As tuition rates have skyrocketed in recent years, there has been concern about whether universities are pricing out low- and middle-income families. A UCLA report on 40-year trends at public and private universities suggests that is happening, as “Political Mom” noted in an earlier thread.
The study found that more of today’s college freshmen are from financially better-off families than ever before, USA Today reported. The median family incomes of freshmen in 2005 were 60 percent higher than the national average, compared with 46 percent in 1971.
The report concluded the rising cost of college tuition is creating a widening gap between those who can afford to attend college and those who can’t. The good news is that more financial aid is available to low-income college students than ever before — more than $134 billion.
Posted by Patrice Hein
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- ANTI on Open thread 11/23
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/23
- ANTI on Open thread 11/23
- CapnAmerica on Open thread 11/23
- ANTI on Open thread 11/23
- ANTI on Open thread 11/23
- CapnAmerica on Open thread 11/23
- ANTI on Open thread 11/23
- CapnAmerica on Open thread 11/23
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/23
40 Comments
WOO HOO someone actually listens to what I post!
Thanks Patrice. I felt this was a rather eye opening stat to those who feel that moving up is all just a state of mind.
There are also a ton more Community Colleges and technically rated Associate Degrees now than in 1971.
Outside of the mom loaded down with kids and living on a poverty income, I can find very few reasons or excuses for most people not attending some kind of advanced education after high school or GED.
Not every can or should become a Doctor, Lawyer or an Engineer with in a few years out of High School. Just get out there and do it anyway you can.
I guess he should have gone to a JUCO:
GREENSBURG, Ks – Davila, Sergeant Jessie, 29, died Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. He was born July 15, 1976 in Raymondville, TX, the son of Santiago Jacob and Clara Munoz Davila. Jessie graduated from Greensburg High School in 1995. He had lived in Greensburg since 1982. Jessie served in the United States Marine Corps where he was stationed overseas in the Middle East. He returned to Greensburg from 1999 to 2004 before moving to Jetmore until November 15, 2005, when he was called in to active duty with the Army Reserves National Guard, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 137th Infantry. Jessie is survived by his father; his mother Clara, Raymondville, TX; daughter Sydney Katherine Davila, Wichita; step-mother Linda Klaus, Dodge City; brother Jacob Davila, Pasadena, TX; sister Rose Allphin, Great Bend; paternal grandmother Maria Luisa Davila, Edinburg, TX; step grandfather Andrew Klaus, Hays; fiancYvette Goff, Jetmore; several aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, March 4, at the Greensburg High School Gymnasium, Greensburg, with Rev. Jeffrey Blackburn presiding.
Republican, I agree for the most part. A lot of people that don’t get ahead have mental problems, too. But if you come to work with the right attitude, you’ll go places. I know a lot of people who just don’t have the intellect to continue education, but are dependable. They show up for work every day on time and do what’s expected. I also know some very well educated people who are always 30 minutes late, leave early, and spend most of the workday gossiping or online blogging during work hours.
When I was in school as a kid in the 60s and 70s, it was generally known that college was “for rich kids” or althletes. People who had fathers toiling at Boeing, Beech or Cessna and couldn’t play ball were not going to K.U. or even W.S.U. In the 70s and 80s that changed with new student loan programs and some affirmative action that helped minority and- yes- even less fortunate white kids go to college. But when the extreme right wing Republicans took over they attacked these programs and have largely defunded them (I guess Iraq is a higher priority). And universities (except ironically in Texas) have stopped giving preference for minority and poor white kids. They give great weight to SAT scores that are biased towards the children of the rich (I recently inquired about SAT prep for my daughter and it cost $1000 and up!). The way to correct this is for the Democrats to restore the Pell Grants and Stafford Loans and for the universities to stop using SAT scores except as a minimum qualifier to admission. Instead do as Texas does and automatically admit the top 10% of each graduating class or give preference to students that come from schools where more than 50% of the students qualify for the lunch program (assuming the GOP doesn’t manage to dump that too).
