julieswhimsies

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 10:24 p.m.

Are you kidding me?! My oldest daughter obtained her BA at Western, and her Masters at Eastern. She owes $140,000..and she has a new baby and no job.

Life in Ypsi

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 5:22 p.m.

I don't find my student loans affordable at all.

pvitaly

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 2:54 p.m.

If there was no financial aid, universities would not be able to hike up their tuition so high. Then college would become affordable.

Jan

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 2:49 p.m.

It is amazing that no one writes of the stress and hardship put on the middle-class families who find a way to pay their students college costs themselves. So many are unsympathetic, saying that college is a choice and not a necessity. If that is so, then all financial aid should be equal. Students from middle-class families should not be turned down for aid, just to graduate with more debt than students who received financial aid!

dexterreader

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 12:32 p.m.

What?? Then we must've done something wrong since I now find myself in debt to the tune of $40,000 to send one child to U of M ... and that did not include room and board for three of the four years he was there. And I just sent #2 off to begin college this year, all the while wondering how I am going to pay for this. This "philosophy" IS a lot of crap. As another writer put it, "only the middle class suffers from the increase in college costs" .... not poor enough for need based grants/scholarships/loans but certainly not rich enough to cover four years of college for two kids. When I graduated from EMU in 1989, tuition was about $33 per credit hour. I paid as I went and put myself through school with no loans of any kind. Try doing that now.

The Picker

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 12:11 p.m.

Why do Universities need lobbists? And why should we pay for them? Do they need to convince us of their relivance? Are their offerings getting so weak they need to hire cheerleaders? Just asking!

democracyrox

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 10:36 a.m.

>>>If you are very poor or a minority this works. If you are rich you don't need it. If you are in the middle of the income range, no one is going to give you a lead nickel. So only the middle class suffers from the increase in College Costs.<<< DonBee hits it right on the head. Financial aid may make college affordable for the needy, but if you're struggling in the middle the only "aid" is the opportunity to go deep into debt. We're a family of four with a family income of about $60K a year, gross income. One kid in college, a spouse back in school and another kid soon to enter. We're already up to our eyeballs in a mortgage and creeping credit card bills. My daughter at MSU gets about two grand a year to defray her annual tab, which comes to about $20,000 a year. The aid formulas say we should be able to contribute $6,300 a year to her schooling. Yeah, right! The rest of her "aid package" is a list of loans that she or we can apply for. She works 20+ hours a week, struggles to make rent and will barely have time to study. This state needs to get its priorities straight and start reinvesting in education at all levels.

Les Gov

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 10:09 a.m.

MJC..."he Michigan Promise Award"...good point. Amazing how that debacle was swept under the rug. Michael Boulus is like the rest of the people in government, blowing hot air to get their name in the paper. "Subtract $4,874 in combined state, federal and institutional aid per full-time student and the net cost was $4,787." Show me….please show me where this aid is. The letter I got after filling out the FASA congratulated me for being eligible for aid. The aid, a student loan with interest and fees that are worse than any charge card out there. That isn't aid, that is ripping the people off. Once again government fails the people.

5c0++ H4d13y

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 3:58 a.m.

Housing was affordable too because cheap government backed loans defrayed costs too. That worked out well.

MjC

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 3:41 a.m.

Scholarships are made available for athletes, low-income families, and scammers with connections. Guess who is paying for this? Hard working, tax paying, honest people who end up getting no help at all because we've worked too hard and have followed all the rules! If they mean federal loans help make college more affordable, well loans have to be paid back with interest, don't they? And does anyone remember the Michigan Promise Award? Some promise that was...

Stuart Brown

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 2:09 a.m.

The government screwed up when it made aid money available without putting cost controls on public universities! The net result is that the increased aid is squandered and no net improvement in affordability results to students and their families. This article's claim is a lot of hog wash since aid to needy students has been available since before the dramatic acceleration in college costs began about 30 years ago (has anyone ever heard of the GI Bill?) Here is a simple proposal: cut state funding to public universities that raise tuition, fees and/or room & board above a certain threshold dollar-for-dollar until the real cost of an education is back to where things were at in 1980. Take the cut funds and make them available through tax breaks to families with members in a state supported university. The problem is the state simply gives money to universities with no performance goals attached to the funding.

Dog Guy

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 1:50 a.m.

In the 1960's, U of M instate tuition was $154 per semester for as many credits as any student wanted to take. The two $5 season football tickets students could buy could theoretically be scalped for about $308. "I don't remember college being affordable. What has changed?" wrote a2chrisp. Well, the main change is that U of M professors used to teach.

Anthony

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 1:48 a.m.

Am I the only who thinks college is still affordable, and that all you have to do is be smart about it? I am going into my fifth year of college (spent 3 at WCC trying to figure things out and now at EMU) and have less than 12K in debt. How does anyone rack up these high debt bills that are being reported? Books can be bought cheaply used or online, and you don't have to take out the maximum loan payments just because they are available. For the price, at least at EMU, I think it is very affordable for the education, facilities, and faculty that are available.

Stephen Landes

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 1:03 a.m.

