Washington State High Schoolers..free college??? (Bellevue, Starbuck: how much, private school, university)

[kaday]

Georgia has free college for kids with high GPA's. It is called the Hope scholarship. Something like 3.90 and above get free tuition at any GA state school and some $ for private. 3.25 to 3.89 is 90% paid. It changes year to year. I so wish they had that here.

[Hemlock140]

Because of the higher out of state and foreign student tuition helping their budgets, many honor roll 4.0 students have been unable to get into WA public colleges, the requirements have tightened up significantly. The free running start (ours did it at Bellevue Community College, now called Bellevue College) is tuition free, but not free. They still pay fees, books, and transportation.

[kaday]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Because of the higher out of state and foreign student tuition helping their budgets, many honor roll 4.0 students have been unable to get into WA public colleges, the requirements have tightened up significantly. The free running start (ours did it at Bellevue Community College, now called Bellevue College) is tuition free, but not free. They still pay fees, books, and transportation.

I think I read something about this a while back. There was a lot of backlash for UW accepting more out of state students. I think the issue was corrected.

[509]

Originally Posted by jribe

Did you seriously let your daughter drop out of college because you didn't have the liquidity to pay it outright? There are student loans people can take out you know. I paid for my entire education- MBA and all and i would say i am a better person for it. No free rides/entitlement issues here..

She's an adult making her own decisions.

She did not want to go into debt. Student loans are a total rip-off!!! You cannot even get rid of the things by declaring bankruptcy!! She did take enough economics to figure that out. She got a job making $80,000 a year (sales, what else) b and is saving money to go back to school.

My point is that I spent $40,000 for my daughters education in a public Washington state school and it was not enough.

Meanwhile the our elected officials are providing full ride scholarships to foreign students in the country illegally.

Am I the only one that has a problem with this???

[shaylahc]

The illegal immigrant issue is seperate, and I agree that it stinks to high heaven. We worry so much about protecting their rights that we treat them better than we do our own citizens. It's awful, and it's very unfair, and it pisses me off, too.

OP you are probably talking about Running Start. My kid is a senior and in her 2nd year of Running Start. Last year she took some art classes and an English class at Cascadia in Bothell. Not sure what she's taking this semester, but they're online classes. There is a limit to the number of credits you can take per semester. And yes you do have to pay fees. I think this semester it was $130. She really wants to go to U Dub, we'll see how things pan out.

[beautifulseattlehomes]

Some states, Vermont and Arizona are two that come to mind, offer completely paid full four year rides if you graduate in the 90th percentile of your high school class. A life saving program particularly for rural kids from families where no one has ever gone to college and suffer from bone breaking poverty and yet somehow manage to academically excel. I know in Vermont you can have a high school graduating class that has only 40 people in it!

Washington State notably does not have any such program...UW isn't even a school I would want my daughter to attend..it feels like it sold itself to foreign tuition payers and has a soulless quality. We took a computer science camp there this summer and while the program was impressive the overall vibe of the university felt so different even from five years ago.

[Garfunkle524]

Originally Posted by 509

My point is that I spent $40,000 for my daughters education in a public Washington state school and it was not enough.

.....

Am I the only one that has a problem with this???

It's not a Washington-only thing. I went to a state school and graduated with 60k in debt. 18k was in my own name, the rest in my Mom's name (Parent PLUS Loan). Guess who's paying the Parent PLUS loan??

Those PLUS loans are NOT designed to be paid by students. They reach gargantuan levels precisely because they are supposed to be the parents' (read: higher earners than the fresh graduate) responsibility.

It's crippling. Thankfully both my wife and I have great jobs and we make quite a bit of money. Unfortunately it's still not enough for that loan balance to go away any time soon. I'll be super lucky if it's gone in a decade.

[509]

Originally Posted by beautifulseattlehomes

Some states, Vermont and Arizona are two that come to mind, offer completely paid full four year rides if you graduate in the 90th percentile of your high school class. A life saving program particularly for rural kids from families where no one has ever gone to college and suffer from bone breaking poverty and yet somehow manage to academically excel. I know in Vermont you can have a high school graduating class that has only 40 people in it!

Washington State notably does not have any such program...UW isn't even a school I would want my daughter to attend..it feels like it sold itself to foreign tuition payers and has a soulless quality. We took a computer science camp there this summer and while the program was impressive the overall vibe of the university felt so different even from five years ago.

UW is a horrible school.

My college education was a joy. I learned so much and had so much fun!! For my daughter UW was an exercise in frustration, roadblocks, and higher education as an afterthought. She is looking at going back and finishing as a necessary evil!!!

Lots of people make excuses saying it is a large school. My college had 40,000 students yet the focus was on education, even though the University had the reputation of being a premier research University.

The attitude of the administrators is beyond belief. They are out of control and we need a State Legislature and Governor to bring the higher education system to account. Chances of that happening are slim and none.....and slim just left the building!!

[kaonevar]

Yeah, one of the reasons we can't afford to buy a $700,000 home here is because of student loan debt. Sure, the banks would let us, but we'd rather not with student loan payments. We both worked our way through college and made enough to pay his (husband's) tuition/books at a public university. We student loaned mine, including grad school.
Neither of us had parent help at all. Lucky, lucky to those who do!

He left his master's degree debt free. I left mine with $20K in student loans + the $18K from my bachelor's degree student loans. His advanced degree got him a 6 figure salary job. Mine got me a $1000/yr. raise, which is why I left the field.
Student loans shouldn't be high interest, and honestly, I think undergrad college should be free. Plenty of countries do that and it works fairly well. :/

[509]

Originally Posted by kaonevar

I think undergrad college should be free. Plenty of countries do that and it works fairly well. :/

I would make it free for STEM majors ONLY. AND I would phase it in.

As a freshman, half the tuition is paid. The second year make it 75% tuition paid. At the junior year, the entire tuition would be covered and half the living expenses. Cover everything in the Senior year. If you become a super senior your on your own.

That would encourage the best students to major in professions that society finds useful. We would have many more people with critical, science thinking skills!!! That alone is worth it!!

Then I would get rid of most of the state financial assistance programs except for work study and student employment by the University.

I don't want to pay for Liberal Arts grads so they can ask if I want fries with my order!!