| Population of needy college students is exploding |
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The Washington Post January 11, 2012
A higher education official from Wisconsin who attended the recent Council of Independent Colleges conference in Florida made a remarkable statement during a question-and-answer session.
There is a group of students who enter college with such dire financial need that the amount the federal government expects their families to contribute to college is effectively zero. In Wisconsin, that zero-pay population has grown by half in a single year: from 42,641 students in the 2008-09 academic year to 65,800 in 2009-10.
The data come from Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and surely they mirror a national trend.
... “We’ve had a 30 to 40 percent increase in need-based aid since 2008 at some of our institutions,” said Christopher Nelson, president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, speaking at the Presidents Institute on Marco Island. |