Do you believe that every individual has the ability get their college paid for

1. 68

   ComposerGoneWildposted 12 years ago

   Do you believe that every individual has the ability get their college paid for without a loan?
   
   This is a topic I have been studying so please provide me with some details on why you believe what you do.  If you do not believe that all individuals can obtain a free college education please provide me with the details as to your reasoning.  What tools or information might prevent someone from accruing student loan debt?  Thank you!

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2. 86

   tsmogposted 12 years ago

   The reasoning portion of knowledge & reality class I took says you can never ask things like every, all, always, etc. So, based on that I would answer no.

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3. 60

   mythicalstorm273posted 12 years ago

   I do not believe it is possible.  Even if a student was provided all the tools needed to fill out the thousands of scholarships out there and managed to win a few, the chances of it being enough to pay for school is slim to none.  So many scholarships are only $100 or $250 and you would need to win too many of those small ones to win anything substantial.  Although every little bit helps it does not pay for your schooling.  There are other means as well such as grants or free rides.  If you are a normal, average young american with a middle class family what do you have to offer? You spend hours applying for scholarships but you do not qualify for any grants and your lifestyle means you are not eligible for any free rides either.  I may be pessimistic, but in my experience even the elite have a difficult time getting a full free ride.  It is possible to be done, but it is not easy and an average person would probably never succeed.

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4. 61

   renegadetoryposted 12 years ago

   As a University student I will try to answer your question.  No, I don't think it is possible for every individual to get their college education paid for without a loan.
   
   For starters, most families do not have enough saved up for their children's education.  Second, It's not impossible, but still difficult to obtain scholarships, bursaries in the amounts needed to totally pay for post-secondary education.  There are many bursaries and scholarships out there, but being able to find them and apply to all of them may be more work than they are worth.  Many have certain criteria you must meet, so often plenty of students do not qualify (at least that's what I kept encountering).
   
   Third, in order for the student to have amassed enough money for college would mean they would have had to work while in school and during the summers.  The employment rate is rather low and I'm not sure how easy it is for students to find work while in school or for the summer that pay minimum wage or more.  If you have to work while in school, it will have an effect on your grades and the amount of time for studying, hence possibly effecting your chances of gaining a scholarship.  If you or your family is not considered low-income, you may be unable to apply for bursaries as well.
   
   The cost of post-secondary education goes up every year, as I said earlier, being able to come up with tuition plus books may be rather difficult for most students.
   
   If a student takes a year off to work full-time before going to college, they may end up deciding to continue working and never go to college, or they may not want to go because their friends are already one year ahead of them, etc.

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5. 0

   Marntzuposted 11 years ago

   As a financial aid adviser for a private college with 7 years experience Yes. it's all in how hard you are willing to work for it. generally speaking here is a couple of resources and steps for you I give all of my students.
   
   1) apply for the FAFSA (Free Application For Student Aid) www.fafsa.ed.gov this is the government application for grants and loans in the US. find out what they will give you in grants to start with
   
   2) go to www.studentaid.ed.gov and fill out a scholarship profile under the scholarship section. this will give you a list of scholarships you can apply for
   
   3) schools can accept scholarship money all the way till the day you leave school so even if you start off with some loans keep applying for scholarships even after you start school. The school will take the scholarship and cancel out that much of your loans. It will be as if they never existed.
   
   4) start early, ideally 1 year out from when you want to start school.
   
   5) ask your financial aid adviser for help, that's what we are here for and the school may have some scholarships of their own.
   
   6) if attending a ground campus look into work study. it's basically a job on campus where the government adds a little extra into your pay to go to tuition.
   
   7) don't go to school just for a check, I see this a lot where students max out their loans just so they can get extra money back only to have giant loan payments when they graduate and less funding available for grad school.

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