Free College for Poorest Students Puts Ivy League to Shame

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Leonard Doyle, Independent UK

Berea University in rural Kentucky is one of the wealthiest colleges in America but it only accepts the poorest applicants. The dropout rate is negligible and its students go out into the world debt-free, unlike the majority of those who emerge every year from America's universities, proudly clutching a degree but burdened by massive debts.

Berea is lucky. It has a $1bn endowment which, wisely invested, produces enough income, topped up by fundraising, to teach 1,500 students. Some of Berea's students even leave with money in their pockets.

Alex Gibson graduated in philosophy this year with $17,000 to his name. Now he is off on a year-long world study tour, funded by a generous travel grant.

Although it ranks among the wealthiest colleges in the nation because of its trust fund, Berea is not one of America's elite colleges. Those are the crown jewels of the US education system and they are far wealthier than Berea.

Harvard's endowment is worth $35bn for example; Yale's $23bn; Stanford's $17bn and Princeton's $16bn -- amounts that make them among the world's richest universities. But there is a drumbeat of criticism about whether they are doing enough for the public good to deserve their tax-free status or just hoarding money for the benefit of an intellectual elite.

Harvard (annual tuition $35,000) is now racing to offer reduced tuition fees to low-income students and protect its tax-free status. But middle-class parents are so furious at the 11 per cent average annual rise in the tuition costs at run-of-the-mill colleges that it has now become an election issue.

Barack and Michelle Obama only paid off their student loans recently and he has promised to bring radical changes. One proposal is to provide free college tuition in return for a year's community service work. Mr Obama also wants a GI Bill, of the sort that gave 7.8 million veterans of the Second World War a chance to attend college. John McCain, his opponent, opposes it, saying it would deplete the ranks of the military.

As parents across the country write out their first tuition checks, the focus has turned to the issue of affordable education. And Berea's no-fee model which has been around for 158 years, is suddenly attracting attention.

The college uses its nest egg to attract students who otherwise could not afford college and draws exclusively from the bottom of the economic pile. It is extremely selective, rejecting 75 per cent of applicants as it tries to find those with the most potential. Those who apply have often endured appallingly bad secondary education and come from dysfunctional homes.

Mr Gibson is one of those and he has thrived at Berea. He earned his savings working on-campus, a requirement of this unusually public-spirited university. Every student must put in at least 10 hours a week, whether helping on the college farm, working in the admissions department or making furniture in Berea's crafts workshop.

Mr Gibson did community outreach. "It was great," he said, "we organised anti-Iraq war demonstrations."

Though not, by his own admission, a top scholar or the hardest worker, he also pulled in lots of academic scholarships.

"Every department has lots of money to give away. It's a question of applying," he said. The coup de grace was an award of $25,000 to finance his round the world trip starting in a week.

Mr Gibson, who is black, will spend his time studying biracialism, beginning in Tokyo next week. "I come from one of the poorest and most disturbed backgrounds you could imagine," he said. "All my family were involved in violence and drugs and I was brought up by a single parent and then no parents when my mother died while I was 16."

"Living in rural Appalachia, I suffered some extreme racism and it is only thanks to this college that I am now in this lucky situation."

Friends of his at other universities are not so lucky. One is paying back $37,000 after a three-year degree. Next year, Mr Gibson will attend graduate school in Pennsylvania, where he hopes to qualify as a lawyer and possibly enter politics.

For many US parents, the thrill of a letter of acceptance is soon spoiled by the arrival of the first tuition bill. For millions of working families, the pathway to the American dream runs straight through a college campus. But fees are going through the roof.

Ivy League members

Brown University

Endowment: $2.8 bn

Tuition and fees per year: $36,300

Columbia University

Endowment: $7.15 bn

Tuition and fees: $37,200

Cornell University

Endowment: $5.5 bn

Tuition and fees: $34,800

Dartmouth College

Endowment: $3.76 bn

Tuition and fees: $35,300

Harvard University

Endowment: $35 bn

Tuition and fees: $35,000

University of Pennsylvania

Endowment: $6.78 bn

Tuition and fees: $35,900

Princeton University

Endowment: $15.8 bn

Tuition and fees: $34,300

Yale University

Endowment: $22.5 bn

Tuition and fees: $34,500

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/92827/fr...eague_to_shame/

[alienlovechild 75]

Funny how the article never mentions there are alternatives (besides Berea) to going to an Ivy League school.

For example:

Ball State University $7,000/yr

http://cms.bsu.edu/AdmissionsLanding/Under...ionandFees.aspx

[GabachaYucateca 0]

Funny how the article never mentions there are alternatives (besides Berea) to going to an Ivy League school.

For example:

Ball State University $7,000/yr

http://cms.bsu.edu/AdmissionsLanding/Under...ionandFees.aspx

That's only tuition and fees...total cost for in-state, over $15,000. Hardly affordable for many.

I'd love to see some of my clients at Berea, although KY would be a hard sell!

[alienlovechild 75]

College is an investment of sorts and most college grads incomes exceed non-college grads so it's a risk most college grads are willing to undertake.

There is the possibility that more federal aid to students just leads to high tuition costs.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3344

Aren't there any other universities or places to get a degree near you besides Brown?