I am proud that, here in Georgia, any student with a B average gets a state scholarship to college 100% paid. Other states should do likewise.
In 2006, the Eagle reported that, for the first time in our history, state funding support for our Regents universities had dropped below 30%. What has our Republican-dominated Legislature done to preserve higher ed in this state as affordable? The best way to promote “brain drain” is to tell our best and brightest that they may as well go out-of-state because they aren’t going to find a high-quality affordable higher ed here.
Kev, that’s interesting. I wonder how Georgia funds such a program.
Why can’t college be the next step in fully funded education for everybody?
The cost of post-secondary education has skyrocketed because of the open wallet of government. Loans are one thing, the student is held accountable for the tab. However all the other sources of funding constantly drive up the cost.
Let the students bear the cost. We can help them, but free isn’t responsible help.
All the more reason to major in something you can actually use when you graduate. If you have a decent salary, paying back a student loan is no big deal.
The Georgia HOPE scholarship is funded entirely by a voluntary tax on the state’s residents and visitors- commonly known as the Georgia Lottery. And I agree that college- at least public colleges- should be free to deserving students just as public high schools are. Students should not to graduate with debts of thousands of dollars just as they are starting their working lives out. I think God that most of mine was paid for by the taxpayers of the USA (military and BIA) because I could not have afforded it otherwise. My life would have been wrecked without the chance for redemption through educational opportunities. Others should have the same chance. In my view, any student in high school with a B or better and that can score a minimum score on the SAT or ACT should get a full scholarship to any public university or a partial scholarship to a private university that equals the cost of the public university in that state.
I need to find another stat on UCLA. I heard it on the radio, but need to confirm in with an internet source.
But it had to do with that UCLA is welcoming something like near 12,000 freshmen for their upcoming fall semester school year. Of those 12,000 only like 250 are black.
I agree Kev, it’s a great idea to offer free college to those who make the effort in high school. They should also be required to keep at least a 3.0 in college. Much better use of our resources than sending off our young to die in a useless war.
Hey Ken, I was in the Military and posted honor guard at several funerals.
Your posting of people’s obit you don’t know is offensive. You think their lives is any more important than let’s say, the mom and her kid who died near Mulvane or those who died in car accidents every day?
Do you think the accidents were preventable? Most are you know. Do you think the families are nny less sad when their family member dies?
You posts are just annoying and don’t affect my thinking about the war.
It does affect my thinking about you though. A lowlife that posts the deaths of others for purely Political reasons.
Now that’s sad.
So Republican, you consistently support here Bush’s politicization of the troops 100% but find any other politicization of the same troops distasteful. For example, you will wear your heart on your shoulder here for the families of KIA troops in a transparent attempt to stifle Ken’s posts.
Your distaste even leads you to write obnoxiously about your service and condescendingly in your comment to Ken.
Get a clue. Such hypocricy is a shining hallmark of a life led lowly, and your lack of awareness of same tends to seal the deal.
Either argue for a total absence of politics vis-a-vis a troop death or grow a pair.
Yeah, Kev. Stop pointing out that real Americans are dying in Iraq for nothing. That’s so offensive to the Bush dead-enders in their last throes, as it were.
As for Kelly’s excellent post, thanks for that. College education costs started rising for students at the exact moment that Ronald Reagan vetoed spending bills that funded education rates at the levels they had previously.
The replaced loans with gov’t subsidies. Meanwhile, they spent your tax payer money like drunken Republicans on everything BUT education and raised the national debt to levels TWICE as high as they were under Carter.
Pedant,
I find it distasteful for someone posting the obits of people who died for political purposes.
And yes I brought up my military service. Being in charge of the Military Funeral Details I was on, I was the one who presented the flag to the family of the deceased. I had to stare them in the eyes and feel their great sorrow. If you’ve ever been in that position, then you know how the feeling is. It is very hard to describe.
