31–40 of 102 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Guys, yummyfajitas is kidding. Of course he wouldn't consider a grad student stipend "living on the largess of others". Right? This is Poe's Law, right?
Having been reading HN for years, I can confirm that yummyfajitas is not kidding. Although I think he was referring to financial aid rather than graduate stipends.
Yep. I remember my parents spending more time talking to cafeteria workers, I didn't even think it was appropriate for them to meet my professors, nor did I think it was an option. Being weeded out from social circles was also painful. "Let's go downtown for dinner Saturday night", "Nope I'll meet up with you guys later, I've got something else going on."
There's no difference between you and the wealthy folks in class, your brain works the same as theirs.
Socially, it's a whole other story. I could never afford to go out, and all my evenings were spent working at either a cafeteria or as a lab assistant, anything to pay the minimum payments on my loans. My classmates would invite me out with them for dinners and trips, but I never went, and eventually they stopped asking. My social circle became other students in similar situations, but it definitely made me feel like I didn't belong.
This social stratification was also present in class, when people had to form up for groups for group projects, since those groups tended to form along social group boundaries.
I don't regret going one bit, though. I have a great degree, paid off my debt, and have been working in preeminent silicon valley companies for more than 20 years now.
I remember feeling very jarred when I first met "rich white people" in high school. It blew my mind. What did these people do? What are their families like? It truly fascinated me. This continued well into college where I met even more people from very, very wealthy backgrounds. I dated someone whose father was a dean of the school we went to, and I was extremely nervous when I visited their... mansion.
Because I met a bunch of "rich white people" in high school, I became fairly acclimated to them. It really does taking meeting someone face-to-face to realize that they're not so different from you. I imagine it's the same when rich people meet very poor people.
It makes me think that the issue isn't that poor students feel uncomfortable around rich students, but rather that the first time they ever meet rich students is in college. If they met earlier - perhaps in elementary or middle school - this discomfort would not be there.
Even being a poor grad student at an Ivy feels like this. The undergrads are wealthy and the grad students cherish every dollar of their ~$30k salary while still sometimes do side work to get by since city's have rents set for the higher income undergrads. There was some resentment we had for our students to say the least.
This article suggests that schools are taking an interesting step to avoid such resentment: White appreciates, for example, that Harvard gives low-income students free tickets to the freshman formal, but they have to pick up the tickets in a different line from everyone else. “It’s clear who is getting free/reduced tickets and who isn’t,” he says... This seems like it might be an effective strategy. Take the people w…
Poor students are needed at these schools to maintain the prestige and reputation of these schools. If they only allowed those who could afford to pay, a lot of great talent would end up elsewhere and then the reputation of the school would suffer.
In terms of real scarcity, it is actually the rich students who are the most easily replaceable. If those poor students went somewhere else, they would still do well and within a decade the new schools would start challenging the reputation of these elite school.
Even being a poor grad student at an Ivy feels like this. The undergrads are wealthy and the grad students cherish every dollar of their ~$30k salary while still sometimes do side work to get by since city's have rents set for the higher income undergrads. There was some resentment we had for our students to say the least.
This article suggests that schools are taking an interesting step to avoid such resentment: White appreciates, for example, that Harvard gives low-income students free tickets to the freshman formal, but they have to pick up the tickets in a different line from everyone else. “It’s clear who is getting free/reduced tickets and who isn’t,” he says... This seems like it might be an effective strategy. Take the people w…
Graduate students at schools like this are funded primarily through grant money and sometimes endowment money, not undergraduate tuition.
Undergraduates on financial aid are never funded through others' tuition. That's 100% donations and endowment.
> and give them constant reminders that they are there thanks to the contributions of others
I suppose we should also have a special line for everyone who's using daddy's credit card?
When you start looking for this shit, it's everywhere.
And the price I paid for each year was about 700 euro plus whatever the books cost. Came to a total of about 4500 euro (books included) for the 5 years that I studied there.
I'm glad that I did not have to pay the rediculous prices they do in the UK or in the US, because my parents would not have been able to afford that.
EDIT: And there is actually a system for parents whom do not meet the minimum income either, that the university covers part, or all, of the cost. I do not have experience with that though because even though my parents did not attend a university, their income was above the minimum to apply for that.
Should rich kids make an effort to help poor kids feel welcome, yes. However, the net feelings of everybody at Harvard should be excitement for the probably awesome future that they have after college and focus on getting the education that will make that more likely.
Harvard is overrated anyway. You're not going to get a better education, you're just going to be around a lot of rich people.
Wait, Boston Globe, for shame. Ana's height, bone structure, and hair are described, but we never get even a cursory description of Ted? When you start looking for this shit, it's everywhere.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The data show quite the opposite: the degree matters more than the institution. An engineering degree from a top 50 school has a higher return than an arts/humanities degree from a top 5 institution. http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/images/p...
why are there no dots for humanities for schools with lower than 20% accceptance rates? Most ivy schools have an acceptance rate lower than 10%