3 ms·

"a great many gifted and motivated young people are excluded from college for no other reason than their ability to pay, and we have failed seriously to confron

"a great many gifted and motivated young people are excluded from college for no other reason than their ability to pay, and we have failed seriously to confront the problem." I can only think of two people who came somehwat closeclose to this description, and they were weighed down by family obligations, not paying for college per se. I almost find it hard to believe in America that someone would be kept out of college by the price of admission. Many grants and scholarships are need based or partially need based, not to mention that many of the rest are achievement based so the "High Achieving Student" discussed here would qualify for those as well. Also, student loans are generally not hard to get. Finally, if they could not finance it in other ways this "High Achieving" student they could join the military. If you are active duty, 100% of tuition is paid and your salary will easily handle books. The Gaurd programs differ by state, but they pay most tuition. Also, if you accept a commitment ROTC will pay. If you need to support a family (such as having a child while still in high school or being the primary caregiver for a sister after your parents died) that might be a nearly insurmountable barrier, but aside from that I find it hard to believe a "High Achiever" would not be able to get into college for purely financial reasons.

tokenadult 17y ago
I can only think of two people who came somewhat close to this description I can think of quite a few of my contemporaries, and some young people a little older than my oldest child, who had to trade down in quality of university among all universities who admitted them because they couldn't afford to go to the best university at which they were admitted. I can't think of examples of exactly what Jay Mathews is asking about, but I think he biases his question by assuming that poor students with low grades in high school are not "motivated." They may simply be disliked by their teachers.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  I can understand that. I know many people who decided to go a step down in prestige (quality of university education can be tricky, but I think most people will agree on the level of prestige of an institution at least roughly), my wife and I both included. But not being able to afford an elite private school is very different from not being able to afford a university education.

tokenadult 17y ago

I can only think of two people who came somewhat close to this description I can think of quite a few of my contemporaries, and some young people a little older than my oldest child, who had to trade down in quality of university among all universities who admitted them because they couldn't afford to go to the best university at which they were admitted. I can't think of examples of exactly what Jay Mathews is asking about, but I think he biases his question by assuming that poor students with low grades in high school are not "motivated." They may simply be disliked by their teachers.

timwiseman 17y ago
I can understand that. I know many people who decided to go a step down in prestige (quality of university education can be tricky, but I think most people will agree on the level of prestige of an institution at least roughly), my wife and I both included. But not being able to afford an elite private school is very different from not being able to afford a university education.