So, I don’t need a wannabe posting an obit in my face (which he did deliberately.)
Attend a funeral for a family of six who died in a car wreck after their daughter’s wedding when a drunk driver hit them. Attending the funeral of a neighbor who was a cop,who got ran over by a truck helping a woman with a flat tire. I was at that wedding and I saw joy turn into grievous heartbreak later on.
You know what your fellow Lib is doing and it is despicable – using obits of military men and women for his own selfish reasons.
So if a troop death is politicized in just the right way it’s ok by your standard?
But Ken’s way isn’t ok? I mean, him bein’ a “wannabe” and all.
Yeah I think I got it now.
There’s only one hypocrite between you and Ken, and it ain’t Ken.
Kev–
Only military people get to politicize military deaths. If you haven’t worn the uniform, you have no idea what that sacrifice means.
So you 87 percent of Americans who want the war stopped and still believe the silly lie that democracy means you can control your own government–sit down and shut up.
Thank you,
Republican
There is a difference between honoring the fallen than waving their obit around like a death banner for Far Left Talking Points.
Since you approve of it Pedant, why don’t you do the same.
Stop being a hypocrite and post some obits along with your fellow Lib.
Show everyone what you’re made of so you too can wave the Lib Death Banner for your own talking points.
Correction–
I meant to say that Republicans replaced direct aid–subsidies–with student loans.
That’s why costs to students have increased so dramatically since the Reagan years.
I’ve got to hand it to you, Republican.
You’ve actually grieved with a dying soldier’s family.
Too bad the Commander-in-Chief can’t talk to Cindy Sheehan.
I guess he should have gone to a JUCO:
GREENSBURG, Ks – Davila, Sergeant Jessie, 29, died Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. He was born July 15, 1976 in Raymondville, TX, the son of Santiago Jacob and Clara Munoz Davila. Jessie graduated from Greensburg High School in 1995. He had lived in Greensburg since 1982. Jessie served in the United States Marine Corps where he was stationed overseas in the Middle East. He returned to Greensburg from 1999 to 2004 before moving to Jetmore until November 15, 2005, when he was called in to active duty with the Army Reserves National Guard, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 137th Infantry. Jessie is survived by his father; his mother Clara, Raymondville, TX; daughter Sydney Katherine Davila, Wichita; step-mother Linda Klaus, Dodge City; brother Jacob Davila, Pasadena, TX; sister Rose Allphin, Great Bend; paternal grandmother Maria Luisa Davila, Edinburg, TX; step grandfather Andrew Klaus, Hays; fiancYvette Goff, Jetmore; several aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, March 4, at the Greensburg High School Gymnasium, Greensburg, with Rev. Jeffrey Blackburn presiding.
Posted by: Ken | April 15, 2007 at 06:40 AM
*************************************************
There is a difference between honoring the fallen than waving their obit around like a death banner for Far Left Talking Points.Posted by: Republican | April 15, 2007 at 12:20 PM
*************************************************
Show me exactly where Ken dishonored Sgt. Davila in his post.
Show me exactly what you consider to be Sgt. Davila’s family’s strongest objection to Ken’s post.
Find for me in Ken’s post any “Far Left Talking Point.”
Why don’t you contact the family of the people involved and see what they think about your posting on this blog means.
That is, if you have the guts Pedant, which I doubt.
Thanks for such a graceful capitulation, Republican. Your inability to answer my questions makes my point.
You lack the objectiveness to distinguish between facts and your opinions.
It’s also noted that you called Ken a “wannabe” and me a coward in lieu of argument.
Did it hurt much when they put the “L” on your forehead?
You’re question wasn’t worth answering Pedant.
I don’t politicize the Military dead.
Honor them, yes. Grieve for and with their families, yes.
There is nothing on my forehead Pedant. Nice try, but only a mind tortured by misguided morals would even post such a thing.
