It seems that every day brings a new sign of the state legislature’s mind-boggling betrayal of education. No-one needs to hear over again the economic statistics about why education is the only way to get the economy back on track. I just wanted to bring up another stat. Michigan gets an “F” in a new report out today on college affordability. So do 48 other states though, so there’s really no news story there (except that this entire country has turned its back on education, but that’s not news at this point.) What I found stunning, was this statistic:
For every dollar the federal government spends on need-based financial aid for students, Minnesota spends 84 cents, Illinois spends 82 cents, Wisconsin spends 63 cents, Iowa spends 33 cents and Michigan spends 28 cents. Diversity is a buzz-word on campus, and with generous aid like that we can expect to attract students from every corner of… Oakland County.
PS: The Free Press didn’t think the fact that Michigan all but doesn’t give financial aid was newsworthy? That’s ok, they needed space for important stories like this.
Here’s the report
Edit: The Times has a report on how college is becoming out of reach for most Americans. How can we expect to have a real meritocracy if most people cant afford the only way to gain success and economic respectability