The Sunday LNP lede article “How should high school students make their picks?” make a number of good points but fails to emphasize that access to the very best schools in the country are as available to able children from low income families as they are those who an afford to pay much or all of the swelled college ‘ticket’ price.
Many of these schools do not take into consideration means to pay in making their acceptance decision. Once the candidate has been approved, they review the family’s ability to pay and provide scholarships as needed, not just loans.
In the case of iryn Flores who received a certificate for fulfilling the high academic requirements of J. P. McCaskey’s Baccalaureate program, assuming all other things being equal, it would cost him no more to attend MIT (an example relevant to his interests) than Millersville, and perhaps a good bit less.
Too often school guidance counselors, at times themselves graduates of third rank colleges, set the sights far too low for outstanding students.
Below are excerpts from the article relevant to financial aid for Flores:
“Ephrata High School guidance counselor Steve Habowski stresses the importance of making a data-based decision.
“ Evaluate your financial aid offers. Review the criteria you used when you picked colleges to apply to. Review any notes you took on campus visits…
“A lot of 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds find it hard to conceptualize the magnitudes involved, Lopez said. Is it OK to graduate with $10,000 in debt? How about $40,000? $80,000?…
“Some colleges are generous with grants, others aren’t. Most students will need to take out loans, too.”
“Name: Iryn Flores
Age: 17
High school: J.P. McCaskey (School District of Lancaster)
“Interests: Flores is in McCaskey’s International BACCALAUREATE certificate program, which combines career training with rigorous academic classes. He is interested in cars, electronics and business and would like a career that involves all three.
“Options: Albright College, Eastern Mennonite University, HACC, Lake Forest College, Millersville University, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, Universal Technical Institute…”
“McCaskey guidance counselor Rebecca Lopez said. Lopez said she’s encouraging him to look at accredited two-year and four-year colleges. For all of his choices but one, he doesn’t yet know how much financial aid he’s eligible for. Once he does, ‘that’ll really help him to make a more informed decision,’ Lopez said.”
Perhaps Flores prefers or has good reasons to remain close to home and does not care to go to a top ranked college. Perhaps he was made aware of these opportunities.
We don’t mean to be critical; only to make the point that students should be encouraged to apply to the best colleges for which they may qualify as well as lesser choices.
I know through personal experience that “the very best schools in the country” are literally chasing minority students with full or nearly complete scholarships. Higher achieving students from middle class families, who do not receive large scholarships, are priced out of these schools when their parents chose not to mortgage the lives. As a result, competitive public [colleges] often have a more capable, higher achieving student body than the “more selective” schools. Luckily this effect has been noted and used by corporate recruiters and graduate schools, but it should also be explained to future college students. The best students are not coming from the schools reported to be the best.