Free tuition details are evolving

[TexasTowelie]

With what appear to be protracted Democrat/Republican negotiations on a measure to Raise the Age of criminal culpability, another issue has taken some unexpected twists and turns — Gov. Cuomo’s proposal for free SUNY/CUNY tuition for students whose families earn less than $125,000 per year.

One facet of the plan, which would penalize private schools that raise their tuition too fast was said to be taken off the table early on in negotiations. It had initially been seen as a bargaining chip.

But now, that possibility has been revived, as some GOP Senators have expressed dismay at the high cost of private schools, at least some of the best-known ones (Cuomo surely knows about this first-hand with his kids attending Harvard and Brown universities).

According to those who are close to the talks, some Republican senators are starting to view a disincentive to rising private school tuition as something that might play well with their largely suburban constituents.

Read more: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/273663/free-tuition-details-are-evolving/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. While private colleges and university can have very high sticker prices,

many of them give financial aid to almost all of their students. Sometimes without the students even applying, and I know that because of personal experience: my son was granted merit scholarships at two private colleges even though he did not apply for aid.

The essential point, that students and their parents need to carefully weight the costs is being somewhat overlooked. A couple of years ago I got into a conversation with a parent who completely misunderstood Pell grants. That's just one example.

Quite frankly, more students should start out at the local junior college, and while they're at it, look very closely at the vocational offerings of those schools. A four year liberal arts degree makes little sense for many young people, but a two year program that leads directly to a job can often be a better idea than staying in college for five or six years and graduating with (for example) a degree in anthropology, for which there are absolutely no jobs to be had in that field.