Merit-Based Aid Advantages

To Hayes the failure of meritocracy comes from its focus on equality of opportunity over equality of outcome. Thus, as inequality escalated, the meritocracy ended up becoming so entrenched and isolated that it is no longer even much of a meritocracy. Hayes cites his elite NYC alma mater, Hunter College High School, as a prime example. The only admissions requirement is passing its entrance exam, yet the percentage students from minority and low income backgrounds has been steadily declining due to the expensive test taking prep courses that more affluent students can afford. Meanwhile the increasingly wealthy “meritocratic elites” isolate themselves from the rest of us in the 99% by living and traveling privately – in gated communities, exclusive clubs and resorts, corporate jets, etc., blaming the masses rather than themselves for societal woes.

Only four students went straight to the workforce, when a century ago, this was not the case. With students now consistently going straight to college after high school, state universities should be free to state residents since we have public high schools. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, students who attend high school in Kalamazoo starting in ninth grade, can have from sixty-five to one hundred percent of their tuition covered (Teicher). This is known as “The Promise.” The Promise guarantees any student from Kalamazoo a scholarship that pays either a majority or all of their tuition (Teicher). This scholarship can be used for any state school, fifteen private schools, and other state schools around the United States that are less than the highest tuition in Michigan (Teicher). Since The Promise’s first wave of scholarships, there has been definite improvements in college attendance. For black students, there has been a three percent rise in college attendance and overall forty-eight percent of scholarship recipients graduate college (Teicher). While this has shown an impact, there certainly are other factors that lead to the fifty-two percent that do not graduate, such as not being taught time management, academic skills, or how to take advantage of their sources (Teicher). Despite this fallback, “The Promise” has definitely started an era of higher college graduation rates and those who lack financial support a method of

In arguing in favor of the importance of distributing desert (merit) based financial aid at a small liberal arts school such as Green Mountain College, several arguments present themselves: one, desert based aid insures that incoming students meet a standard that facilitates strong academics, which in turn improves the school 's reputation and contributes to its long term viability; two, it incentivises students to work hard academically, benefiting fellow students and faculty who appreciate active classroom involvement and discussion; and three, students with good grades have likely worked hard for them and deserve just compensation for their work.

Presently, the availability of educational opportunities at the college and university level is a critical state and personal interest given the needs of the state for a well-educated workforce which has never been greater. Too many, the focal point of attending college is receiving a high paying job in the future. Unfortunately, in most states, tuition is on the rise and students who come from low-income families find themselves struggling to fund their education. According to legislatures, “The cost of college in New Jersey, as in the nation, continues to grow faster than the rate of inflation.” (State of New Jersey 1). In the national financial aid policy resources that are typically given to the neediest families are shifting towards

Just as Affirmative Action can be utilized within the admission process for college institutions, it can be used in the financial aid decisions for student’s funding of their education. And, while the decisions for college admissions can be based in part of affirmative action pending the institution’s election of voluntary, race-neutral, or race-conscious admissions – Federal financial aid must have specific boundaries as well. Chace (2012) states a structure of financial aid and admissions systems within a higher education institution give clear indications to incoming students what a school’s value and mission may be, without having to say it distinctly word for word.

The way higher education is being financed is becoming increasingly dysfunctional. State appropriations are declining; educational cost is rising; and cost per student is increasing faster than inflation or family income. Affordability is directly affected by a financing system that provides limited incentives for colleges and universities to take aggressive steps to improve institutional efficiency and productivity. Public worry about increasing expenses might eventually add to the disintegration of open trust in higher education. Only through reform can confidence in higher education in America be renewed. The Secretary of Education’s report states that America must ensure that our citizens have access to high quality and affordable educational, learning, and training opportunities throughout

These programs come under much controversy and scrutiny nationwide, but whether or not they are consistently successful; their aim is noble in attempting to fix the quagmire that is educational attainment rates through inceitiveing success with money. These same principals are being increasingly applied to higher education as state appropriations are (at least in part) beginning to factor in retention, progression, and graduation when funding state colleges and universities.

