
Town residents pooled together their money to provide scholarships for everyone - DarkContinent
http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/08/the-town-that-decided-to-send-all-its-kids-to-college/401618/
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djb_hackernews
When I graduated high school I made a list of things I wanted to do in my
life. One of them was to start a scholarship for students at the high school I
graduated from.

A few years ago I first offered the scholarship. It's only a one time $1000
scholarship and my alma mater definitely didn't have the higher ed access
issues it sounds like this town did, but one of the criteria is the student
CAN'T be in the top 10 of the graduating class.

This mostly bore out of the fact that during my awards ceremony the top 10
absolutely cleaned up, some getting full ride scholarships they weren't even
going to use. I get you want to reward hard working students but I worked very
hard in high school but I just don't think the system I was in was perfect for
me and, several years later, I'm contributing just as much to society on
average as the top 10 students from my class. My point being, high school
isn't a great predictor of future success on a few different levels.

If anyone out there has experience starting scholarships for high school
students and expanding them, please reach out to me. I definitely have big
plans but I could use someone that's done this before.

~~~
Nicholas_C
I want to start scholarships for students from my high school that are from
humble backgrounds and want to attend community college for the beginning of
their college careers. Eventually I would like to start a scholarship fund. I
haven't really found a lot of good resources for starting a scholarship. How
did you go about setting up your scholarship?

~~~
djb_hackernews
What I did was contact the school guidance department for help. What they
offered made things super easy. I have total control over who gets the
scholarship, they send me candidates that fit my criteria and once I make a
decision I cut a check to the towns scholarship fund and they cut a check to
the student. I present the scholarship at an end of year awards night. In fact
I just today received a very nice thank you note from this years recipient.

In the future I expect this to change and create my own 501c/trust if I want
to raise additional funds outside of my own, which I fully intend to do but
the system works for me for now.

------
melling
“In America, a quality education cannot be a privilege that is reserved for a
few.”

A few being 65.9 percent.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/business/fewer-us-high-
sch...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/business/fewer-us-high-school-
graduates-opt-for-college.html)

Then we have that other problem:

"Grad-School Loan Binge Fans Debt Worries Graduate students account for 40% of
borrowing; many seek federal forgiveness"

[http://www.wsj.com/articles/loan-binge-by-graduate-
students-...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/loan-binge-by-graduate-students-
fans-debt-worries-1439951900)

~~~
michaelchisari
How many of those 65.9 percent can reasonably afford the loans they take out
in order to go attend college?

Seems to me the issue is loans in general, and that free public university is
a proven way to provide education without extraordinarily inflating the costs.

~~~
logane
Public universities are super cheap - in my state (Massachusetts), UMass
Amherst is less than 10k a year if you graduate with above a certain (easy to
attain) GPA. I think one of the largest issues is with people deciding to
forgo cheap, good public schools like UMass, UVM, etc and going instead for
more expensive private schools that offer the same or worse quality education,
such as Elon, Holy Cross etc.

On the other hand, schools like MIT, Harvard, Yale etc all offer generous
scholarships - regardless of your income, you will be able to afford one of
these schools. Not to mention that after college, higher paying jobs are
easier to get if you go to one of these schools.

If you want to just go to a decent college for cheap, it's not too expensive
if you work it out right - either you can get accepted to a top school, or you
can go to your state's flagship program (UC Berkeley, UMass Amherst, UNC
Chapel Hill, GATech, UT Austin, and others come to mind).

~~~
rue
I’m trying to find a polite way of expressing this, but your sense of
affordability and ease of access is… not based in a lot of people’s reality.

~~~
Artistry121
What is not-affordable about this? If a college costs $10k + $10k cost of
living each year that's $20k a year in spending.

Working 20 hour weeks (not uncommon) covers $8-10k of that - so the total debt
load is around $40-50k after 4 years. This can be paid off on a $40k a year
salary given a desire to spend money wisely.

~~~
mentat
Working 20 hours a week with full (4 year grad) class load in STEM? No way, no
way at all.

~~~
refurb
Really? I did it. And yes, it was a STEM degree.

Hell, you can work 16 hours just on the weekend which still leaves your week
free. And you can work all summer. I graduated with zero loans.

~~~
greeneggs
For most people, it won't be possible. Even if it is possible, it shouldn't
be. If you can work that much (and take all your weekends off schoolwork),
then you aren't taking challenging enough courses, and aren't getting your
money's worth out of your education. School is a full-time job (and more).

------
jpollock
In New Zealand, the Southern Institute of Technology [1], one of the
universities runs a zero-fees program [2]. This, I believe, is funded from
local businesses who see substantial benefits from having students around with
money to spend.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Institute_of_Technolo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Institute_of_Technology)

[2] [https://www.sit.ac.nz/Fees-Enrolments/Zero-
Fees](https://www.sit.ac.nz/Fees-Enrolments/Zero-Fees)

~~~
djrobstep
SIT is not a university</pedanticnitpicking>. It is a good scheme nonetheless.

------
grecy
It's almost like American's are crying out for a nation-wide system where
college is funded for everyone.

In Australia, everyone that wants it gets a tax-free, interest-free loan for
university, which is something around $5k/year for tuition (My 5-year
engineering degree was $22k). You only have to pay it back if you earn over
$45k/year, and you just pay a few extra percent tax until it's paid off. If
you're short on money for food/rent, you will be paid that too.

~~~
refurb
The US ain't all that different. It's more complex, but it's possible to get
deferred interest loans, interest paid by the gov't and income-based payments.

That said, the free flowing money is a big reason why private school cost
$200K/yr for a 4-year degree.

~~~
justinkramp
I'm not familiar with AUS loan mechanics, however, "deferred interest" <>
"interest free". There aren't federal 'interest free' education loans in the
US that I'm aware of. All the federal programs I see have interest rates of
>4%. Granted, it seems like that's a relatively low rate for borrowing money.

US federal un-subsidized college loans can accrue interest even if paying
interest or principle is deferred. Not at all the same as interest-free.

Additionally, with some federal student loans, there are fees of 1 percent and
up that are actually removed from the loan amount prior to disbursement that
you're on the hook for repaying in entirety.

Also your $200k number isn't accurate; unless you're counting room & board
which is different matter not directly tied to education. I don't disagree
that the availability of funds seems to contribute to the cost of education,
but that number is a bit high.

From teh google:

According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the
2014–2015 school year was $31,231 at private colleges, $9,139 for state
residents at public colleges, and $22,958 for out-of-state residents attending
public universities.

------
devhead
so much human in one story, great job Baldwin!

