College Crunch

Over at the Washington Post, there is an article that highlights possible inefficiencies in our high school system relating to student preparation for college and whether high schools do enough to get students into higher education.

It is a real wonder how many students do actually miss out on attending college due to financial constraints. The cost of student education post high school can be in excess of $200,000, and thus can make it extraordinarily difficult for some students, especially those in low to middle economic income households, to pull strings financially and enter college. The premise of this article is that “gifted” students do not actually miss out on a post high school education because of financial constraints and I’m not too sure if I agree with that assessment. I am sure there are students of all intelligence levels feeling the financial strain of the ever increasing costs of a post-secondary education.

The article also cites from the “Empty Promises” report which was commissioned by the Federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance in 2002, and states that more than 160,000 students with average household incomes of less that $50,000 miss out on the opportunity to attend college. These students were said to have a higher than 2.7 grade point average as well as a combined score of 820 on math and verbal S.A.T.’s. With 160,000 students qualifying for entry but unable to afford the high costs, even if that report was incorrect by a factor of ten, it’s still a major problem.

Although Mathews does poke holes in the study, citing the fact that the original study did not reference any students who did, in fact, miss out on attending college because of financial reasons. He goes on to say that in his reporting about education for the past 27 years he’s never actually come across a gifted student who missed out on college for financial reasons. Some might say, as I do, that this is a little surprising. It probably could be due to the fact that most kids who miss out on college aren’t the ones to kick and scream about it as high levels pride and intelligence can come hand in hand.

He goes on to say that the problem lies in the fact that students aren’t fully prepared for the challenges faced at colleges and universities, rather than any financial limitations. I’m not sure if I agree with this sentiment either because young adults aren’t able to make realistic judgments about whether or not they are prepared for college, because they have never set foot into college classroom and as such lack a comparison. These students cited in the 2002 study were all, in theory, qualified to attend college, but they just couldn’t afford it.

You can find the article, if you want to read more, at the Washington Post.

What do you think, have you let financial constraints stop you from attending school? Let me know in the comments below.