Financial Aid: The Opus
If you haven’t already, go ahead and read Munzer?s article in The Ithacan, and the editorial written today about the financial aid situation. Pay close attention to how tricky it is for a school like Ithaca. We?ll come back to this in a little.
We’ve seen a major financial aid overhaul get through Congress, and get signed by the President. It’s a nice idea, but it’s flawed. And it’s already a little too late, based on some recent announcements from big-name colleges. Its merits are good, no doubt. It attempts to add to the value of Pell Grant. (Although here?s an interesting question: Why are the funds authorized for 2013 only $105 million? By the by, over the 10 years there?s an average of $2.87 billion additional appropriated each year.) And it brings up this TEACH grant to help out current and prospective teachers.
Curiously, there?s nothing in there overhauling financial aid that will take care of the long (and largely unnecessary) process that is the FAFSA. In fact, the only time it?s even mentioned in the mile-long bill is under the College Access Challenge Grant Program, where help with the application is covered as a payment with the grant. Hm.
Denzel Washington drops Texas college a cool million
Enigmatic celebrity actor Denzel Washington has a lot of money he’s itching to give away, apparently.
So much, in fact, that he gave Texas’s Wiley College ONE MILLION DOLLARS to restart their debate team, after he appeared there this week to screen his new movie, “The Great Debaters.” The movie, starring Washington, is about the all-black college’s 1930 debate team. Denzel said he’d “like to get the team going again.” Talk about priming the pump, holy shit.
Now, I’m all for charity, and I’m all for celebrities giving away their money (Denzel already has a history of this) but a million bucks for a debate team? You can start those for free! I imagine the school will simply put the money towards scholarships with the requirement that recipients join the debate team or Denzel will cry.
Feed for College Ave.