Officials target college financial aid letters

The aid letters are not that difficult to understand. You have to actually read them. If part of the package says loans, you have to pay that back. If it says grant or scholarship, you do not. If people can't even figure that much out, they are really not college material.

In the 1980's I went to engineering school at a big ten university - tuition was $640 per semester. Now tuition at a fake on line school costs ten or 20 times that - this just goes to show that our country really doesn't care if it's citizens are educated anymore. In fact the governement/rich want us as dumb as possible . . .

Passion in ones interest is more powerful then a college degree

more students loans!! WE are dangerously low on Theater Arts majors and Gender Studies minors.

All that, and King OBLAMER keeps pushing kids to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt for an education that most will find toally useless, and no prospect of being able to pay off their STUPID (student) loans on time, thus setting them even deeper in debt, just like King OBLAMER has done to the government.

I do not think even a mathematics major, economist, or accounting major could figure out the actual costs of school these days. Colleges routinely add 25 percent more to tuition every couple of years. They do not lock in tuition rates. It is never what you expect it to be.

It costs OVER $15,000 a year to attend state college in NY,CT and Massachusetts. These three areas also have the highest cost of living with rent averaging $1,000 a month for a single person. Middle and working class people cannot get most grant money, that goes exclusively to poor minorities so how are you supposed to afford school and your rent without putting yourself into an enormous debt hole? With the lack of jobs out there this a recipe for disaster. Tuition needs to be lowered. And this business of buying books at grossly inflated prices needs to be done away with. A text book should cost $10 not $300.

It is obvious that it does NOT include the more than 1600 federal rules, regulations, and laws pertaining to student loans that are "included by reference."

This is exactly the sort of regulation that Conservatives and Republicans decry as job killing.

As far as they're concerned, it's entirely OK for corporations, colleges and non-government entities to lie in order to make money, especially off the government.

My financial award letter is one page, clearly stating loans I am being offered. Yes, I do have to go and read the documents regarding my loans because they do not appear on the letter, but it doesn't take long to do this. So far, all my student loans are from the government, except one. I'm already in a program, that, while still in college allows me to make payments on my private loan. It is the responsibility of the student (and parent, if you are lucky enough to have a parent helping to pay your way) to read the letter and ask intelligent questions.

In addition to limiting how much money goes to athletes, in order to make sure that all students get a fair share of financial aid from the university, universities should also not be allowed to increase tuition and fees higher than the rate of inflation. These steps would go a long way in reducing overall cost of a higher education for the average student and create more well-rounded graduates.

Some big athletic programs, such as U of Texas, actually make money from their athletic programs. But the vast majority cost millions of dollars a year. It's a double whammy too, since these students don't contribute in tuition along with taking away money for supporting the sports programs. They somehow need to fix this, so the students there just for academic reasons can receive a cheaper and higher quality education.

We have argued that the evolution of adaptations for group-level cooperation generated a coalitional psychology that came with concomitant adaptations for between-group conflict, creating simultaneously a psychology of cooperation and exclusion. The psychology of exclusion was driven both by a selection pressure to incorporate maximally cooperative members into the group as well as a selection pressure to exploit nongroup members. This analysis suggests that members of dominant groups can be expected to exploit excluded individuals opportunistically

Education is a major industry itself. But it is a sinking industry once society figures out creative ways to get better success by going around educational institutions instead of through them. Pushing for CLEP tests for up to a Masters Degree level with your legislators is a start and being self schooled at same time. This would give one the knowledge and the certification for employment....no more talking...just do it!!!!

why do colleges pay for those to play football when many don't attend class or graduate ? it seems like collges are more about making money for themselves rather than educating. colleges should have to tell all their graduation rates and the average salaries of their grads.

If you look at the outcome for many students you see an education that does not allow them to work in the field they have studied. placement in related careers (as opposed to employed in a non related or most likely underemployed in jobs not requiring a degree or certification). leaving the student with a vastly overpopulated or non existant job market and staggering debt as well. I think that this is just as much fraud and theft as any common thief or con man is guilty of. THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS AND FROM CHANCELLOR TO PROFESSOR TO INSTRUCTOR AND FINANCIAL ADVISORS PLACED IN PRISON AND THEN FORCED TO FORFEIT ALL PENSIONS AND MAKE RESTITUTION WITH PENALTIES TO THE STUDENTS AND PUBLIC.

Wait, you have to think to go to college? You have to have a little personal responsibility, read and understand the papers you are signing. This is not like a boilerplate liability waiver this is a thousand dollar a year purchase. When Americans start thinking for themselves instead of relying on our government officals things will improve.

Why are the Occupy groups not protesting Colleges ripping them off?

There is this new invention called "the internet" that allows one to conduct extensive research into darn near anything...including the cost of attendance for a specific college and how to understand financial aid. Many colleges also hold financial aid classes or mini seminars as a means to help educate people about what is available and what it all means. If you can't figure it out with a world of information at your finger tips, you would be better off saving your money and going straight to waiting tables, taking tickets at a theater, or some other low-skill, non-thinking position.

So, it takes a college degree to comprehend what an admission letter states. Oh wait... you haven't even enrolled so you're not intelligent enough yet to figure it out. (lol)
When I went to University tuition costs were clearly stated upon admission and if I'm not mistaken, nothing has changed at that particular college. Maybe it's the parents who need to reread the fine print before complaining because, in my opinion, financial aid counselors and academic advisors usually try to help, not hinder, prospective students. Nor are they in habit of deceptive practices. But that's just my 'loudmouthed' (lmao) opinion. ;^P

It's way past time for students to ask questions like why they're paying for flower gardens and football stadiums. Even more so, to question building codes written by HVAC salesmen (ASHRAE) mandating every college building with a top floor of jet turbines spewing hot air into the cold winter air all night long.