| I've read about the decisions of flagship state | | | | rewards to come. Cooper Union must be doing |
| universities to increase merit-based, not need-based | | | | something right; only 10 percent of their applicants get |
| scholarships to the best-of-best students, the ones | | | | in. The same is true for the more modern, and free, |
| who might have chosen an Ivy League school, or | | | | Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, and with |
| other highly selective private college. | | | | our military service academies. But Cooper Union, and |
| This is not an academic strategy as much as it is an | | | | Olin are small schools, and our three military service |
| economic development strategy; state politicians do | | | | academies are mid-sized with approximately 4,500 |
| not want the best students to take their talents out of | | | | students each. They do not come close to having the |
| state, and possibly never return. However, this is an | | | | enrollment obligations of a flagship state school. |
| expensive strategy, as a state university ends up | | | | So I'd like to offer a suggestion: make the merit-based |
| pursuing students who have not marked it down as | | | | aid awards fairer and more accessible to students |
| their first-choice school. That's unfair to other students | | | | who truly want to attend a flagship school - by asking |
| who can get accepted, but truly need financial | | | | the students to apply for them after they get in. Junk |
| assistance to enroll. It's also unfair to ask bright people | | | | the numbers: SATs, grades and class rank from the |
| to consider staying in a state that has lost employment | | | | process and have an open competition among |
| or failed to improve its quality of life. Bright people | | | | admitted students based on essays, portfolios and |
| gravitate to places where other bright people want to | | | | interviews, just as the Ivy League schools do. Any |
| live and work. | | | | applicant who believes that they are worthy of a free |
| The fairest, but most improbable, option is make the | | | | ride gets a shot to prove it. And don't guarantee a free |
| flagship school tuition-free for everyone, regardless of | | | | ride for four years; make the recipient prove that they |
| need; the only non-academic expenses being housing | | | | are worthy each year. I know people knock athletes |
| or commuting. Free tuition would also make the school | | | | for their free rides, but they're asked to make athletic |
| more selective, since it becomes a powerful incentive | | | | progress and academic progress to maintain them. An |
| that any admitted student can receive - as long as | | | | athlete who gets out of playing shape or gets in |
| they get in. In this case, merit isn't a hand out, it is | | | | trouble is kicked off the team, and quite often, kicked |
| earned from competition. | | | | out of school. |
| City College of New York (CCNY) was a free | | | | I realize that a competitive merit scholarship program |
| institution when my father and the early Baby | | | | may be more cumbersome for financial aid officers at |
| Boomers went to college and it was regarded as one | | | | the flagship universities, but a state school is different |
| of the best public institutions in the country. But free | | | | from a selective private school. It has more resources, |
| tuition sometimes means fewer amenities; for instance, | | | | but it takes a very self-motivated student to learn out |
| Cooper Union, a top notch engineering and design | | | | how to use them. The best and brightest who expect |
| school in New York that had been free from day one, | | | | to be coddled by their college may not succeed at a |
| has no luxury dorms or football teams. But if you get | | | | less personal state university. So, why hand them |
| into to join ultra-selective group, and pay nothing, the | | | | money that should rightfully go to a student who really |
| lack of amenities should mean nothing, if there are | | | | wants to be there? |