Kenasha Paul, FL

This video from the recent USSA conference is courtesy of Kenasha Paul of Florida.



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Gov. Ritter of Colorado visits with 'got tuition?'

Sept 12, 2008--Colorado Governor Ritter sat down today with 13 students who attend Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, CO at a roundtable discussion about college affordability and his efforts to assist Colorado students with their tuition. Last year, the AVERAGE student loan debt at graduation for Arapahoe Community College students was $11,806. Colorado's current need-based financial aid ranks near the bottom in the nation, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Here in Colorado, there is an initiative on the ballot that tries to address this issue. Amendment 58 will end Colorado's outdated $300 million a year tax subsidy for the oil and gas industry and make smarter investments in Colorado's future. Passage of Amendment 58 will create the Colorado Promise Scholarship Fund. It will TRIPLE the financial aid available to Colorado student, enabling as many as two-thirds of Colorado's families to qualify for scholarships.

Your stories, part 1

We've received tons of stories from our blog and website and we'd like to share some of them with you.

Our first story comes from Rachael C.

I started attending Saint Charles community college recently. I have no contact with my parents and live with my aunt who has two kids and is a single mother. I have to pay for everything myself and I'm only 18 getting paid 7.25 on a part time job. I do get financial aid but there were so many problems that i still haven't received any money and had to pay half which was $520. I also had to pay for books and I won't be able to purchase all my books until next week because I have to wait for my next paycheck. Even though its a community college which is cheaper it is still a lot for someone in my situation. Tuition is why I chose community college to start with because even with financial aid, I still have to pay some money and I don't have a lot because I have to pay for my car insurance, my phone bill, and anything else I want or need. Please do what you can to help so it is easier for someone else. Thank you.

-Rachael C.

This next story is from Michael C.

My name is Michael C. When I graduated high school, I was on top of the world. I could do anything I wanted. I got into every school I applied to, except Harvard (and I only applied to see if I could get in). My story begins halfway through my high school career.

My mother and I had sat down to talk to discuss my options for college. She said she couldn't help me with the cost of school because she had taken out loans to pay off a house she had bought. I wasn't exactly thrilled about that, but what other choice did I have. If she couldn't support me, then I'd have to take out loans. I graduated high school salutatorian after being in the number one spot for three years (being in the top spot for so many years gave me a lofty head, and i didn't expect anyone to take my place as valedictorian).

I ended up going to Ithaca college, which meant I definitely had to try to get a loan, but I couldn't get one loan...from anywhere. I didn't have any co-signers...no credit..so basically I had no worth. To top it all off, I was homeless (my mother kicked me out of the house after I came out of the closet) school was starting soon and I wouldn't have a place to stay. I couldn't pay tuition straight off the bat and had to run around trying to maintain my enrollment. They let me stay there for about two months, while adding additional late fees to my tuition.

Halfway through November, I had to borrow money from a family friend to pay for my first semester. I had to pay them by the end of the month. I dove into my inheritance, about $25,000 u.s. which I had hoped to stretch out for some time, but my tuition heavily outweighed what I had in my possession. I had about 22,000 dollars worth of aid and scholarships. In the end I payed about $15,000 for school (excluding the extra fees). Trying to get my life in order made it hard for me to focus on my studies and my grades started dropping. I was extremely stressed and everywhere I went, I was told that money had to come before help. My tuition was based on my parents earnings...not mine. I was my sole provider, yet I couldn't catch a break on my tuition. The rules are very clear on certain aspects of who gets greater aid. It is nebulous on certain aspects however, and because of that it makes it hard for people like me who fit in between the cracks.

I struggled a lot my freshman year, I had to be a grown up while the rest of my friends had their parents sending them an allowance every week. It was hard to manage my money, and now I can't even afford to go to a local college. I want to earn my place in this world, but I have absolutely no help. I am alone and tired...and I miss being in school. How am I supposed to make it in this world without a college education? I am not satisfied with the way things turned out, but I guess I have to live with it, because there is no remedy. I hope my story helps someone in the future...because i know I'm not the only one with a story like this.

Love and peace,
Michael C.

Lack of loans puts students in bind

There is a nice article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about the lack of student loans. Lots of students have had to change their student loan companies this year due to the lack of loans. This has put many students in the unfortunate place where they aren't sure if they can go back to school. You can read the complete article here.

