letter to editor

March 9, 2010



LETTER TO THE EDITOR

BRAZORIA COUNTY NEWS

WEST COLUMBIA, TX 77486

Dear EDITOR,

SUBJECT: UNBELIEVABLE COST OF COLLEGE



The cost of college is prohibitive to Middle Income families. If your child is not a brainiac, a musician or an athlete you can forget college. You can try for scholarships and grants and things to help with the cost of college, but if you are a hard working parent who is doing their dead level best to make ends meet and not teetering on the edge of bankruptcy then your child will not get the help to go to college.



I had a dream. My dream was to see my children educated beyond High School. I have always dreamed of seeing my children graduate from high school and then go on to college, to be, to borrow a phrase from the US Army, All they could be. However, because we are not independently wealthy, nor do we fall below the poverty level, my children will not be able to attend a college. So because my husband and I work hard, pay our bills and do our best to contribute to society, our daughter has even given up her dream of attending Texas A & M because that school is only for the “uber rich” or the totally indigent at $47,000 a semester. Her second choice was the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, but once again because we make a decent living, our daughter will not be able to attend their school unless we take out loans totaling $10,000 a semester for the four years she would attend and my daughter would have to place herself in debt in the amount of $5000 a year for her 4 years of education, this is $20,000 in debt after the $5000 a semester that the school has awarded her. My daughter’s third choice and it was a good one, is Houston Baptist University. She received two scholarships giving her $7500 a semester in financial aid from the school; this is wonderful we were so happy, until we received the financial aid letter that stated that one semester is going to cost $17,000. They are so willing to help her get deep into debt by offering her Subsidized Student loans in the amount of $8500 a semester.



Granted, Subsidized Students Loans are an excellent way to help pay for some of the costs of College, but why on earth would we want our children to chain themselves so early in their adult lives to debt. She and I were prepared to apply for loans after she received her Bachelors degree to help pay for Medical School which is her dream.



My oldest daughter has ALWAYS worked hard in school and made very good grades. She has dreamed and planned since she was 8 years old to be a doctor. She wants to open a clinic here in our town because she loves this Community and only wants good things for it, but the closer we get to graduation and the coming college years the more her father and I have to realize that we are not able to help her attain her dream. We barely make ends meet, there is absolutely no way that we would be able to come up with the additional $10,000 - $15,000 a year that the universities require. We have done the things that we have been told to do to seek financial aid we have done the FAFSA, we have applied for scholarships, and there is no help out there for Middle Income Families. All the aid is for lower income families. So what is a parent to do? How do we

encourage our children to do better to study hard and to work towards attaining their dreams when it comes down to how much money the parents make. I guess if we quit working and counted on the government to help us pay our bills, maybe then our child could get an education. How is it that normal middle income people can send their kids to college? How do we teach our children to reach for their dreams when the people who are supposed to help make that possible shut them down and try to kill their dreams?



Where is the “Bailout” for the American Family? Why are our children victimized and discriminated against because their parents have worked hard all of their lives to provide for them. I have always heard and tried to live by the old saying “be not a borrower or a lender be”, surely it is soon enough to get into debt when she buys a house or a car, but should we really ask our kids to enter into debt just to get the education they deserve? I believe that it is a truly bad idea to encourage my daughter to enter into a debt that could possibly take her the rest of her life to pay back.



I am not asking for hand outs just a place to voice my opinions and maybe get some answers and some helpful suggestions as to what to do now.



Sincerely,

Carrie D. Meier

Published 03-18-2010