I don’t politicize the Military dead.
Honor them, yes. Grieve for and with their families, yes.
There is nothing on my forehead Pedant. Nice try, but only a mind tortured by misguided morals would even post such a thing.Posted by: Republican | April 15, 2007 at 01:03 PM
**************************************************
Just like the graveyard Ghoul, the Liberal Left like MonkeyHawk counts the dead and feasts upon their statistics so he may glorify his grim talking points.
There were 1,999,999 aircraft landings says MonkeyHawk, but let’s feast upon the dead of the one that crashes.
We will suck the marrow from their bones so we might exalt our position in the news world.
We shall not visit the graves of the tens of thousands slain by the evil dictator Saddam. This cannot be repeated lest we be known as hypocrites.
Let us feast on the graves of our military who die. Phelps may be banned, but we can attend in our pink shrouds glorifying the cause of macabre attendance for the purpose of counting their skulls.
We will wave black banners held upwards by staffs made from the bones of the military dead and claim unholy victory at the Polls.
We will be quick to affix blame at those who dare to advance democracy. They do not adhere to our manifesto of socialistic cannibalism….Posted by: Republican | April 10, 2007 at 04:30 AM
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/04/iraq_is_uniting.html#comment-65876910
LOL. Nah, you’d NEVER politicize the Military dead.
Never in a million ye…..3 days!!!
LOL
That was addressed to MonkeyHawk specifically.
Again Pedant…
A Liberal without a clue.
Woops, never in 5 days!!!
(still laughin’ at Republican)
Hell, at least I know the difference between “never” and 5 days!
LOL
“Kev–
Only military people get to politicize military deaths. If you haven’t worn the uniform, you have no idea what that sacrifice means.”
Where exactly did I write anything about military deaths??? And BTW I was in the United States Air Force and served proudly. Not under the monkey in the White House now however.
I think one thing that should happen is that kids should be out in the workforce a couple of years before just getting a pass with mommy and daddy’s wallet into college. I simply do not get the kids that go to college and think it’s all about partying.
I’ve known people who’ve worked really hard most of their lives, know what they’d like to do, and have no way to get there. Life gets in the way. And these kids are just having a ball, going to school for degrees they can’t use.
I knew one really smart and dedicated woman who went all the way through school to get her spec ed degree. She was young, and after 6 months of teaching decided it wasn’t her cup of tea.
So now she’s enrolling in new classes for a new degree.
“I think one thing that should happen is that kids should be out in the workforce a couple of years before just getting a pass with mommy and daddy’s wallet into college. I simply do not get the kids that go to college and think it’s all about partying.”
I didn’t get to party. Not too much anyway. I had a full time job and a young baby to provide support for. A night out was a rare treat for a full time student with a full time job in a college that was demanding. Although I quit cigs and booze, I am still addicted to caffine from college because I rarely got more than 4 hours of sleep. Only the rich kids get to party. Everybody else has to work.
Kev – Pendant thanks for trying to set the republican straight — let me help -
I spent 20 years in the Air Force, 2 tours in Viet Nam, after 8 years enlisted service I earned a commission and served on several death notification assignments as an officer. I have a whole chest full of ribbons and medals that say I at least did a half way decent job while I was in — I often wonder though why I only got 1 good conduct medal in 20 years and that was early (truth is everyone got only one after completing their initial service contract). One of my jobs after retiring was a project manager for a charitable foundation that provided financial support to cadets in Junior and Senior ROTC programs as well as educational programs for Natinal Guard members and thier dependents. Did a few years of vol work with the USO, VA and Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. So I’m guessing I have reasonably good idea what sacrifices our soldiers and thier families are making.
My postings are in no way disrespectful, and in fact I would think that the families would appreciate having their loved ones remembered. The ones I’ve spoken to do. They really don’t want us to forget their heroes.
