Since FAU students are always talking about tuition increases, where are the cuts, why do we have so much debt:

From USA Today:


Universities and colleges are giving $5.3 billion in aid this year to students who the federal government says don't need financial help, according to figures from the College Board.

An additional $4 billion in federal tuition tax credits went to families making $100,000 to $180,000 — at least double the median income for U.S. households.

The schools use the money — more than 20% of all U.S. financial aid — to compete for applicants who have high grade-point averages and SAT scores. Some discounts serve another purpose: They lure high-income families that can write a check for the rest of the tuition. The strategy is not unlike department stores that use discounts to encourage customers to spend. "Giving $5,000 against a $25,000 tuition charge is just like the discounting you'd see in a retail operation to bring traffic to the door," says Jonathan Burdick, dean of financial aid and admissions at the University of Rochester.

…

Education experts say such subsidies mean less help for lower- and middle-income students, who fall deeper into debt to pay tuition.

…

That competition — Brown Admissions Dean Jim Miller calls it "the war between the haves and the have lots" — has put pressure on less-selective colleges, already contending with huge budget cuts and endowment shortfalls, to give support to families that don't necessarily need it, Burdick said.


Wonder how this trickles down to FAU. Not that we're competing with Harvard, obviously, but it will be difficult to attract valedictorians and salutatorians from UF/FSU to FAU to raise our academic profile if we don't have the money to throw at them. Not surprised that this is happening but still.