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Top 10 Happiest Colleges in the Country
Fastweb ^ | 18 June 2014 | Kathryn Knight Randolph

Posted on 06/18/2014 7:48:27 AM PDT by Vigilanteman

Original article was published by The Daily Beast earlier this month. If you don't care to go to the original, these are the top 10:

  1. Texas A& M
  2. Stanford University
  3. University of Wisconsin
  4. Florida State University
  5. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  6. University of Florida
  7. Brigham Young University
  8. University of Georgia
  9. University of Texas, Austin
  10. Kansas State University


(Excerpt) Read more at fastweb.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: college; debt; education; happiness
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To: Vigilanteman
The biggest common denominator I can see is $10K or less difference between annual cost and average financial aid package.

The "average financial aid package" is a meaningless marketing statistic for two big reasons: First, a small number of students receive a large amount of aide and that drives the averages up. Second, the financial aid package includes student loans such as subsidized Stafford loans, unsubsidized Stafford loans, and Federal Plus loans.

41 posted on 06/18/2014 10:16:52 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Labyrinthos
Could be, except in the case of several of the state universities in the southeast, it also happens to be faily meaningful.

Georgia, I believe, gives full ride scholarships for any of their residents who pull a B+ or better average in High School.

North Carolina and Florida give greatly discounted tuition packages to their top 20% of high school performers. Freepers from that area of the country can clue us in on the specifics, but I've had relatives in all of those states who tell me that "average financial aid packages" are actually close to what better performing students actually get.

College education would be more meaningful if only the top quarter or so of high school graduates attended. I'd say conservatively, that at least 80% of entry level jobs which require college degrees only do so because it is an easy way to winnow the pool of applicants.

At least 75% of graduating high school seniors would be better served by two year degrees, vocational schools, apprentice training and the like.

It is a damn shame that so many prime working years are wasted in classrooms. But that would mean severely fewer job openings for leftist academics and ******* studies majors.

42 posted on 06/18/2014 10:52:50 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Vigilanteman
College education would be more meaningful if only the top quarter or so of high school graduates attended. I'd say conservatively, that at least 80% of entry level jobs which require college degrees only do so because it is an easy way to winnow the pool of applicants.

That's because the gov't does not allow employers to give tests to screen job applicants because -- you know -- the tests are racist.

43 posted on 06/18/2014 11:03:28 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Vigilanteman; Tennessee Nana
It is BS.

2014-2015 per semester tuition for undergraduate students who are LDS will be $2,500; non-LDS undergraduates will pay $5,000 per semester. LDS law school students will pay $5,810 per semester; non-LDS law school students will pay $11,620 per semester. It is a LDS university, after all.

byu-posts-tuition-increases-for-2014-2015-academic-year

44 posted on 06/18/2014 11:37:08 AM PDT by Scoutmaster (Bring back the sash!)
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To: hummingbird

I think it’s humorous that Texas A&M is such a little brother that out of the Aggie War Hymn’s 33 lines, 25 are about beating the University of Texas. Inferiority complex anyone?


45 posted on 06/18/2014 11:43:17 AM PDT by Scoutmaster (Bring back the sash!)
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To: OriginalChristian

Point taken. Thank you.


46 posted on 06/18/2014 11:49:36 AM PDT by dowcaet
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To: Scoutmaster
Sounds like very reasonable tuitions in either case. Further, I have no problem with them charging more to non-LDS. They are a private university, after all, and probably view their own as having already paid some of their tuition in tithes and offerings much as a state university charges lower tuition for residents because (theoretically) they've paid for the difference in taxes.

In general, I've learned to take anything the more prominent bigots on this forum post with a large grain of salt.

47 posted on 06/18/2014 11:59:43 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: EDINVA

It depends - at many schools you cannot get work-study during summer break - you have to be taking classes.
Also at many schools all you get from work-study is the “right” to look for a job. (Certain jobs are designated work-study only, others are either open or work-study). If you do not find an employer who offers you a job, you do not get to claim your grant.


48 posted on 06/18/2014 8:21:17 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: scrabblehack

Sorry, I guess I wasn’t clear. I was referring to work-study during the school year; independent employment during summer break.

My point was that it would be difficult for a student whose post-grant/scholarship school costs were @ $10-15K/year to make that kind of money during the summer break. Not too many students make $1K or more per week.

For a top-notch education @ Stanford, to graduate with $50K in loans after four years would not be that bad. I’d venture that those grads are 90%+ employed within 6 months, even in a tough economy. Most of the “highly competitive” universities make sure their students are adequately funded, one way or the other. I know most if not all the “Ivies” make sure their students are 100% funded, and graduate without debt.


49 posted on 06/19/2014 10:07:06 AM PDT by EDINVA
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To: EDINVA
For a top-notch education @ Stanford,

Look at Chelsea, just a few years after graduating she was able to buy a $10 million Manhattan condo!

50 posted on 06/19/2014 10:10:14 AM PDT by nascarnation (Toxic Baraq Syndrome: hopefully infecting a Dem candidate near you)
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To: nascarnation

darn tootin’

And now she’s got her doctorate from Oxford.

still can’t compensate for those rotten genes, however much influence they might buy.


51 posted on 06/19/2014 10:30:26 AM PDT by EDINVA
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To: EDINVA

I disagree. The elite schools take it for granted that their students know how to find jobs, or have parents who can pull strings for them to get jobs.

I know there are smaller schools that manage their work-study the same way: Carson-Newman here in Tennessee for instance.

I went to Michigan, and had I known what the huge difference there was between the financial aid I was offered and the financial aid I actually received I would never have gone there.

Now yes, you can trade your work-study for a loan, but I didn’t want an empty resume when I graduated. Unfortunately that’s what I got.

When you complain, the Student Employment Office will tell you that “there’s 2000 jobs in the catalog, you ought to be able to find something.” Unfortunately quite a few of them are very discretionary - they have no problem leaving them vacant for the entire school year. Also a lot of them are really filled but they go through the pretense of interviewing you — although when you call up about a job as soon as you tell them you have no experience it is very unlikely they will invite you in for a face to face interview.

Maybe you know someone at Stanford who was able to claim the grant but I strongly believe there was some other student who wasn’t able to claim the grant.

See if you can actually get data on placement. I’ll bet you can’t, and if you can, you can’t believe it.

What I would prefer to see is that if you can’t claim your work-study, you should be able to trade it in for a Pell Grant. Not dollar-for-dollar — just the federal portion.

So if you get a $1000 work-study grant and can’t find a job, you should be able to trade it in for a $750 Pell Grant. But the colleges would never agree to that because they’ve already doubly awarded the same grants to multiple students.
The law says they are allowed to do that.

Also the Dept of Education should publish the placement rates.


52 posted on 06/19/2014 4:06:36 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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