“given that academia is supposed to be a meritocracy.” Academia is not a meritocracy. (Even entrance into academia is not entirely meritocratic, but we’ll save this for another show. Quel surprise, yes?)

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the inclusion of the word “supposed” was no accident. and don’t get me started on the noisy process known as college admissions. i do wonder though: public vs. private, which places more value on merit? or more specifically, columbia vs. academia? which places more value on merit?

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tl;dr: Academia ain’t no meritocracy. GS ain’t gettin’ no money from funds earmarked for the other schools. They ain’t givin money to the best students ’cause doin’ so ain’t that easy.

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back to my original point. bureaucracy supports the views of those who set the priorities, not the other way around. if it were a priority for the university to provide financial support for high achieving gs students, the entire structure would change to accommodate this goal. do not fool yourself: if leadership wants it, there are no limits to how sweeping these organizational changes would be. as it stands today, the administration is perfectly happy to gouge even the highest achieving gs students. indeed, they’re probably counting on it to help subsidize the new cc/seas deal.

tl;dr: gs is ripping people off. there is a cauldron of bad blood brewing. it is likely to explode soon. don’t count on any hunger striking… but clearly money talks around here, so use your imagination as to how you would make yourself a priority to this administration…

“there are gs students who outperform a number of students in cc and seas. if that is the case, don’t you think the school should be offering more financial support to those who take their studies more seriously…”

This may be the case. I’m sure that, on balance, that some people would love to give more money to students who excel at their studies; I certainly would. So would the university — encouraging higher levels of performance from students makes the university more prestigious.

The problem is that there are restrictions on the way endowment money can be distributed. This isn’t up to us, at all. And in some cases it may not be up to the people who are in charge of doling the money out.

While what you posit is a good idea — especially when we assume that academia is a meritocracy — this situation is much, much different. It’s not about a choice between whether or not to support the students who are willing to work the hardest and produce the most for the financial aid money.

tl;dr: Academia ain’t no meritocracy. GS ain’t gettin’ no money from funds earmarked for the other schools. They ain’t givin money to the best students ’cause doin’ so ain’t that easy.

that said, given that the ivy league operates on a non-merit based financial aid system (excluding gs), i’d say that’s a defacto statement from the industry that they think somewhere along those lines.

given that academia is supposed to be a meritocracy. one would think that all financial aid would be merit based. as the situation stands today, there are gs students who outperform a number of students in cc and seas. if that is the case, don’t you think the school should be offering more financial support to those who take their studies more seriously and therefore have more potential to succeed and give back?

or do you think it’s more important to protect the right to slack off and still enjoy a reduced-debt or debt free education for those in cc or seas?

I meant being able to *get a degree from Columbia* is a privilege, not a right. I’m fairly sure that there are other educational options out there for GS students that don’t cost nearly as much as GS does. No one’s forcing you to attend GS and pay the tuition.

I know of at least a few students who had to turn down Columbia College for State U for financial reasons. That’s sucky circumstances, not some violation of a fundamental right.

Sometimes I wonder about the entitlement factor. So long as you’re willing to self-finance it, Columbia’s willing to give you the same access to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences offerings as CC.

Why is a reduced-debt education a right, and not a privelege?

If we step back from people who graduated before the last 5-10 years, was there really that much financial aid for poor traditional students in CC let alone GS?

The idea that the dearth of fin aid funding available to GS is some great historic wrong perpetuated against the school seems a bit contrived, all things considered.

and even if there are a few, they probably feel contempt towards the school over the debt issue. tis a two way street, if the school invests in you, you will probably give back. if the school hangs you out to dry financially, well, there are probably better causes.

on a final note. for those that cite bureaucratic structure as a legitimate reason for why gs gets the shaft. i’d like to point out that bureaucratic structure is a tool for preserving a status quo which the powers that be find acceptable. i’ve seen it time and time again. if there’s a structural hurdle between the powers that be and their goals, power will win out in the end and bureaucracy will magically restructure to accommodate the change.

the people running the show get what they want, period.

This is a direct result of Cunningham running for GSSC President on a platform of HEY I WILL GET Y’ALL MO MONEY. BLING BLING PINKY RING WORTH ABOUT FO FITTY BLING BLING— sorry. Look, if someone had already figured out how to make something from NOTHING, we’d all be filthy rich and own our own small third world dictatorships. Unfortunately, the real world certainly isn’t as easy as we’d want it to be. Further, the majority of GS students don’t even give enough of a shit to figure out how the financial aid process actually works — ESPECIALLY with regard to endowments that can only be used in very clearly defined ways.

“I don’t know how bad it is with CCSC/ESC spam, but I now send everything from the GSSC straight to the trash folder…”

Yeah. Cunningham likes to talk about tradition. I’ve found a new tradition, and it’s called laughing at nearly every ‘policy’ statement that these chuckleheads send out. Ridiculous.

@17: “The GS portion amounts to roughly $2300 per student. What the hell does that do for anyone!”

Keep in mind that this additional aid is going to be on a sliding scale. The merit-based (namely GPA based) method that Skip Bailey and crew use means that I’d be -floored- if all GS students saw $2300 of additional scholarship aid in 08-09. Awn’s comment (in email to GS students, not pasted here) regarding increased “enhancement” for students with greatest need and loan burden is interesting, but I feel that when the amount of additional money for this pool of candidates is made known, there’s going to be a lot more sandy vaginaing going on at the GSSC.

[NB: I'm a GS student who probably won't be able to attend class next year. I feel that while any additional financial aid news is certainly well welcomed, the sense of entitlement that the GSSC conveys in each and every statement about the financial aid problem really pisses me the fuck off. More ACTION, less WHINING about how money doesn't rain from the sky like manna.]

” We can make these enhancements now, rather than at the end of the Campaign for Undergraduate Education, because we are confident that alumni, parents, and friends of the College will help fund them through continued giving—both to the College Fund and toward the additional $140 million in financial aid endowment still needed to meet the College goals of the Campaign. As always, we are deeply grateful to those who help us meet the needs of each new generation of students seeking access to all that a Columbia education provides.”

This kinda makes me want to donate. Even a few dollars.

I think all the Ivy Leagues are moving in this direction since they anticipate it will no longer be a seller’s market for a college degree and that they’ll have to compete harder amongst each other to recruit the top students in the country.

Think about it, 5 years ago, Princeton’s announcement to eliminat loands for ALL STUDENTS didn’t trigger a financial aid arms race. But now it does.

i’m happy for other peoples’ sake but dang… :(

and my family’s