Acorn articles were informative on college admission process

Acorn articles were informative on college admission process

Regarding Bill Brock’s article on college admissions in the Feb. 14 issue of The Acorn, congratulations on an incredible article. Thank you for letting Mr. Brock spend so many inches explaining this important subject. I was amazed and very pleased to see how much space he was given. You are to be commended for allowing him the room he needed to address this topic.

I have been involved with college funding since 1973. And I can honestly say I have never read a more truthful and complete article on this very important topic. The only thing not addressed in this first installment is the outrageous cost of college (Harvard now over $40,000 per year) and how financial aid (or lack thereof) is impacting our local middle and upper middle income families.

I hope Mr. Brock will address issues like the system’s unrealistic assessment of a family’s ability to pay in the next or other installments. For example, few people know that there is no adjustment in financial aid calculations for cost of living. Therefore, families in this area with high cost of living are penalized compared to families in the Midwest and other lower cost areas. Also, families don’t know that they are "taxed" from 5.6 percent all the way up to 47percent for college, based on how the equations are used. And worst of all, the world still perpetuates the myth of scholarships as a way to cover the cost of college. The "dirty little secret" of scholarship resourcing keeps this from being any help to most families. An expose on scholarships could fill its own page.

I loved the analogy with booking first class relative to taking early decision for admissions and its impact on cost of college.

To help our clients differentiate between early decision and early admittance/acceptance, we use the phrase: "Remember it’s ‘d for death’ because your chances for financial aid have probably been killed." Mr. Brock has very clearly outlined one of the great injustices in higher education—making families choose between acceptance at a prestigious college and the right to negotiate for financial aid. What early decision does is limit Ivy League colleges to families who can afford the cost or are willing to go into incredible debt.

I look forward to the second installment. (It appeared last week).

Linda Taylor

Agoura Hills