Lastest blog entry from Shawn B.

I was checking my bank account online and I saw an ad that worried me. It seems that the bank was offering home equity loans, which is not in the least bit shocking. But I was shocked when the ad suggested using home equity to pay for college This worries me for many reasons. The big one is the fact that it is feasible and makes sense. Alternative loans are decreasing in availability. Student loan and aid limits are too low. Tuition and other costs are rising. Here is a good source of funding. But with the public loan market struggling, what would happen if the equity loan could not be paid? I would feel very guilty if a home were in danger because I needed money.

This is just as bad as paying for school with a credit card, something that I had to do. My aid was low and even maxed loans were not enough to pay the college bill. Once I put the big bills on the card, little stuff was easy. The amount owed became almost impossible to afford, and in the end, I had to file chapter 7.

How do these issues relate? Well, the money has to be paid back now, not later. And the money is probably not all school related, so there is more necessity to pay it. Not everyone can pay it now. I am just glad that, once I reached the age when I was not a dependent, my aid rose enough to pay for all school bills. But I know that this luck is not shared. And a part-time job does not always pay that much and may not be enough to pay credit card or equity debts.

Gregory Cendana, CA

Got tuition recently had the chance to attend the United States Student Association conference and many of the attendees took the time to talk about their debt. This video is from Gregory Cedana, a recent graduate of UCLA.



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Education lost in hubbub of campaigning

The Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Kathleen McCartney, wrote a great commentary for CNN recently. Just like all of us here at 'got tuition?', McCartney exhorts politicians to start talking about college affordability and make education a priority in this country. You can read the complete article here.

Mandy Plucker, NC

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Are free, online textbooks the answer?

The Los Angeles Times has a nice article about one way professors are helping their students to afford college. R. Preston McAffee (an economics professor at Caltech) has written a free, open-source textbook and made it available online. This book is so highly regarded that it has been adopted by many prestigious universities, including Harvard. Is this a possible answer to the rising costs of textbooks?

Congress recently passed laws that would require textbook publishers to offer "un-bundled" editions of books, so students won't be forced into buying workbooks and DVDs that aren't used in classes. While this is a good first step, people like R. Preston McAffee believe that this doesn't go nearly far enough to help students cope. You can read the complete article here.

Penni Cyr, ID

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Mississippi requests for student aid rise 19% in one year

According to the Hattiesburg American, the number of Mississippi students requesting financial aid has risen by more than 19% over the same time last year. The article goes on to talk about some costs that we normally don't think about when budgeting for university expenses. In Mississippi, state universities are raising meal plan costs by and average of 6.9% while dorm expenses are increasing by 5.7%. You can read the complete article here.

Nicole Hodges-Abbasi, VA

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How much spending money is enough?

The Baltimore Sun has a nice article up about budgeting for living expenses while in college. Many students and parents have trouble coming up with an appropriate amount, and with the current economic cool down, it is even harder than usual to come up with a livable budget. You can read the complete article here.

Lisa Wolf, ND

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Lenders abandoning private student loans

Student loans are getting harder and harder to find this year. With the recent meltdown in the mortgage sector, many companies are slashing student loans programs and throwing the money they save back into the failing housing market. According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, 124 landers have dropped all or part of their student loan programs while 28 lenders have completely abandoned private loans. You can read the complete article here.

Larry Taylor, ID

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Students turn to credit cards to make ends meet

According to an article at freep.com, students are relying more and more on credit cards to make up for student loans that don't completely cover living expenses or tuition. 24% of college students are now using credit cards to help pay for tuition and the average college student will graduate with $2,400 in credit card debt if they don't have student loans. That number rises to $3,000 for students who are already taking out loans to help pay for tuition. You can read the complete article here.

Cindy Sheffield, ID

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Student aid requests soar as economy plummets

An article from Monday's San Francisco Chronicle has some interesting statistics about federal student loan requests. 8.9 million students have already filed federal student aid forms this year, a 16.3 percent increase over last year. According to the associate vice provost at Santa Clara University, Richard Toomey, the university has seen a large increase in the number of students requesting aid, more of those students are qualifying, and they are requesting larger sums of money than ever before. Justin Draeger of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has made it clear that since many states are facing budget problems they are contributing less to public universities, which is translating to higher tuition costs for students.
You can read the complete article here.

Chad Roggow, IN

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