Pricing out. (Feedback).

Gentlemen, I read your article, "The Admissions Angle: Pricing Out" [January 2003]. I agree with your comments about the costs of higher ed going up rapidly with borrowing the only option for some families. I have a son in college at a state school and have saved all his life for his education, but if he takes more than four years to graduate, funding that last bit will be tight. And I thought I had it covered. I work for the Colorado Student Loan Program, implementing a Web site called ColoradoMentor.org--a site to help students choose and apply to colleges in Colorado. One of the features in the Financial Aid Guide on our site that I haven't seen elsewhere is the Student Loans Over Projected Earnings (SLOPE) calculator. You can see it at www.coloradomentor.org/ FinAid/Steps/slope.asp. This calculator asks about anticipated borrowing, calculates the monthly loan payment, and compares that to the beginning salary in Colorado for the career the student chooses. It calculates the percentage of the monthly income that will be taken up with the loan payment, and plugs that into a budget so the student can see how student loans will impact his or her lifestyle after graduation. Borrowing is very easy, and the SLOPE calculator shows the downside of excessive borrowing, hopefully before the student incurs too much debt. Feel free to share this with your readers. Thanks for your article.

DENNIS BERRY, Project Manager ColoradoMentor, CSLP/CCHE Denver, CO

I enjoyed your thought-provoking article about the challenges that higher education, more specifically, its admission and financial aid offices, faces in light of these uncertain economic times. A quick, knee-jerk reaction: I doubt I will be the last to comment about the myth you are perpetuating relative to what "upper-income families" choose to do regarding the higher education purchase. You state: "Upper-income families may appear to be in the most comfortable situation, spending only 2 percent of their income on education. However, this cohort of families typically considers private colleges for their children." In various studies across the country (Minnesota, Florida, Washington, and even our limited research in South Dakota), assessing "how families pay for college," we find that the most affluent families are opting to send their children to lower-cost public--funded institutions. What makes this situation even worse is public policy decisions that continue to favor the wealthiest: merit scholarship programs (12 states now have them) that provide scholarships to students with a 3.0 average or better for instance. Affluent families with achieving students receive a "double subsidy" at these low-cost, public-funded universities. How does this make sense? State legislators think they are providing a benefit to "keep the best students in state" with these scholarship programs, while they ignore the more pressing need of providing funding for need-based programs. Just because the wealthiest of families can pay for a private college education, doesn't mean they do.

BOB PRELOGER, VP, Enrollment Augustana College Sioux Falls, SD

Gentlemen, a wonderful article that I basically agree with 100 percent. On the other hand, did you pose [the following] questions to the families?

1) How much money did you and your child save for his or her education?

2) What are you driving? How much did it cost? And what do you expect that car will be worth in five years? 10 years? etc.

3) (Connected with #2) In the last 18 years is there anything that might be considered luxurious that you have given up so that you could put that money in an account to help pay for your child's education?

4) Whose responsibility is payment of your child's higher education?

Again, I agree with the thoughts you present, especially the inequality of the system toward those with less income, who literally live paycheck to paycheck. Plus, need based aid from the federal and state governments and institutions has not kept pace with the cost of tuition. Saying that, I also see too many families that have not saved a nickel and do not think of the cost of higher education until their child reaches his or her senior year of high school Somehow, [they think] the money needed for that child's higher education will materialize magically. Keep up the good work,

STEPHEN WILLIAMSON, Assoc. Director of Admissions Augustana College Sioux Fairs, SD

From the Greenes: Your comments are on target for many families who might have been in a better position financially if they had made some different choices and planned better earlier in their children's lives. We hope that the availability of more and better information about savings options (like the 529s) will help families to get started earlier!