Too poor for college, too rich for financial aid It all starts with joy! You get accepted to your preferred college and you’re excited to pursue your dream career. Then follows the orientation forms that includes the finances of attending college. Your aspirations sink. It’s an issue that affects many families across the country. The financial challenges of college bring many hardships to those who consider pursuing higher education Firstly, we must analyze the cost of college itself. College is intrinsically expensive in itself. Question any family with a post-secondary student and they’ll report the heinous costs of a higher education. Affording college is not mutually exclusive to its own, it means adding on its costs along with affording
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College students who come from low-income backgrounds are the less likely to begin college, less likely to finish college. Therefore, many students don’t complete their college education to even reach a degree. According to Jeff Guo, a writer for The Washington Post, “Low-income students who scored between 1200 and 1600 on their SATs were half as likely to finish college than their counterparts in the top 25 percent of the income distribution.” (Guo). Even when the variable for ability and academic is controlled, it becomes prevalent that low income students are more likely to drop out of college than their well off counter parts. Such economic distress can lessen a student’s ability to finish college by requiring them to take on a part time job or reduce credit/unit load to help out at home. Furthermore, some students even defer applying to colleges because the price tag scared them away from even applying. Alexandria Walton Radford interviewed a student “Karen” (whose name is changed for privacy reasons) who is part of a study which included 900 high school valedictorians and their college selection process. Karen is ranked at the top one percent nationally on the SAT, participates in many school’s teams and clubs, and works a part-time job to help her family. “And while Karen was confident she could be admitted to institutions with large price tags, she concluded there was “no point in applying” since she didn’t believe her family could foot the bill.” (Radford). Such students of high academic achievements should not abstain from the pursuit of higher education for the fact that their financial situation cannot support it. Often times, students who are put into such a predicament take loans to be able to afford
College students who come from low-income backgrounds are the less likely to begin college, less likely to finish college. Therefore, many students don’t complete their college education to even reach a degree. According to Jeff Guo, a writer for The Washington Post, “Low-income students who scored between 1200 and 1600 on their SATs were half as likely to finish college than their counterparts in the top 25 percent of the income distribution.” (Guo). Even when the variable for ability and academic is controlled, it becomes prevalent that low income students are more likely to drop out of college than their well off counter parts. Such economic distress can lessen a student’s ability to finish college by requiring them to take on a part time job or reduce credit/unit load to help out at home. Furthermore, some students even defer applying to colleges because the price tag scared them away from even applying. Alexandria Walton Radford interviewed a student “Karen” (whose name is changed for privacy reasons) who is part of a study which included 900 high school valedictorians and their college selection process. Karen is ranked at the top one percent nationally on the SAT, participates in many school’s teams and clubs, and works a part-time job to help her family. “And while Karen was confident she could be admitted to institutions with large price tags, she concluded there was “no point in applying” since she didn’t believe her family could foot the bill.” (Radford). Such students of high academic achievements should not abstain from the pursuit of higher education for the fact that their financial situation cannot support it. Often times, students who are put into such a predicament take loans to be able to afford