According to an analysis by the Associated Press, middle- and lower-class students attending college are accepting the burden of paying off college more than ever. Meanwhile, students of the Buffy and Giles crowd (families earning $100,000+) have been disproportionately funded by various government agencies. How delightful!
Other facts from the AP:
a.) Accounting for inflation, state funding for college and universities has dropped 23% from 2000 to 2010, after growing 6% in the 1980s and 5% in the 1990s.
Feeling broke yet? Hold on...
b.) In 2000, only three states asked students to contribute more to their college funding out of pocket than the state offered in aid.
By 2010, 19 states asked students to contribute more than the state itself was willing to lend a hand.
Hold on! It gets better!
c.) States claim they're tight on cash.
Yet using a metric that measures a state's appropriation for every $1,000 of personal income, state support from 2000-2010 dropped from $7.25 to $6.11. In other words, by about 15%.
Better yet, let's quote directly from the AP article to get the full-on depressing angle about government funding:
"The states are simply funding other priorities," Hartle said. "They're funding Medicaid, they're funding corrections, they're funding elementary and secondary education." Higher education, by contrast, "has an awful lot of people who look like paying customers."
{{Phew}} I was worried college attendance was going to be dictated by academic ability. Now I'm relieved to know it's all going to be based on whether you feel like channeling your inner hobo.
The best part is knowing that after a failed attempt at bettering your life in college, the state will be more than happy to spend a crap ton of cash on you once you end up in prison. Par-tay!!
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