, there are still things that a homeschooler must do to ensure that their child is as competitive as he or she can be. Read all about these tips in my newest article, The 9 Things Homeschoolers Must Do for College Admission
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