http://statenews.com Like many aspects of life, the amount of financial aid available to MSU students is a process of give and take. How much money goes to help students pay for college? And how much goes to fund the classes themselves? en-us Gryphon 2.2.3b-tsn (woodward)/Foundry5 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:09:36 -0400 webmaster@statenews.com http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38748 Would it not make more sense to eliminate Univ. funded financial aid and reduce the amount of tuition students pay. From the way the article reads it appears as if students paying tuition are subsidizing the Univ. financial aid packages for other students. So on top of your parents paying taxes to the state parents/students are now subsidizing other students tuition bills while paying tuition. What about those individuals that do not qualify for Univ. financial aid or have private bank loans or federal student loans,or working jobs and are also struggling to pay tuition … I guess you get a pat on the back for paying your tuition and some one else’s tuition too. Has anyone ever asked the Administration if you eliminate roughly $470 million dollars (07-08 academic year) in Univ. financial aid that is covered by tuition payments what the real tuition cost would be for an individual I am guessing a few thousand dollars less over the course of a year. Lets see MSU has roughly 35,000 students so 470,000,000/35,000 = $13,428 wow think that covers full tuition for a year for in-state student and then some. Can some one ask the Administration how this all works? Would not the real cost of tuition for a single individual (and only for that individual) make college more affordable for everyone. Sounds like the Univ. is stealing money from students that are paying tuition via parents, private bank loans, federal student loans, and working. Reads like a distribution of wealth from one group to another based on the way the Univ. sees fit, and we wonder why college tuition is increasing at such a rate. Can some one show a breakdown on percentage of where our tuition money goes to including the subsidization of the Univ. financial aid programs. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:35:06 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38748 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38843 There are so many variables here. One is the cost of delivering the education. Two is how much is funded by the state and how much is funded by tuition. Finally, is how much financial aid is available (not counting tuition “premiums”) such as established scholarship funds. Not to date myself, but when I attended MSU, state support provided 75% of the funding for delivering education. I don’t know what it is today, but it has not kept pace with the average of support from other states (see http://www.budget.msu.edu/app/index.php?app). A paradox existing in the funding the state does provide is the fact that the majority of college graduates are seeking work outside of Michigan, thus there is diminished return on investment that the State provides to higher eduction. I do agree with “Alumni” (4/22/2009, 02:35 am). You have a scenario unfolding where the net amount that individuals pay varies widely due to the range of financial aid one may or may not get. Those who do not receive financial aid are paying more than the cost to deliver the education. I’m not suggesting there is a better way of doing this, but let’s be honest and call this what it is — a tax on those who are paying full tuition costs to help subsidize those who aren’t. Moreso, let’s figure out if there is a way of pricing how much a student pays that is easier to understand than airline ticket pricing. In the end analysis, however, Michigan needs to again become a destination of choice requiring a skilled workforce (that an institution of higher education like MSU can help provide) and the state needs to figure out how to better support its anchor Universities. The second item follows the first … now how the heck do we achieve the first? Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:45:50 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38843 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38903 The fact that my tuition costs are going to pay someone else’s tuition pisses me off. Reason being is that I have 50,000 dollars in student loan debt for an undergraduate education. My parents made enough money to help me through school but decided to spend the money on an RV and a truck instead. Now I am flipped the bill for other students tuition because they are in need? How is their need any greater them mine? I understand that their parents couldn’t help them pay tuition, but when someone else’s parents make the choice not to help their kids, then those kids are the ones who get screwed over. I have to agree with Alumni on most of this. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:46:10 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38903 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38913 There was another post that was posted last night that has been removed (not sure why)… that referred to the MSU press release on Feb. 3, 2009 that addressed MSU tuition specifically: “If higher education funding from the state had increased at the average rate of change for Michigan’s Department of Corrections, MSU would have an additional $120 million support, sufficient to reduce tuition by 24 percent (or about $2,500 for each family of a full-time student).” http://news.msu.edu/story/5905/ Where if you apply the same logic in respect to 470 million (470/120 = 3.92) and if 120 means a reduction of 24 percent then (24% X 3.92 = 93.84%) meaning that tuition could be reduced by 93.84% or $9,800 for a full time student … again WOW why is college so expensive when you look at these numbers … I think the Board of Trustees and Predsident Simon have some explaining to do … maybe it is time for CHANGE in the way tuition is calculated these are the days of CHANGE right … where is ASMSU … maybe they should be looking into this … and getting answers … maybe each student should only pay for their personal tuition … Also reducing tuition $9,800 per student would result in a lot more students being able to afford college and those that could not would be able to get private or federal student loans to cover the lower tuition cost and would graduate with signficantly less debt verse the amount of debt most student graduate with where that debt includes funding the Univ. financial aid. Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:02:54 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38913 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38924 I feel very generous that I am $30,000+ in debt because I am paying fellow students’ tuition. That’s very nice of me. Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:09:36 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/38924