Clients?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

There is the possibility that more federal aid to students just leads to high tuition costs.

This is actually a very good point.

Beyond the break-even point, tuition will rise to the maximum point the market will bear. Given the prominent role federal aid plays in this particular market, that conclusion isn't that far fetched.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

There is the possibility that more federal aid to students just leads to high tuition costs.

This is actually a very good point.

Beyond the break-even point, tuition will rise to the maximum point the market will bear. Given the prominent role federal aid plays in this particular market, that conclusion isn't that far fetched.

That's assuming that the market is sensitive to the ebb and flow of graduates with degrees and that's simply not the case, particularly in a global job market where it's quite easy to find qualified applicants from other countries.

[jundp 191]

Alex Gibson graduated in philosophy this year with $17,000 to his name. Now he is off on a year-long world study tour, funded by a generous travel grant.

I'm just saying this: a BA in philosophy isn't going to be very lucrative.

I'm scared of tuition...of the three schools my son is interested in, Yale is one of the cheapest.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Alex Gibson graduated in philosophy this year with $17,000 to his name. Now he is off on a year-long world study tour, funded by a generous travel grant.

I'm just saying this: a BA in philosophy isn't going to be very lucrative.

I'm scared of tuition...of the three schools my son is interested in, Yale is one of the cheapest.

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

[alienlovechild 75]

That's assuming that the market is sensitive to the ebb and flow of graduates with degrees and that's simply not the case, particularly in a global job market where it's quite easy to find qualified applicants from other countries.

The market is responding by hiring the best from foreign countries so what's wrong with that? Why don't more American students take on certain subjects, i.e. math and the sciences?

The reality is other countries educate their best and brightest and America tries to education everyone with mixed results. The problem isn't more money for education as seen in the stats below.

Average years of schooling of adults (most recent) by country

#1 United States: 12

#2 Norway: 11.8

#3 New Zealand: 11.7

#4 Canada: 11.6

#5 Sweden: 11.4

#6 Australia: 10.9

#7 Switzerland: 10.5

#8 Germany: 10.2

#9 Finland: 10

#10 Poland: 9.8

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_ave_...chooling-adults

Total expenditure as % of GDP (most recent) by country

#1 United States: 7 % of GDP

#2 Denmark: 6.7 % of GDP

#3 Sweden: 6.5 % of GDP

#4 Canada: 6.4 % of GDP

#5 France: 6.1 % of GDP

#6 Australia: 6 % of GDP

#7 Norway: 5.9 % of GDP

#8 New Zealand: 5.8 % of GDP

#9 Switzerland: 5.7 % of GDP

#10 Austria: 5.7 % of GDP

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_tot_...expenditure-gdp

Edited July 27, 2008 by alienlovechild

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

Agreed, they can always eat cake.

[jundp 191]

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

Agreed, they can always eat cake.

eta: true, but what does one do with a degree in philosophy? Seriously? I mean, I had a degree in English and pretty much all I could do was go back and get another degree

Edited July 27, 2008 by jundp

[one...two...tree 2,762]

That's assuming that the market is sensitive to the ebb and flow of graduates with degrees and that's simply not the case, particularly in a global job market where it's quite easy to find qualified applicants from other countries.

The market is responding by hiring the best from foreign countries so what's wrong with that? Why don't more American students take on certain subjects, i.e. math and the sciences?

The reality is other countries education their best and brightest and America tries to education everyone with mixed results. The problem isn't more money for education as seen in the stats below.

Average years of schooling of adults (most recent) by country

#1 United States: 12

#2 Norway: 11.8

#3 New Zealand: 11.7

#4 Canada: 11.6

#5 Sweden: 11.4

#6 Australia: 10.9

#7 Switzerland: 10.5

#8 Germany: 10.2

#9 Finland: 10

#10 Poland: 9.8

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_ave_...chooling-adults

Total expenditure as % of GDP (most recent) by country

#1 United States: 7 % of GDP

#2 Denmark: 6.7 % of GDP

#3 Sweden: 6.5 % of GDP

#4 Canada: 6.4 % of GDP

#5 France: 6.1 % of GDP

#6 Australia: 6 % of GDP

#7 Norway: 5.9 % of GDP

#8 New Zealand: 5.8 % of GDP

#9 Switzerland: 5.7 % of GDP

#10 Austria: 5.7 % of GDP

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_tot_...expenditure-gdp

I agree that as a nation, we need to encourage students to excel and pursue careers in Math and Science, I don't think the lack of those types of graduates is because universities aren't attracting them. In fact, many Math and Science departments of universities are overrun with foreign students.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

Agreed, they can always eat cake.

eta: true, but what does one do with a degree in philosophy? Seriously? I mean, I had a degree in English and pretty much all I could do was go back and get another degree

I was being sarcastic.

I agree with you.

... many Math and Science departments of universities are overrun with foreign students.

You're familiar with the connotations of the word 'overrun', yes?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

Agreed, they can always eat cake.

Who's the aristocrat in this argument?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

While I understand that students need to consider the economic factors of the type of field they are going to major in, I don't think they should let that be the dominating factor.

Agreed, they can always eat cake.

Who's the aristocrat in this argument?

I would love to live a reality in which I am the aristocrat.