Poor Scholars Hit by Money Squeeze From Wealthy Colleges

[Purveyor]

By Janet Lorin - Mar 7, 2013

Octavio Brindis thought he had it made when he won a scholarship funded by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates to help him go to college tuition-free.

The second of five children of Mexican immigrants, Brindis has a father who works in a wine company warehouse and makes less than $40,000 a year. His mother is unemployed. Yet, financial-aid officials at Boston College, where it costs about $60,000 to attend, told Brindis he needed to pay about $2,500 a year -- part of a mandated student contribution. Lacking the cash, he took out $5,000 in loans over two years, he said.

The aid officer “would tell me that I was contributing such a small percentage to what my education costs, but she didn’t understand that small percentage was a much bigger percentage to my family,” Brindis, 21, said.

Scholarship programs funded by some of the nation’s biggest donors including Gates, Coca-Cola Co. and Michael Dell, are taking aim at practices used by wealthy colleges, such as Boston College, which has a $1.65 billion dollar endowment, Amherst, with a $1.64 billion fund and Barnard, with $216.4 million. They say the schools hurt poor and minority students by rescinding aid once they find out they have awards from outside sources or by banning use of the funds to cover some student contributions. Donors complain that, in some cases, their gifts are boosting a school’s bottom line rather than the students they seek to help.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-07/poor-scholars-hit-by-money-squeeze-from-wealthy-colleges.html

[riderinthestorm]

1. This sucks. Any American student who has the talent and brains SHOULD go to college free

instead college is a monstrous money extortion scheme for those who can least afford it.

We are treating our best and brightest shamefully.

K&R

[Purveyor]

2. I'm starting to think it is by design. Keep the 'have-nots' from crossing over and crowding the

'haves' style.

[deutsey]

3. I think that's a big part of it, frankly

And look how uppity all us rabble became once we had opportunities to go to college like our superiors.

[riderinthestorm]

4. Afternoon kick! nt

[JPZenger]

5. So we are upset because someone gets a great degree for $10,000 in loans or summer jobs?

I'm sorry, I don't see the outrage. These students are still making out extremely well, regardless of who is paying the bill. If you can graduate from a high quality college that normally costs $240,000 for only $10,000 in federally subsidized student loans - and that is IF you don't work during the summer - you have done extremely well.

My son this summer is working full-time, plus doing an unpaid internship. That's life.

Remember, if these kids were not in college, there still would be family expenses for their food and utilities.