Colleges and universities are giving $5.3 billion in financial aid to students who don’t need it, according to College Board. In addition, nearly $4 billion in tuition tax credits went to families with incomes between $100,000 and $180,000.
Meanwhile, the share of financial aid being given to low-income students has declined steadily over the last 10 years, notes the Hechinger Report.
Halfway to an NYU degree in theater and sign language, Chris Ogren already owes $45,000.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Ogren, a 20-year-old junior. “You don’t give the bloated guy the cheeseburger when the starving man is starving.”
Low- and middle-income students are running up more debt in pursuit of a degree.
“Here we are in a situation where we’ve raised tuition tremendously, the income distribution is more and more unequal, lots of people really can’t afford this, and we are giving a lot of the money to people who could be fine without it,” said Sandy Baum, a higher-education analyst and consultant who collected the statistics for the College Board.
Colleges and universities are giving more merit scholarships to attract top students. Academic high flyers often come from well-off families.
