Unpopular opinions you hold

[Clodfobble]

You know, they have done study after study after study and determined that it is NOT race which indicates grades, employment, or any other measure of success, but rather socioeconomic status.--i.e., it's not that minorities are held down, it's that poor people are held down and minorities are statistically more likely to be poor.

I know this looks like thread drift, but it's not, see:

I think that if we're really going to attempt to "level the playing field," (which is impossible IMHO) then affirmative action should actually be in the form of an economic rating. Give young adults a score based on their parents' tax forms, and schools/employers can give preference to the lower numbers as they see fit. After the age of 25, you've had enough years to recover and you're on your own.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

You know, they have done study after study after study and determined that it is NOT race which indicates grades, employment, or any other measure of success, but rather socioeconomic status.--i.e., it's not that minorities are held down, it's that poor people are held down and minorities are statistically more likely to be poor.

I know this looks like thread drift, but it's not, see:

I think that if we're really going to attempt to "level the playing field," (which is impossible IMHO) then affirmative action should actually be in the form of an economic rating. Give young adults a score based on their parents' tax forms, and schools/employers can give preference to the lower numbers as they see fit. After the age of 25, you've had enough years to recover and you're on your own.

That form of thing already occurs with the FAFSA. If your kid goes to college, every parent must fill this out. It tells the college exactly how much money they can get from your parents and how much they don't have to help your kid to pay through grants or scholarship.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

That form of thing already occurs with the FAFSA. If your kid goes to college, every parent must fill this out. It tells the college exactly how much money they can get from your parents and how much they don't have to help your kid to pay through grants or scholarship.

The Department of Education's take is that a parent is "responsible for their children's education" until the child is 24. Though that is an abitrary age, imho, I agree with the concept. I've seen parents who make in excess of 100 grand a year who can't believe their kids don't get government assistance. What? You mean I should have been saving for my child's education rather than buying a new RV, a McMansion, and generally keeping ahead of the Joneses? Clodfobble is right, some parents are dicks. She is right in every aspect of her post. The problem for some students is that the parents know they make too much for the student to qualify for grants, but low interest federal student loans are also based on the FAFSA. For the parents who did not save, a loan may be the difference between a kid going to college at all, or maybe the difference between attending the college of their choice which may have a much better program in their field of interest.

The purpose of grants is to assist lower income families. Though there are system players, financial aid administrators try hard to follow the regulations as well as understand the individual challenges that each family may face. In the end, however, we have to abide by DOE regs.

I'm a liberal with closet conservative tendencies beyond my control, because of what I see every day. For a better synopsis of my view on the subject you can refer to this post, and the one after that.

As for scholarships, though some are based solely on need, most are academic or a combination of academics and need. Scholarships are governed by the donors; as administrators we just have to abide by the donor's wishes.