As everyone in this class attends a 4-year college, we are all too familiar with the rising costs of higher education. The cost of a four-year degree from a public university averages $115,000, according to The College Board. Here at Marist, the average cost of a four-year degree is over $150,000.
According to the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), financial aid scams rose by an astounding 60 percent in 2006.
Research: This nationwide student scandal surfaced in March of this year, after an investigation by
Planning: ABC News reported at the beginning of May that the parent company of Student Loan Xpress, CIT Group, would pay $3 million to end an investigation into its operation. Also, two of the country's largest lenders, Citibank and Sallie Mae, each paid $2 million to settle the Attorney General’s investigation. They also agreed to follow a new set of stricter guidelines regarding their relationship with financial aid offices.
Communication: With many prestigious colleges and universities such as
Evaluation: Once the lenders agreed to pay the New York Attorney General, there wasn’t much communication. It was said that these lenders would now follow set guidelines to restrict their communication with financial aid offices. In this article, it states that schools would have to make reimbursements to students. It even goes as far as to say that the Attorney General applauds the cooperation from the lenders.
From a public relations standpoint, I feel that the colleges and universities made a very conscious effort to make sure everyone understood that they would get their offices back on the right track. They showed that their primary concern is for the students. Marist does a great job of communicating its financial aid policies with students and their families. It is a difficult process and many families don’t understand it. Marist does an excellent job of helping and properly communicating what needs to get done.
Also, I found this website which can be used by students and parents to help protect themselves from scammers. Scambusters.org is a a public service website that sends out a weekly newsletter outlining the newest frauds, scams, and schemes.
2 comments:
Joanna,
Thanks for your first case analysis post. This certainly is an important issue to all of us who study or work on a campus – or have children at school. As a parent of four children (three still in college) it scares me to think of how we might be taken advantage of. I’m glad to see more and more schools agreeing to do a better job of managing this problem.
As for your post, good work with the hotlinks. They were very useful … and were spread out nicely in your post. As we discussed in class, you also did a nice job analyzing an important, nation-wide issue, but your analysis would have been even stronger if you had focused on a single organization. You mentioned at least two colleges who are battling this problem (e.g., Columbia, John’s Hopkins) and other organizations that are involved (e.g., attorney general, Citibank). I wonder how one of these organizations, for instance, carried out its public relations campaign.
Still, you did a nice job researching and reviewing this issue … and you provided some useful Web sites for us to review – very helpful, and worthy of discussion. Thank you.
Well done,
Mark
I think that we should look deeper into our school's financial aid analysis. How does one determine one's family estimated contribution? I think that whole system of 'giving' money is completely flawed and aimed to help those who statistically don't go to college. On top of that, if minorities do go to college, they already have an upper hand because they get other grants and loans to 'help' them make it.
It goes further than that though. Education is pushed so hard in today's day-in-age and yet no one wants to do anything about it's cost. Yes, a four-year degree is becoming what used to be a HS diploma, but why have students pay close to a mortgage just because they want to get ahead in life and then for most of them don't come out of debt until it's too late to enjoy life after college.
I could go on for days about this subject, but I'll leave it as is...
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