[globosapien]

Stanford: No tuition for low-income students

STANFORD, California (AP) -- Hoping to encourage students scared by rising higher education costs, Stanford University is eliminating tuition for undergraduates from some of the lowest-income families.

Under a new program announced Wednesday, students from families with annual incomes of less than $45,000 will not pay tuition. Those with incomes up to $60,000 will pay about $3,800, the school estimates.

Stanford's undergraduate tuition for the next school year will be nearly $33,000. Add in other expenses, such as books and housing, and the cost averages about $47,000.

"Students from low-income backgrounds are underrepresented at our nation's most selective institutions," said Richard Shaw, Stanford's dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid.

"Many families ... may be discouraged by the stated tuition, so we want to be more forceful with this new program in encouraging talented low-income students to consider Stanford," he said.

College costs have been rising fast across the U.S. According to the latest survey from the College Board, a nonprofit association based in Washington, D.C., tuition and fees at four-year private institutions rose nearly 6 percent to $21,235 for the 2005-06 academic year, from $20,045 in 2004-05.

Costs at four-year public institutions went up more than 7 percent to $5,491 from $5,126.

Stanford already provides strong financial aid. This year, students from families earning less than $45,000 paid an average $2,650, according to the university. The new program, starting for an estimated 1,100 current and new students this fall, is expected to cost the university $3 million in the first year.

Harvard and Princeton universities are among other elite American universities with similar programs.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/16/st...rd.notuition.ap

[gemini]

Wow, good job Stanford.

[AznBetty]

wow. this is so awesome!!
they should do that at my skool...

[idyllic]

harvard as well.

[mofo]

i'm happy that stanford is opening its doors to the lower income families

[lakers]

theres always some kind of catch.

[daisy]

^i dont think there is a catch. they are trying to close the gap between the poor and the rich. better education for the poor= higher up the class ladder.

[spyro]

i think its a good idea! help make society more educated.. i wish more schools would do that.. especially my school! hehehe

[kOoHII]

gahhh...i hate this.

ideally: it's a good idea. help the poor get an education right? it only equals the playing field.

realistically: the "poor" manipulate the system (not all, but i know a good number at my private liberal arts college that do). how? unreported income, illegal immigrants so they work under the table (though they make a good amount), have a dozen kids then exaggerat the numbers do they don't have to pay taxes and it makes it seems as if they're under the poverty line, etc.
yes its a great idea ideally...but it doesn't work. the ones who are going to be hit most are thie middle class students. they'll barely have enough to pay for their own tuition. how can they pay the burden of a "low income" student's tuition? i know that there are donations ocming in from alumns...but that means less financial aid for middle class students. essentially, once again, middle class students will have to pay more.

[josebiwasabi]

as long as they have the legacy system in place, it won't make that much of an impact.

my IB bio teacher has been teaching for 19 years now, and in all her years of teaching she's only seen 1 student who didn't have a legacy get into stanford.

now, i'm not saying that no one gets in if they don't have a legacy... but its a lot rarer.

[mannamedx]

I don't buy any of this, things like this shouldnt exist. Why? because its easy for someone to be "low income" when actually they are not.If they are so smart and gifted and such a good students, racking up scholarships will be easy. My rooomate looks "low income" while his parents make 6 figures and he drives two bmws. Its really not fair. How about kids who have parents who are high income yet refuse to help thier kid out, and the kid has to work his butt off for himself with no aid from parents. either way its flawed

[instantnoodlez]

aren't they highly selecitve for good grades? it doesn't make sense unless they're trying to help really smart poor people, and even then, really smart poor people can probably get scholarships to instate universities.

[saera]

yes its a great idea ideally...but it doesn't work. the ones who are going to be hit most are thie middle class students. they'll barely have enough to pay for their own tuition. how can they pay the burden of a "low income" student's tuition? i know that there are donations ocming in from alumns...but that means less financial aid for middle class students. essentially, once again, middle class students will have to pay more.

I agree. Those who are stuck in middle class make too much money to qualify for anything, but not enough to be able to spend 40K+ a year on their kid's college education.

[krnchunsa86]

i agree with the one before me...and the state tuition for suny schools are going up too...not to mention that my brother is going to enter college in the fall...no idea how we're going to afford it...even with financial aid....TT_TT

[itzocccckkkkkk]

thats it. i'm applying there.
lol.

[jho]

Harvard has that new policy too, except its $0 tuition for incomes less than $60 000.

[babossagaji]

wohoo! my brother got in and he only has to pay 1700...and the tuition is 45,000...so that's pretty good. ^^

[WhiteMorningStar]

darn it. Now I regret not applying to Harvard.
Maybe I should've gone to Stanford instead of Berkeley. Haha.

[Babigrl]

if only i could make it there hehe