Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
1–10 of 124 posts
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#2And now. Whatever you do. No. Whatever. You. Do. Do. NOT. Turn back on this promise. Make it happen. No ifs, ands, or buts. Period.
And colleges. If somehow, something terrible happens, and the money stops coming in. Let those kids finish for free anyway. Anything less is the newest worst thing that could happen to these kids and then adults.
[edit: I am curious about the downvotes. From what I gathered, the people that these donors have chosen to help are the downtrodden of this area. Much of their life may have been spent in a world of people not fulfilling their world. Fathers leaving, etc. The last thing these kids need is for yet another promise to be left unfulfilled, be it by red-tape or just some series of unfortunate events. Despite that, these children need to have the results of the promise fulfilled.]
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#3What's fascinating to me is that because it prevented the surrounding communities from growing at the expense of Kalamazoo, those districts invested even more in their schools and education infrastructure to compete with the city with The Promise. I would have predicted the exact opposite. Super interesting.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#4I went to college there and live one city over (25 minute drive). There are a lot of wealthy people living in the area, multimillionaires in the suburbs, but also a lot of poverty. A _lot_ of poverty. I'm glad to see someone trying something new, even on such a small scale. I was almost tempted to look for housing within the Kzoo city limits because of the Promise, but I don't plan on having children any time soon. We need more such experiments and resultant data.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#5What would be the unintended negative consequences of this?
It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#6What would be the unintended negative consequences of this? It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#7Wow. That's neat.
I once had a conversation with a state legislator where he argued it wasn't the responsibility of government to provide grant and loan opportunities for higher education, and that by doing so, the federal government was disincentivizing saving and investing. Instead, he argued universities should be more market driven (which I will concede might introduce more price competition in the face of rapidly rising tuition rates). He was a firm believer that a university education should be something one works and sacrifices for.
In my elected position with public education at the time, I disagreed (and still disagree) with some of his claims, believing a subsidized higher education experience for a expanded pool of people is a long-term net gain compared to crime/prison costs and the cost of government-funded social safety net programs. (Although, again, college-student families admittedly qualify for most government assistance programs already, but this is hopefully a short-term rather than lifetime dependence.)
I'd love to see the long-term effects on the quality of life, debt, and employment prospects of these students.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#8What would be the unintended negative consequences of this? It reminds me of the story of a West African king who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way to Arabia, the king gifted so much gold to all intervening communities that the price of gold crashed, taking with it the economies of North Africa and Arabia.
Only downside I could possibly see is someone taking their education more lightly because they don't have to pay for it.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#9I am very jealous of these students, I entered my post college life in the hole like many other students. Luckily, the tech world is in a completely different state than the rest of the job world when it comes to looking for a place to practice your profession.
Re: Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo
#10Scott's Tots?