Stanford to eliminate tuition for families earning less than $100,000

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will announce Wednesday that it will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.

In addition, the university will waive room and board fees for students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year.

University president John Hennessy will make the announcement Wednesday on campus, university provost John Etchemendy confirmed late tonight.

The university is making the change in the wake of published reports last month that its endowment had grown nearly 22 percent last year, to $17.1 billion. That sum had begun to attract attention from lawmakers who want wealthy institutions to do more to reduce tuition costs.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/19/MNABV5LHM.DTL&tsp=1

[bluestateguy]

1. Princeton and Harvard essentially promised a full ride to students from lower income backgrounds

How come these policies weren't in place when I was in college?

[N4457S]

4. Because We're Old...

...I guess. Pass the Lisinopril, thank you very much.

People in high places are beginning to finally understand how bad the nationwide income disparity and demographic rot is becoming and finally want to do something about it.

[pnwmom]

10. When I went to college, full costs at those schools were less than $5,000 yr.

As a percentage of median income, this was much lower than the percentages now.

College costs have been rising much faster than the rate of inflation since I attended in the 70's. They could attract plenty of middle class students then without giving them a full ride.

[AP]

13. One reason cost of education has gone up is because--like with home mortgages--there's no downward

pressure on prices caused by a lack of money.

Universities can keep raising prices because everyone can get a student loan and mortgage their futures for a couple years in a very expensive college.

[closeupready]

38. Difference is you can't discharge student loans in bankruptcy, should something catastrophic occur.

Given that fact, maybe people need to really look at what they are doing, and see if that is giving back enough, or how such a model can be mimicked elsewhere.

[pnwmom]

40. And another, unfortunately, is that economies of scale and other

ways to save money don't work very well when one of the biggest expenses is teacher salaries. Unless they replaced all the professors with robots!

[pinerow]

54. Salaries are too high...?

Please source your comment with some kind comparable graphs to back that assertion...sheesh

[AP]

12. I read that the number of kids in Harvard's class who qualify for zero-tuition is really low

It's something like less than 10% of the students, so it costs them very little to do that. However, at a school like UC Berkeley, something like 50% of the students would be below Harvard's income threshold.

[Nay]

14. Really! I had the SATs for Harvard, Yale, Bryn Mawr, etc., but hell,

my family was so poor we didn't even eat well at times. I swear. Where was all this free schooling when I needed it?

[shadowknows69]

22. Word, I wasn't top tier or anything but I could have gone better places than where I could afford

[crikkett]

31. nobody's stopping you from filling out an application now.

but then you might be making more than the threshhold...

[northzax]

43. sorry to tell you

but if you were really that poor, Harvard and the like would have been basically free to you anyway, if you could have gotten in.

[N4457S]

2. Well...

...I work for UCSF, and our top tech guy says Stanford is so wealthy it wouldn't need to charge tuition at all if it didn't want to. Their endowment is incredible.

[knight_of_the_star]

3. Damn

Now I'll have to think twice about doing law there after I finish my MA, I wonder if that applies to ALL students or just undergrad stuff.

[rch35]

5. this is a good thing

they are making poor families much more able to get their kids into the college.

[N4457S]

6. My Wife...

...had two good interviews with Stanford and everyone we've talked to says it's a great place to work.

[Silver Gaia]

7. This is the first news I've read in a long time that actually made me SMILE!

:) :) :) Awesome news!

[Stand and Fight]

8. Something positive.

Thank God. I have grown so sick and dispirited by the rash of negative news. I wonder if non-traditional students like myself can take advantage of this?

[skyounkin]

9. Good

Good on Stanford! Seriously! This is great news!

:applause:

[AP]

11. At Stanford, that's probably a dozen kids!

they have billions in their endowment and are going to get a lot of credit for foregoing a couple hundred thousand dollars in tuition a year.

[salin]

15. Is this just undergrad or does it also include grad students?

I would guess that it is many more than a few hundred undergrads - and a whole lot of grad students if grad students are included.

[AP]

17. I assume it's just undergrads. Grad students are usually adults whose parents have no obligation to

support them, and their income wouldn't be considered anyway...

I was exaggerating, but see my post above about Harvard vs. Berkeley. Seriously, the kids at schools like Stanford and Harvard tend to have wealthy parents and these schools aren't giving away much by doing this.

[salin]

19. You are probably right about grad students...

perhaps I am looking through the lens of growing up in a college town where many kids each year went off to elites, from prof families that were not wealthy - had more to do with the reproduction of intellectual capital than economic capital (that is the parents were well educated and put a high emphasis on the children over achieving in order to be able to get into similar U.s as to where the parents went) - which probably is not represenative of the total student bodies of the elites.

[AP]

21. I think you'd be hard pressed to find children of academics attending Harvard and Stanford

from families making less than 100K -- but I do grant that they would be some of the least wealthy kids at those schools.

I don't think there are many academics old enough to have college-aged kids who (presuming both parents work) make less than 50k a year.

I know a professor (department chair) whose kid just graduated from yale. his wife is a school teacher, and together, I'd be surprised if they didn't make at least 160K. That's the high end of the spectrum, I'm sure, and it's only an anecdote, but it still way above the Stanford threshold.

