They don’t even pretend anymore. Our institutions have happily acquiesced to the idea that the plums in life should only be plucked by the children of the elite:
Felix Salmon draws our attention today to a new study by Stephen Burd of the New America Foundation about Pell Grants and low-income college students. The news is grim. More and more universities, he says, have joined the “high tuition, high aid” brigade:
In theory, the structure should work well. Rather than charge every student the same amount, have a high rack rate, paid by the richest students, and then use the proceeds to put in place a generous scholarship system which will help support the poorest students.
In practice, however, that doesn’t happen. The scholarships go towards “merit aid”, which is often, dismayingly enough, a polite way of saying that the college is helping to pay for wealthy kids to attend, even if they’re not particularly smart. Some 20% of students with GPAs below 2.0, for instance, receive merit aid. And at the same time, the “need aid” is carefully calibrated so that poor kids won’t take the colleges up on their offers.
Apparently this called “gapping,” or “admit-deny,” which is the practice of offering a “a financial-aid package that is so rotten that you hope they get the message, ‘Don’t come,’” Mark Heffron, a senior vice-president at the enrollment management firm Noel-Levitz, told The Atlantic Monthly back in 2005. ‘They don’t always get the message.’”
>The interest charged on student loans will increase from its current 3.4% to 6.8% in about 90 days. Elizabeth Warren introduced a bill in the Senate yesterday (her first bill) to stop the increase and to reduce the rate to .75%. That’s the rate the Federal Reserve charges the banks. >Now that the 1% has decided to destroy the middle-class they see no need to allow any vehicle directed toward upward mobility, i.e. Pell Grants given at low rates of interest. > The 1% will get whatever technical help it needs to run its corporations from overseas through selective immigration. How much longer will we snooze and allow the Capitalists to control or destinies?
For profit healthcare, for profit education. Conservative ethics at work in support of Our Corporate Owners. And both endeavors are at the bottom are at the shit tier of so-called 1st world countries. Personally college tuition should be free, but baring that I’m with Senator Warren. Financial aid designed to keep the wealthy wealthy is perverse.