In today’s society, it is becoming increasingly difficult for those without access to quality higher education to obtain a well-paying job, due to the competitiveness of the job market. A census conducted by The United States Census Bureau reflects that students with a high school degree make an average of $21,569 a year, compared to the $79,997 a year people with a professional degree earn (Julian). Factors such as a lack of state funding has led to increases in tuition and a decrease in teachers and courses offered in the past few years, which, in turn, has made public colleges and universities of high caliber harder to attend-- especially for students from low-income families (College Rank). The federal government should increase spending

Throughout my application to Vanderbilt, I devoted time to researching merit scholarships.The Ingram Scholarship Program piqued my interest because it is not just a one time essay and receipt of funds. Rather, this program will unite me with peers who share my passion for community service throughout my four years at Vanderbilt. Finally, after reading through the website for this scholarship, I decided that the opportunities and community established by this program would significantly enhance my college education.

The primary responsibility of the federal government in higher education is to ensure equal educational opportunities. This is accomplished through enforcement of equal opportunity in education through civil rights rules, regulations, and litigation; and, through the creation and support of a variety of federal student assistance programs (Longanecker, 2008). The federal government has set policies that provided funding for those who could not afford to attend an institution of higher learning in the past. At one point higher education was limited to those with privileged background but with programs that included the G.I. Bill and the Pell Grants introduced by the federal government, a college education was open to greater number of individuals. Even though it is thought that legislation is the guiding light of public policy, but at the federal level, appropriations of law greatly shapes the U.S. government’s role in higher education (Longanecker, 2008). This is seen with the budget and appropriations process and how it has had a significant influence of the federal financial aid policy which has affected higher education and the funding of students. This has allowed low-to middle -income individual to attend. Higher education became a ladder to opportunity (Mettler,

As the annual costs of college have soared, the issues of student aid for enrollment will remain high on the federal government agenda. The concerns dealing with these issues occur because colleges are focusing on the wrong matters. The problem is not the financial aid, but the cost of tuition. Lately, the need-based aid is becoming more prevalent again in some smaller colleges due to a weak economy. There should be a balance on the essential and merit based aid. The increasing difficulty of paying for college and the significance of loaning is bringing new consideration of the rising financial-aid issues.

Primarily need-based awards, student grants describe the financial aid emanating from foundations, corporations, governments or specific higher educational institutions one might attend. On the whole, these funds target completion of precise scholastic goals directly or conversely accord indirect support for the same endeavor. None of which obliges reimbursement. Seemingly countless reasons exist for the issuance of grant money, including starting a business based upon one’s education, medical research to engender new treatments for disease and even providing funds for a place to live during one’s academic tenure. Fueled by government granted funds, several success stories have witnessed the development of the microchip, the Internet, and the Bar Code just to name a few. While they ostensibly serve as free money for college with no strings attached, there nevertheless appears considerable misunderstanding regarding their availability in general.

Nick Anderson, editor from the Washington Post argues, “if a college is need-blind but then doesn’t meet a student’s full financial need, what’s the point? That education is still out of reach” (Anderson). Need-blind admissions are not getting rid of any discrepancies in the college admissions system, but rather let down more and more applicants as a result. The amount of financial aid a university can provide for its applicants remains the same with or without need-blind admissions, however the number of disappointed students only rises from being need-blind. There are only about four dozen American colleges and universities that are need-blind which end up meeting students’ full financial needs (Anderson). So what is the point of need-blind admissions, if less than 50 colleges can actually fulfill their applicants financial needs? Need-blind admissions does not suddenly dissolve a students financial inability, but instead it leads to financial promises that colleges cannot keep. Although the concept of need-blindness seems virtuous overall, colleges are truly just creating labels of false hope for

By providing merit-based funding, the university would make a return on investment. There was more of an increase of revenue for merit-based aid compared to aid given to low income students (Weisbrod et al., 2011). Also, the university would receive preeminent funding from the state that was based on the preeminent criteria that was mentioned above (The Florida Legislature, 2017). There were other forms of return on investment. Higher institutions that dispersed merit-based funding had a higher student enrollment and higher number of students receiving a bachelor’s degree (Domina, 2014). Universities needed to keep tuition costs down for students (Patterson, 2016), and merit-based funding was a way to decrease costs to the students who did not qualify for need-based funding (Weisbrod et al., 2011).

Today, colleges and universities grow in the aspect of cost and population. Many individuals that are not very wealthy strive to do and be good, but some obstacles stand in their way. Of course scholarships exist anywhere you can go, but sometimes that doesn’t cut it unless you get a full-ride. Money is a huge problem in education and it needs to be fixed. Throughout the years of colleges and universities being established, help has been sent from the heavens.