Kudos to you, Numbnuts

From the NY Times: Financial Aid Rules for College Change, and Families Pay More

The title of the article says it all. But here's the guts:

The New York Times did an analysis of the formula on middle-class incomes in more than a dozen states to see whether families would have to spend a greater part of their income and assets before qualifying for financial aid than they did five years ago. Though the effects of the formula changes vary from state to state, The Times found that families with the same earnings and assets as in 2000 would typically have to pay an extra $1,749 before clearing the eligibility bar for financial aid in 2005, after adjusting for inflation.

Though the formula will change in the future, sometimes to a family's advantage, the impact on campuses now is obvious, many university officials say, and often cuts across class lines. The University of California, Berkeley, for example, says that 1,000 of its middle- to upper-middle-class students will probably lose eligibility for federal subsidies on their student loans in the coming year, a change that typically means higher debts because of accrued interest. On the other side of the economic spectrum, Northeastern University, in Boston, says that 300 of its low-income students will not receive the federal grants they would have been eligible for last year.
...
"This is not what we intended," said Joe Paul Case, the financial aid director at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, who helped develop the formula that the government now uses for the bulk of the nation's students. "There is certainly more duress than we had in mind."

Well, you should have thought about it a little more then, don't you think? Stuff like this riles me up because I have several college friends who were on serious financial aid. In fact, without federal grants, loans, and the generosity of alumni, two probably would not have gone.

SEGWAY to tipping your server: One of my friends managed to go to school only because his single Mom, a teacher, worked nights and weekends as a waitress, and all the tips went to his education. Always tip well if you are happy, because you have no idea what that person is really working for.