Elite School for the Elite..

Little bit of old news, but putting it out there:

Have CNN's RSS feed on my Firefox Bookmark Toolbar. I check it and click news items way to much during the day. They will post commentary articles from their writers, and one of them is Glenn Beck. I don't follow Mr. Beck at that much, only what may pop up on the RSS Feed. He wrote a column entitled "Tax-free hypocrisy from Higher education" in which he described the fact that some of our "elite" colleges and universities have multi-billion dollar endowments, yet pay NO tax on them. My point isn't about the taxes, but the fact that these schools have some of the highest tuitions in the USA and possibly the world!

Many of Mr. Becks points reflect that of Mr. Gregg Easterbrook, of ESPN.com and The Republic, how these ginormous endowments could be used to allow gifted students of less than "elite" finacial background to attend their schools for free! Why don't they?

Sometimes I think it is all about a buzz word of the current campaigns, Elitism. If a school has a high tuition, it will keep those who possibly could get in to look elsewhere. How many students apply to Ivy League schools knowing they have the goods to be accepted but know full well that will not be attending due to financial reasons? My guess is not too many, unless they are so high on the brain goods that a scholarship could be warranted.

If these middle or lower class students are left out of an Elite Institution of Higher Education then they will not be awarded the one advantage of attending such an institution, being one of the select few to attend, and the connections to those who have already attended. The money stays in contact with the money, the power stays with the power. It makes it difficult for the new blood to rise. Not impossible but difficult.

I say free up the tuition and room and board for those schools that require on campus living. The applicant pool will grow, but the quality of students will too. Those that appreciate the education recieved will give back what the cost was many times over.