Spring Break
School offers free tuition
Ron Grossman - Chicago Tribune (MCT)
Issue date: 6/6/08 Section: News
BEREA, Ky. - This is the season of mixed emotions for parents of the college bound. The joy of a letter of acceptance is followed by the sobering message of a tuition bill. They were supposed to reply by Thursday to the school of their child's choice, committing themselves to the burden of what a bachelor's degree can cost.
Decades of tuition inflation have left many families wary of the financial hurdle posed by higher education - and fearful their offspring could be denied the American dream of a path that runs through a college campus en route to the middle class.
But when Mikka Ratliff was accepted by Berea College, which sits here in the foothills of Appalachia, it was an occasion for unconditional celebration. Her tuition bill was zero.
Her letter came when Ratliff was at an after-school job in a small-town jewelry store. Her mother rushed there, and Ratliff tore open the envelope.
"I wanted to yell, but had to whisper, `I got it!'" she said.
"Tears came to my eyes," Kenya Ratliff recalled.
Mikka Ratliff wasn't the only one to get the good news. Every one of the 420 students who enrolled alongside her at Berea last fall was admitted free of charge. Recently, a group of elite universities - led by Harvard and Stanford - announced they will forgo tuition for needy students.
By their definition, "needy" means young people from households with annual incomes that seem a princely fortune here. Stanford has set $100,000 as the line separating those who get a freebie from those who pay tuition. Officials of Berea College have mixed reactions to the news that big-name schools are following their lead.
"I have no choice except to celebrate what Stanford and the others are doing," said Joe Bagnoli, associate provost for enrollment management. But he added, a question comes to mind:
Why did it take the nation's premier universities so long to recognize that a college education is fast being priced out of the reach of average Americans? Congress has been asking a parallel question, one that has prodded some schools to action: Why are universities getting richer as tuition escalates?
Decades of tuition inflation have left many families wary of the financial hurdle posed by higher education - and fearful their offspring could be denied the American dream of a path that runs through a college campus en route to the middle class.
But when Mikka Ratliff was accepted by Berea College, which sits here in the foothills of Appalachia, it was an occasion for unconditional celebration. Her tuition bill was zero.
Her letter came when Ratliff was at an after-school job in a small-town jewelry store. Her mother rushed there, and Ratliff tore open the envelope.
"I wanted to yell, but had to whisper, `I got it!'" she said.
"Tears came to my eyes," Kenya Ratliff recalled.
Mikka Ratliff wasn't the only one to get the good news. Every one of the 420 students who enrolled alongside her at Berea last fall was admitted free of charge. Recently, a group of elite universities - led by Harvard and Stanford - announced they will forgo tuition for needy students.
By their definition, "needy" means young people from households with annual incomes that seem a princely fortune here. Stanford has set $100,000 as the line separating those who get a freebie from those who pay tuition. Officials of Berea College have mixed reactions to the news that big-name schools are following their lead.
"I have no choice except to celebrate what Stanford and the others are doing," said Joe Bagnoli, associate provost for enrollment management. But he added, a question comes to mind:
Why did it take the nation's premier universities so long to recognize that a college education is fast being priced out of the reach of average Americans? Congress has been asking a parallel question, one that has prodded some schools to action: Why are universities getting richer as tuition escalates?
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 3
Jim
posted 6/06/08 @ 12:38 PM EST
Stanford sets the bar at $100,000?!
Funny my family is also much below that with three kids and I was offered no scholarship to Drexel. Oh wait, I did get that $700 DU Grant and the rest is in private loans from that private loan company that partnered with Drexel, EFP. (Continued…)
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