US News: Colleges to reserve more seats for rich kids

[villager]

Rich Students Will Get More College Acceptance Letters in 2010


By Kim Clark

Admissions officers and counselors say that hundreds of colleges are so desperate for cash this year that they will be reserving more spots for students who can afford to pay full tuition and don't need financial aid.

B students who don't need aid and apply to lots of colleges will likely have more fat acceptance envelopes than ever before. "Full-pay students are getting a break in terms of admission," says Judy Zodda, a private admissions counselor in Framingham, Mass. "If they are borderline admits and full pay, they are getting in this year. That was not true three years ago."


Top students, no matter how meager their college savings, will still be heavily recruited, counselors said. But less-than-stellar students who don't have much money will have a tougher time getting into many types of colleges this year, including some flagship public universities and some private colleges. Thus, there is a danger that the economic downturn could reduce college opportunities for low-income students while giving even more advantages to the wealthy.

The college news isn't all bad, however. Some of the six big trends for 2010 outlined below could give more students new opportunities and could force colleges to do better jobs of teaching and helping students.


1. SATs won't count as much. Students who get good grades but score poorly on tests will have a better shot of getting into their dream schools. More than 815 colleges have stopped requiring most applicants to provide standardized test scores, says Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest. Several more are expected to drop the requirement soon, he says. College officials say more students are taking ACTs. And some college admissions officers say that high Advance Placement test scores wow them more than any other score.

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3. The "public Ivies" will become more competitive. Highly ranked, affordable public universities have become the hottest schools for this year's high school seniors. "In the past, Ivy League/near Ivy schools set the tone for the admissions cycle," says David J. Hamilton, director of college advising at St. Mary's Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Md. "This year, I think state schools may hold the key." Examples of affordable public universities that U.S. News ranks highly are the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill.


4. Wealthy, good students will be heavily recruited by out-of-state public colleges that are hoping to make up for state budget cuts and endowment declines by getting more students to pay higher tuition. In some--but not all--cases, the out-of-staters will take seats away from less wealthy in-staters. Many California public universities, for example, have announced plans to reduce the size of their freshmen classes while raising cash by increasing the number of students who pay full out-of-state tuition.

5. Rich international students, especially students from China, will be heavily recruited. In some cases, they will fill seats that would otherwise have gone to less wealthy Americans. Kevin Spensley, director of international marketing, enrollment, and recruitment at St. Michael's College near Burlington, Vt., says that his school is one of hundreds that is scouring the globe in an effort to raise the number of affluent, qualified students paying something close to full tuition. "We don't take people we wouldn't otherwise admit," he says. But he says colleges believe that they have to cast a wider net because the number of American 18-year-olds is declining. And the recession has reduced the number of families who can afford to pay the full cost of a degree at a private institution or a public college.


6. More applicants will lower their ambitions and choose local colleges so they can save money by living at home. Sue Bigg, a private counselor in Chicago, says that a growing number of her clients are "limiting their choices to commuting possibilities only. ... The great adventure seems to be set aside for some time."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20100115/ts_usnews/richstudentswillgetmorecollegeacceptancelettersin2010

[Barack_America]

1. If the US allows it's own students to be shut out of our own education system...

...it will be the end of us.

No public aid to any school who would discriminate against a poor American student in favor of a wealthy foreigner.

[jotsy]

2. My blue collar '08 high school grad is at a community college, paying her own way.

According to her SAT scores, she was in the top 12% of her class nationally. She was also a competitive athlete in two sports. The instructors where she now attends say she is way too smart to be furthering her education in their limited environment, but she won't bite a big chunk of debt to see it done. I feel like such a liar! I told her growing up if she worked hard the reward would be a ticket to college, she's always known her parents couldn't afford it so she worked her butt off and got nothing. I don't that I'll ever shake the bitters. The bulk of the brats who will get to go, already don't care about the quality of who they are, just what they have.

[zazen]

3. you sound like you've raised a very responsible, self-disciplined child--that's success in my book

though I'm sorry for the shitty financial aid environment. Still, an 18-19 year old with that much responsibility and frugality is much better prepared for the world than the spoiled psych majors coming out of four year universities who partied half of the time.

[jotsy]

4. Thanks, I'll let her know you said so.

It's not easy feeling like the generation that took her future from her. Opportunity was so much easier to come by when I was younger, I feel like I squandered that to her detriment. But she is awesome and I am too proud.

[exboyfil]

5. I agree with you about opportunities shrinking

I remember how much less my public school education cost even though I went to an out of state college compared to what it costs now (this was in the early 1980s). Community college seems nice, but it really does not prepare you for the rigors of a Science/Engineering curriculum in college (these are the ones I know about - I am sure a similar argument can be made for other majors). It is very difficult to take Chemistry I and II at a Junior college and then walk into a 4 year institution and take Organic Chemistry, or take Calc I/II and then go on to take Calc III/Diff Eqns.

I remember taking Junior College classes as a High School student. Talk about your big fish in a small pond - they were easy A's. Not so when I got to Purude where every class was a struggle to do well. In some cases Junior College classes are even less rigorous than the Honors prerequisites at High School (such as the High School Chemistry/Chem I example cited above - I am not even talking about the AP versions).