Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So we're supposedly adults at 18. Go to war, get busted, and all that like adults.
21 is when you can drink.
However, it isn't until you're 23 before you're no longer marginalized for your parents income.
I've known people who had to wait until 23, because their parents weren't wealthy, but not poor enough and consequently the expected family contribution was too much for them to receive favorable grants and loans.
I think the age for "dependency status" should be the same across the board. It seems silly that for health insurance, it is not 26, while for education it is 23, yet individuals at 18 should be able to stand on their two feet (as long as they haven't been babied their entire life).
I don't find it problematic at all. Back when I was in high school it was VERY common for students to file for emancipation to get more aid money, and got it. They were still totally dependent on their parents however. People cheating the system is what has caused this. You have choices and options. If you can't afford your "dream" school, go somewhere that you can afford. Get a job while you are in school. Talk to the financial aid department to see what they can do--your initial award isn't always the last word. Get on the computer and apply for every scholarship you can find. Take a year off, get a job at a company that offers tuition reimbursement....
If you're parents CAN Afford to send you to college, but CHOOSE not to - because you want to study something they don't approve of, etc..
Are you as entitled to financial aid (not loans, which ANYONE can take - but grants, etc..) as someone who has absolutely no familial resources to turn to??
Sorry - but I think the person who was raised in absolute poverty, and who has no resources to turn to - gets the non-repayable grants first.
I'm fine with that.
I didn't qualify for any aid when I was under 23 either - because my folks made too much. I took out loans. No big deal.
Now - if you're saying you think all college should be free for everyone ... that's a different argument (not one I necessarily agree with, but maybe..).
But, no I don't think its problematic that an orphan with no family to turn to gets more "free" aid than a trust fund baby who's hedge fund parents with a yearly income of 250,000 (actually we know that would be LOW) decide they don't WANT to pay for junior's expenses because they're mad he wants to study drama...
If you're parents CAN Afford to send you to college, but CHOOSE not to - because you want to study something they don't approve of, etc..
Are you as entitled to financial aid (not loans, which ANYONE can take - but grants, etc..) as someone who has absolutely no familial resources to turn to??
Sorry - but I think the person who was raised in absolute poverty, and who has no resources to turn to - gets the non-repayable grants first.
When students are done and over with school, why should some have to carry the burden of paying back student loan while other get to keep what they earn solely because of the status of thier parents/former legal guardian? This is discrimination against the students on basis of their parents who have no legal power or obligations.
The end result is that the "poverty" students will have more take home pay.
Why should their then family-financial status exempt them from having to pay back from their future income?
I'm fine with that.
Quote:
I didn't qualify for any aid when I was under 23 either - because my folks made too much. I took out loans. No big deal.
This means that you will have more school related financial obligations later into life than someone who came from a poor family. This is discrimination.
If your classmate from a poor family and you end up making similar income, but he doesn't have to pay back, does it seem fair to you?
well.. since there is a lot of "discrimination" in this world, and since I realize life is NOT fair...
I will take the fact that I was raised in an upper middle class household, with a father who worked and was able to support his entire family on one salary - allowing my mother to stay home with us, be chaperone, pta, etc..
I got to go to camp as a kid -- music camp, algebra camp, computer camp...
I had a Macintosh fairly early on...
I will take all of that childhood - which didn't suck, and wasn't concerned with me worrying whether or not I would eat that day... for the fact that I actually had to pay my own way through school..
If the kids who didn't know if they were going to have food or night, or whether their parents would come home at all, etc... etc.. were able to get to the same schools I was (and they would have had to bust their asses - because I was lucky enough to rock standardized exams) - and get into the same degree as me, and get the same starting salary as me..
Yeah - I'm ok that they don't have that debt burden that I do.
I chose it, when I chose to go to school.
Now that they're "NOT POOR" - they're kids will have to pay their own way too...
I'm fine with lifting people up out of poverty so the NEXT generation can do a little better...
if that means on a 1:1 comparison they had one small segment of their life easier than me... oh well.
I haven't seen life been fair - ever. Not in school, not in college, not at work. Some people get breaks, some don't. When you get breaks - take 'em, use 'em. When you don't - work harder, figure out an alternative.
My wife and I were screwed. Too rich, but yet we were poor enough to have to work through school.
While I watched people get free money.
BTW, I feel the pell grant needs to go away, lower government loan rates with the money saved. I am a car guy, was fun going to car meets, see college kids in $20k newish, or "cool" cars, and buy some fancy new parts for it when pellgrant money came in.
I worked with one guy, pell grant came, he saw a concert in New York and got an Iphone 4 with it.
Yet I worked and went to school fulltime.
Part jealousy, part tired of people getting free crap I have to help pay for. You want the money.... work for it.
Overall, I dislike the whole system, it is a bizarre hybrid of privatized profit with special rules and public debt. On the school's end, they're too lax on admissions.
That the whole system is jacked, I can totally get behind..
and Pell Grants are weird. But I think that Pell Grants are supposed to be more for "merit" than "need" (I think???) ... which is why you get clearly non-needy people buying car parts.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
