Stanford Has Driven a Hard Bargain
Stuart Nachbar
December 29, 2008
The Palo Alto Daily News has reported that Stanford University accepted less than thirteen percent of its early action applicants to their freshman class of 2013. The university expects to attract over 25,000 applicants and accept less than nine percent. See the story at http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_11250754.
Interest in Stanford is higher than it has ever been, not only because of the sheer numbers of quality applicants, but also because of a new tuition policy: any student from a family earning less than $100,000 a year enters the university tuition-free. I don´t know what percentage of Stanford admits will come from such families, but there´s no doubt that students who have the university first on their lists were unafraid to apply. And that´s a good thing. Unfortunately, few schools have the financial resources of Stanford.
After reading Stanford´s announcement I start to see the issues of college affordability and accessibility differently. Affordability and accessibility are no problem for the best of the best students, provided they can compete successfully against students who come from wealthier families to get a much-coveted spot in the freshman class.
An excellent student with high test scores, regardless of their family´s income, should be able to get a full ride scholarship to a top private college or university, though it may not be their first choice school. The decision is: choose the school that offers the full-ride, or pay to go to the top choice on the list. Any family that would turn down a full-ride has no right to expect government to make up the difference through any form of financial aid, other than student loans. If a family believes that the rewards of the first choice school are greater than the full-ride school, then they should be willing to take more risks.
The decision between a private and a state-supported school is a different matter. The state schools charge less than the private school, but some, by offering non-need based merit scholarships, want to compete more directly with the private schools for the best-of-the-best. That is not a realistic role for state government to play in a weak economy. There is no point, for example, for the state of California to subsidize state university tuition for students who could get into Stanford, regardless of whether they can pay or go there for free.
I graduated from Rutgers, one such institution where select members of the university community (one of whom has written a negative book about the flagship campus´ participation in college sports) would like to see the school pursue these very same students, the ones who would choose to attend an Ivy League school or another extremely selective private institution. As an alumnus and New Jersey taxpayer, I wonder why we should subsidize students who don´t need the aid to get them to change their minds.
That money could be better spent to provide need-based assistance or to lower the tuition for the students who really want to be there. Government should be there to help the students in need who consider the public school to be their first choice school.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
Interest in Stanford is higher than it has ever been, not only because of the sheer numbers of quality applicants, but also because of a new tuition policy: any student from a family earning less than $100,000 a year enters the university tuition-free. I don´t know what percentage of Stanford admits will come from such families, but there´s no doubt that students who have the university first on their lists were unafraid to apply. And that´s a good thing. Unfortunately, few schools have the financial resources of Stanford.
After reading Stanford´s announcement I start to see the issues of college affordability and accessibility differently. Affordability and accessibility are no problem for the best of the best students, provided they can compete successfully against students who come from wealthier families to get a much-coveted spot in the freshman class.
An excellent student with high test scores, regardless of their family´s income, should be able to get a full ride scholarship to a top private college or university, though it may not be their first choice school. The decision is: choose the school that offers the full-ride, or pay to go to the top choice on the list. Any family that would turn down a full-ride has no right to expect government to make up the difference through any form of financial aid, other than student loans. If a family believes that the rewards of the first choice school are greater than the full-ride school, then they should be willing to take more risks.
The decision between a private and a state-supported school is a different matter. The state schools charge less than the private school, but some, by offering non-need based merit scholarships, want to compete more directly with the private schools for the best-of-the-best. That is not a realistic role for state government to play in a weak economy. There is no point, for example, for the state of California to subsidize state university tuition for students who could get into Stanford, regardless of whether they can pay or go there for free.
I graduated from Rutgers, one such institution where select members of the university community (one of whom has written a negative book about the flagship campus´ participation in college sports) would like to see the school pursue these very same students, the ones who would choose to attend an Ivy League school or another extremely selective private institution. As an alumnus and New Jersey taxpayer, I wonder why we should subsidize students who don´t need the aid to get them to change their minds.
That money could be better spent to provide need-based assistance or to lower the tuition for the students who really want to be there. Government should be there to help the students in need who consider the public school to be their first choice school.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
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