All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free • Hacker News Board

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#41

Post by lern_too_spel » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #31

It's odd that many of the same people cheering this decision are the same ones crying for meritocracy in the workplace. Handouts and free passes as long as you're characterized by $some_immutable_trait? Then don't be upset when you're passed over for a promotion to fulfill a company diversity promotion threshold.

This doesn't guarantee them a spot at any public university. It guarantees that their education will be paid for at any public university they are admitted to and subsequently matriculate at.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#42

Post by version_five » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

I'm not against it necessarily, but curious about the stats or wisdom on what happens to people who get a free ride like this, as in do they complete university successfully and usefully or do they milk their free room and board and fail out eventually?

Handouts are not generally a great way of accomplishing goals. I don't have a better idea, just thinking if there can be a way to make sure there is some ownership on the part of the students.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#43

Post by j45 » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

ecf wrote: post #25

Where is the support for the middle class? The ones deemed too wealthy for financial aid, but not wealthy enough to actually afford the cost of college? Just more tax dollars being siphoned away from my family that got zero assistance.

The cost of post secondary education is untenable.

Post secondaries are quite overpriced. Community / state colleges are usually priced better.

Can you give an example of a college that you are priced out of?

The increasing gap between graduates and the non market because the rate of change in the world is outpacing the rate of change in curriculum to keep up in post secondaries is an opportunity.

Effective allocation of public funds and ensuring there is value received for the public purse is something that needs to be taken up by the average person to learn about and to ask informed questions about.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#44

Post by chowells » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

torstenvl wrote: post #24

megaman821 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All school lunches and breakfasts should be free. It is abhorrent that any child in a country as rich as the United States should go hungry at school.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

The ruling elite don't let their children eat school food in the first place.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#45

Post by pessimizer » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #4

Bostonian wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Don't people with the lowest test scores benefit the most? If you already know everything, what's the point of going to school?

The common belief among all Harrison Bergeron referencers is that resources should be concentrated on those who need them the least, because those are the people who have shown merit.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#46

Post by bushbaba » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:22 PM UTC

hotpotamus wrote: post #34

Waterluvian wrote: post #12

64% of foster youth graduating high school is far far higher than I thought it would be. I’m beyond delighted by this. And if that 64% has free access to post-secondary… that’s a cycle breaking opportunity.

I wonder how many non-foster kids graduate high school?

In California it’s ~85% of high school students graduate on average across all demographics

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/datasummary.asp

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#47

Post by bagacrap » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:22 PM UTC

pessimizer wrote: post #21

getmeinrn wrote: post #13

This is what affirmative action should be... helping people out based on their individual situation, not because their skin color or gender.

Affirmative action shouldn't ever have been a contest with prizes for the most unfortunate. It was sold as a way to fix the wrongs of slavery. Having been enslaved legally in the US is not a race, it's an atrocity. The reason we should be paying for foster kids' college is because the state is their parent, so it's our responsibility. In a country that wasn't shit, regular people would be jealous of how kids who were…

> regular people would be jealous of how kids who were wards of the state lived

In this utopia you describe, I'd think all kids lived like kings.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#48

Post by j45 » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:22 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #33

ecf wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree. My parents are low middle class. We didn’t qualify for any financial aid and they were tasked with trying to find a way to send both my sister and I to college which they couldn’t afford. So what did we do? Take out a bunch of loans. Good thing I got a decent job that can pay for them. Too bad for my sister who had a masters and is making $35k as a teacher in Tennessee which is barely more than minimum…

> my sister who had a masters and is making $35k as a teacher Tennessee If it's a public school, those loans should begin falling off after five years and be forgiven after ten [1]. [1] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/teacher-student...

Still not ideal.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#49

Post by mmanfrin » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:22 PM UTC

getmeinrn wrote: post #13

This is what affirmative action should be... helping people out based on their individual situation, not because their skin color or gender.

Affirmative action was to address systemic inequalities, not individual ones. Bringing it up in an article about foster kids and then further including the bit about gender feels like flamebait.

Re: All foster kids in California can now attend any state college for free

#50

Post by MikeTheGreat » Sun, Jul 23, 2023, 10:23 PM UTC

torstenvl wrote: post #24

megaman821 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All school lunches and breakfasts should be free. It is abhorrent that any child in a country as rich as the United States should go hungry at school.

As a taxpayer who funds public schools, I find it acceptable to subsidize the food of those who are struggling, but I do not have any desire to subsidize the ruling elite (who, in many cases, intentionally keep working class pay low). They can pay for their own children's food.

On the one hand I 100% agree

On the other hand we've got the phrase "Programs for the poor become poor" for a reason. Having a program that benefits everyone means that we all can support it out of enlightened self-interest.

We can reduce overhead by providing food for everyone and not putting in place a complex government bureaucracy to carefully approve some people but not others, to give lobbyists a chance to advocate for the benefit of their constituents at the expense of everyone else, etc, etc.