The goal is not political, although typically republican he tries to make it so by his cute little foot stomping indignation – just want to make sure that in all the mindless posting that goes on here — we always / constantly remember that there is in fact a war going on, very few people are fighting that war (about 1 % of the population in fact) those soldiers and their families, few if any are making any sacrifices to support the war —- and the local media does a poor job of publicizing the human and fiscal costs of the war …..
I could care less if republican is offended — note I didn’t resort to child like name calling or attempt any character assasination.
Republican in an earlier post you suggested I post obits from traffic accidents — I thought I had — maybe you didn’t recognize it – it looked a lot like these 2:
?Spc. Ahmed Akil Cason grew up in a military family, and like most any military kid, he moved around a lot. Cason, 24, was among eight soldiers killed April 4 while part of a convoy bound for Sadr City, Baghdad’s largest Shiite neighborhood. His early years were spent at Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Benning in Georgia, and then he stayed with grandparents in Arkansas because of Desert Storm more than a decade ago. He finished high school in Alabama, and he lived his last weeks in Iraq. Cedric K. Hunt Sr. said he last talked to his son about three weeks earlier, on the day the soldier left for Iraq. “He was fearful, but I don’t think that’s anything unusual,” Hunt said. Hunt would know. He and Cason’s mother are both retired from the Army. One of Cason’s brothers is in the Air Force and another went to Baghdad with the Army. Cason had started a family of his own, marrying a woman he met while working in a Job Corps program. He and Allison Cason had a 3-year-old daughter, Akilaah, and 10-month-old son, Gabriel.
At 6 a.m., when most of her classmates were still hitting the snooze button, Adriana Salem would be at school, hitting the gym to run and work out. Salem, 21, was killed March 4 when a vehicle she was riding in rolled over in Remagen, Iraq. “She was pretty driven, very committed and driven,” said Bruce Bazsali, head of her high school’s physical education division. She was based at Fort Stewart. Salem played violin in the school orchestra and joined the school’s Italian club on a trip to Italy the summer after she graduated. As president of her school’s group against drunk driving, she taught grade-school pupils about the dangers of tobacco and asked classmates to pledge sobriety at big dances. “She was one of those people that is just a kind soul,” said teacher Jim Arey. Salem wanted to become a police officer and thought joining the military would help her achieve her career goals. After Sept. 11, she decided it was her time to enlist. “She was called to serve, and she served,” said family spokesman Sgt. 1st Class Richard Myers.
You’re lucky you were allowed to stay in Ken with just one good conduct medal.
You don’t earn a commission as an officer in the Air Force. One has to apply, meet the requirements of education, physical and Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. Then they have to attend Officer Training School.
I’m surprised you were selected because you are eligible to receive your second good conduct medal before the end of eight years, your second tour.
The fact you did not remains highly suspicious and wonder how you became an officer as to a board of Reviewing officers, your medals have to be tip top. Good Conduct medals can be awarded after the first with Oak Leaf clusters.
I read in the Air Force Times that Good Conduct Medals have been done away with as an award.
Unless you became a Warrant Officer, which no longer exists as an eligible rank in the Air Force – I believe after 1975.
You say your posts are not respectful, yet at least twice that I’ve noticed, you shoved them in my face by directing them to my notice alone.
It’s not a wonder that you only received only one good conduct medal from the conduct you have displayed here – and it is completely surprising you became an officer not knowing whether your medals were in good order.
I suspect Ken that your explanations of how you “earned” your way of becoming an officer, not knowing how Good Conduct medals work and your so-called unawareness how shoving an obit into someone’s face not an indictment of your character, integrity and the ability to tell the truth.
“So I’m guessing I have reasonably good idea what sacrifices our soldiers and thier families are making.” Posted by: Ken | April 15, 2007 at 07:46 PM
Yes Ken you are guessing, just as you guessed about your one good conduct medal.