I believe the truth is something other than as portrayed by the Presidents Council State Universities of Michigan. Cost containment is a concept completely foreign to our colleges and universities. The administrators know that society in general values education and is willing to pay for it. Even with the reductions in financing in Michigan due to our budget issues education spending is still one of the largest outlays of state government. Colleges and universities have no incentive to control costs, become more efficient, learn to do more with less -- all that things that successful private businesses must do in order to compete. The money tap is essentially open for colleges and universities, so they keep raising the costs. A college education is only affordable for those who qualify for the massive amounts of Federal, state, and foundation aid plus bank loans available these days. I doubt that college and university administrators are particularly concerned about the debt their alumni bear just as long as they keep bringing in the aid dollars to campus. We would be better off if we linked the amount of aid that a college or university could get from all sources to their ability to contain their costs and slow the increase in tuition, fees, and books to the rate of inflation. Give these institutions a reason to control their costs and they will magically find ways to do it. That's one of the benefits of competition and these institutions need to be forced to compete.

Diagenes

Wed, Aug 31, 2011 : 12:34 a.m.

Education lobby talking points. They want you to believe that without a college education you can not be successful. Community colleges offer a great opportunity to get started toward a degree and or vocational training. There are many jobs open for skilled trades, machine prgrammers ect. Business colleges like Walsh and Cleary are viable options as well. Until students (ie. parents) have to pay the actual cost of a four year public university on a yearly basis, we will continue this bait and switch game of financial aid and tax dollars and tuition and student loans.

a2chrisp

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 11:43 p.m.

I don't remember college being affordable. What has changed?

xmo

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 11:06 p.m.

With the "Great Depression Two" going on, "less than sticker price" is still very expensive.

Gramma

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 10:18 p.m.

This financial aid (usually loans) only helps to cover tuition. There are still books, supplies, housing, transportation, food, and if you have children, childcare. I returned to UM to get a Master's in Social Work (2 years). When I got out, all the available jobs started at 12-16,000/ year, no consideration given to prior experience. I borrowed $20,000 for living expenses and worked during the summer while I raised my two children. The loan is still not paid off, because the interest keeps adding up and boosting the actual cost of the loan to a minimum of $40,000. Just like credit cards, which I don't have, it becomes impossible to ever pay off. The banks can't lose and if they mess up, the Federal governmentwill bails them out.

DonBee

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:57 p.m.

"Aid is available if you have need. College is still affordable" If you are very poor or a minority this works. If you are rich you don't need it. If you are in the middle of the income range, no one is going to give you a lead nickel. So only the middle class suffers from the increase in College Costs.

Cash

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:52 p.m.

Financial is about HUGE debt. Anyone who says otherwise, lies. And now this means huge debt and no job. So not only are taxpayers funding waste in higher ed, but we are paying for loans to be repaid to banks because they are federally subsidized. Banks cannot lose. Colleges cannot lose. Only students and taxpayers lose.

Macabre Sunset

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:47 p.m.

College is an investment in your future. If you don't want to make that investment personally, you can't complain when the only jobs you can get are menial. A lot of our tax money does go to the university system. This includes scholarships for those in need. We can't provide everything for your children. You have to pull some of the weight yourself.

tommy_t

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:45 p.m.

So these 100K graduation debts are figments of the imagination or just dumb students?

Jennifer Betzhold

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:24 p.m.

what they dont say is that most Finacal aid you still need to pay back so really they just want to see you in debt.

debling

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:23 p.m.

This is a lot of crap. "The actual cost of tuition for many, many students is much less than the sticker price," . Sounds like a shady car salesman. Tuition, books and fees have been skyrocking and for many Michigan families, college has become either unaffordable or becomes an incredible debt load to a new graduate. No student who works in the summers and part time through the school year should graduate with any debt. That should be the benchmark as to whether education is too expensive or not. Until Michigan's Universities are forced to cut education costs, these self serving behemouths will continue to build Taj Mahals, pay outrageous faculty salaries, drop millions on atheletic departments all at the expense of tax payers and poor kids struggling to get an education. Hey Michigan here's a concept. Let's have a mandate to cut education costs 5% a year each year for the next 10 years. Start with highering lecturers, not research professors, move to electronic notes, not expensive books (the faculty probably wrote), cut out all non degree related fees, demand athletic departments funnel more money to reduce tuition instead of spending it themselves ... Lots of options, but do we have the political will to make it happen?

Urban Sombrero

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:11 p.m.

Keep telling yourselves that, university lobbyists. Meanwhile, my kids will be stuck going to Clown College, or Hamburger U, because that's all I'll be able to afford.

djacks24

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 : 9:03 p.m.

"Among the findings in the report: need-based aid has increased 75 percent on a per-student basis since fiscal 2007 due in part to increases in federal support" So, in essence Universities can continue to jack up the costs at a much higher rate than inflation over the next 20 years, just like they've done the last 20 years, and it's justified because some students don't have to pay for all of it? But they are painting it as if you can't pay (or qualify that you can't afford it) you can still go. They fail to point out the fact that they are not covering the costs themselves, but the taxpayers are. So as long as there are taxpayers taking care of things, rising tuition costs, along with multimillion dollar construction projects are justified.