[electron_blue]

47. Wow. Where I live, and work, it would be unusual to find a married professor who,

between the two of them make over $100K. Your mileage obviously varies. And of course there are professors who are either single parents, or whose partner doesn't work, or works only part-time. I think this addresses more t han a few families.

[Tab]

48. It sounds like a lot but it's not

I make more than that, and there's no way in hell I could afford Stanford for my son. This is a great opportunity for most families.

I didn't read the article, but it sounds like not even a reduction but a full waiver.

We need quality education going forward. I'd much rather see endowments going for this than new buildings or ice rinks or whatever.

[Johnny Noshoes]

16. Even so..

Even if it is only a small number of students that's a few more people who will get a great education who would NOT have had that chance without this policy. It might be a small gesture but it is a positive gesture all the same and every little bit counts. They - Stanford - seem to be acting with right intention and that's a good thing IMHO.

[AP]

18. I agree. But if Stanford really wants to help poor kids, they should give some of their money to

Berkeley where half the student body is pell eligible (compared to something like 5-7% for Stanford).

And, yes, I'm trying to be funny.

[reggie the dog]

20. what great news

this should be a model for all the universities in the USA to follow until the day that tuitions are all free in the sense that they are paid for by taxes.

[xchrom]

23. every uni that does this is a great help!

:woohoo: :applause:

[RestoreGore]

24. So will admission standards be changed to make it harder to get in?

because it doesn't appear that would include many who are already there.

[SoCalDem]

25. Pre-reagan, college in California was FREE for residents

It;s about time they started making smart decisions for a change..

[crikkett]

32. so that must be why CA has the 5th largest economy in the world

or at least ONCE HAD

[FalconsRule]

52. Stanford is not a State School N/T

[LuckyLib]

55. Well, not exactly free, but comparatively cheap, certainly by today's standards.

In 1966, the University of California was $81.50 per academic quarter for a full load of classes (plus a few dollars in fees).

[DiverDave]

26. Thank god, I am worried what I'll do when my boys get to college age

I hope it's a trend that will grow.

[LiberalFighter]

27. Since I'm retired it's too bad I couldn't go back to college

Stanford would almost make it worthwhile. But with all those kids? I don't think so.

[DemoTex]

29. In my state (SC), 60+ can take courses at ANY state institution FREE.

I am planning to enroll at USC this summer. I'll take a little political science, and a little history, too. Maybe a literature course or two. Then, later, I'll try horticulture at Clemson, and maybe plant pathology. At some point, I'll probably pick up an IT course or two at Greenville Tech.
The possibilities are limitless! This is certainly one of the few things I like about the atavistic state of South Carolina.

[riverdale]

35. atavism

Function:
noun
Etymology:
French atavisme, from Latin atavus ancestor, from at- (probably akin to atta daddy) + avus grandfather — more at uncle
Date:
1833

1 a: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination b: recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity <architectural atavism>
2: one that manifests atavism : throwback

[DemoTex]

39. Atavistic - adjective

Atavistic: of, pertaining to, or characterized by atavism; reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type.

That's SC! The Throwback State!

:rofl:

[LiberalFighter]

41. Not that old yet

[melm00se]

28. still gotta get in n/t

[burythehatchet]

30. AAARRRGGGG... that's like SOCIALISM!!!

[DeepModem Mom]

33. K&R

[octobit]

34. Universal Education ...

... is what we should focus on after Universal Healthcare. Well done Stanford.

[lumberjack_jeff]

36. Maybe they ought to give that endowment to 100 community college

$17.1 million per college would make a big difference for a lot of people who would otherwise go uneducated.

This is nothing more than a lottery. Stanford will only give these educations to a lucky few, and they would get educated anyway.

[zanne]

37. Excellent!

I hope it pans out. When I was in high school, I knew some very bright kids with excellent grades who couldn't go to any college because their parents couldn't afford it.

[Javaman]

42. odd timing, considering the economy is in the toilet, but then again

perhaps that's why they are doing it.

[fed-up]

44. too bad Stanford is right wing heaven- son prefers Berkeley-can't they send some across the bay? nt

[electron_blue]

45. Wow! My friends' son just got accepted there. I'm pretty sure this means

a free ride for him, wahoo!

[Supersedeas]

46. one University that is finally catching up to the wisdom of Europe

[lovuian]

56. yep

a good thing

[cannabis_flower]

49. I hope..

the University of Texas and Rice follow suit. My daughter is in Jr. College in Houston now and says she wants to go to Rice or University of Houston.

[cannabis_flower]

50. I hope..

the University of Texas and Rice follow suit. My daughter is in Jr. College in Houston now and says she wants to go to Rice or University of Houston.

[cannabis_flower]

51. I hope..

the University of Texas and Rice follow suit. My daughter is in Jr. College in Houston now and says she wants to go to Rice or University of Houston.

[nam78_two]

53. Wow-good for Stanford

Surprising but very cool :bounce:.

[Bill McBlueState]

57. This is great

But it's going to get really embarrassing for state governments if private schools start turning into a better deal than public schools.

[jasmine621]

58. They could also spread some of the wealth around to poor state colleges

around the nation where jobs have been lost and people are losing their homes.