Something is amiss here Ken and it’s sure not my guess about you using obits of Military as an in-your-face tactic. Which I might add, an Officer retired from the United States Air Force would never do.
I stand by reasoning as you using the obits as your own political agenda item.
“I simply do not get the kids that go to college and think it’s all about partying.”
Neither do I Pol Mom. Nor do I understand why people continue to use government money to support the ‘party schools’. It is not a proper use of ‘our funds’ to support adults who should bear the burden for their own development. Loans are one thing, but the rest of the public funds are something else.
I want to take issue with the headline of this post, that universities are becoming more “elitist.” That’s misleading, and I hope not intentionally so.
As Kev and others rightly point out, it’s not that colleges are trying to target “upmarket” consumers and raising tuition to exclude lower-income students. No, the states are dropping their higher education funding, forcing the universities to raise tuition. No elitism on the part of colleges here, just an undisciplined and uncommitted government that wants to shirk its responsibility to properly fund its educational responsibilities.
It’s not a partisan issue, despite what some commenters on both sides want us to believe. Nor is it the open wallet of government. If that was the case, tuition would be in control. Nope, the problem is the shrinking part of college funding that state governments provide. Want proof? Check tuition at a private college and compare it with K-State or Fort Hays State. Tuition rises at state schools to a closer level with private schools when that subsidy declines. Higher tuition allows commentary like “elitist” which then feeds the beast because public opinion turns against colleges and encourages our state legislature to think a college education doesn’t count.
The GOP would have to be unified on the issue to say they’re at fault, and they’re actually deeply split. If the Kansas Legislature would step up (or if Governor Sebelius would grow a spine and force their hands with a veto threat) then you’d see tuition track more with inflation. Draining college funding is truly a bipartisan issue.
So there’s no elitism, there’s just our government spending millions of dollars on pet projects while minor things like college get spit on.
Other states do use lottery or gaming money for education, and it’s a great idea. But Illinois did that about twenty years ago. For one year, the lottery money boosted ed funding big time. And then the next year, the state legislature took the equivalent of the previous year’s lottery income out of the regular budget. Meaning no change for education funding. I have no doubt in my mind that even if the gambling money was put in a lockbox like other states, the legislature would just raid the non-lockbox money and keep education funding flatlined.
So we ought to blame our unprincipled legislators, not elitist colleges. Some schools try to break that barrier down, but they can’t do it without help.
Back, a bit, to the original topic.
What isn’t said in the initial post, nor, to my limited ability to discern from other posts, is the issue surrounding the students attending the “elite” schools on full financial aid; while their tuition, fees, etc. might be met by the aid, these students (those on full aid) are still at a disadvantage to those who can afford to take advantage of things such as extra curricular activities (not partying), getting to study overseas and the like. Those from families with additional resources are able to take advantage of these opportunities; those on full aid are not.
While the above would seem not to matter, I submit these do. Many contacts, for example, are made in contexts other than the classroom. The inability to afford to take advantage of an internship which is unpaid over the summer, for example, affects adversely the student who wants to pursue a career in the area represented by the internship, but who is not able to forego the summer job for the funds needed to go to school the next year. Some schools try to provide funding to such students, but as may well be imagined, these funding sources are limited, and not able to serve all worthy but needy students applying therefor.
Thus, the issue is more than the ability to afford the basic education; it extends beyond this. While additional funding for lower tuition costs doesn’t answer, in full, the problem, it would allow the money from summer employment to be “banked” to allow for the summer internship after the third year, for example.
I think that to call college’s elitist based solely on the income level of students parents is misleading or a half-truth. There are too many of the so-called poor who do not care to better themselves through education, while the more affluent value education. Hence the income graph skews towards the group that values education more.
To use an income gap to suggest that college is suddenly inaccessible is a half-truth. It is that kind of analysis that misleads people into thinking we simply need more money for a problem. In reality (as in this case) you can only lead the proverbial horse to water.