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August 21st, 2010
Recently, both U.S. News and Forbes Magazines released their annual college rankings. Both magazines touted how some of the most expensive colleges in the country are actually some of the most affordable. NOT.
These schools are actually for the rich. Let’s take a look at the truth.
Williams College
According to their financial aid FAQ, 53% of the student body was determined to have financial need for 2009-2010. This means 47% had no need whatsoever. The tuition, fees, room, and board for 2010-2011: $52,340. So 47% of the students don’t have to bat an eyelash at $52,000 per year. It sounds to us like they’re rich!
Amherst College
It turns out that Amherst is rather similar to Williams College in terms of financial aid. 53% of the students receive aid from Amherst, with a minimum quoted cost per year of $55,735. Again, 47% of the students don’t have to worry at all about paying $55,000 for college every year. It sounds to us like they’re rich!
Harvard University
Here’s what they say on their financial aid website:
About 70 percent of our students receive some form of aid, with nearly 60 percent receiving need–based scholarships.
Mandatory fees at Harvard total $50,723 for 2010-2011. Let’s think about this. At least 30% of the students have Mommy and Daddy shelling out a nice $51,000 bill without junior worrying about his or her livelihood. It sounds to us like they’re rich!
Columbia University
Here’s what Columbia has to say (for Columbia College):
Approximately 50% of Columbia undergraduates receive some sort of financial assistance. In addition, about 80% of first-year students applying for financial aid for the 2007-2008 year received a need-based aid award.
Time for some mental math – if 50% of the students get aid, and 20% of those who applied did not receive any aid, then a full 40% of the student body knew they didn’t need any aid. The average estimated cost of the 2010-2011 academic year at Columbia: $57,192. It sounds to us like that two out of every five students are rich!
Stanford
Here are some data from 2008-2009 at Stanford:
Percent of students receiving any form of aid: 80%
Percent of students receiving need-based scholarships from Stanford: 46%
Percent of students receiving Pell Grants: 14%
Only 14% are poor and at least 20% (probably a lot more) could afford to pay full freight in 2008-2009. This year’s cost of attendance for first-year students: $55,385. It sounds to us like they’re rich!
Grade: FAIL
Did we mention that many parents of students receiving aid still have to take out loans to cover the parental contribution? Yeah, but these elite colleges are affordable! Here’s what Stanford says in response to an FAQ about people still not affording their contribution:
Many families choose to use the Federal PLUS Loan to help with educational costs. A PLUS loan allows your parents to borrow the amount of the parent contribution, and extends repayment of the loan over 10 years. As a student you may also borrow student loans through our office to help meet your expenses.
This question wouldn’t come up if Stanford’s aid package truly covered the cost of attendance. Does Stanford know it’s not giving out enough aid? Maybe that’s the idea. Maybe Stanford doesn’t care. Just curious.
Anyone who doesn’t think that these schools are of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich is just deluding himself. These schools merely accept their token poor kid to throw crumbs to the rest of us.
August 15th, 2010
An example of advertising:
Sure, people take lithium to treat bipolar disorder, but we don’t think that’s why people listen to the song.
August 14th, 2010
Recently, New Hampshire state representative Timothy Horrigan posted this on his Facebook page:
a dead Palin wd [sic] be even more dangerous than a live one…she is all about her myth & if she was dead, she cldn’t [sic] commit any more gaffes.
Now, this comes after another Democrat, Keith Halloran, made the following comment on his Facebook page:
Just wish Sarah and Levy [sic] were on board
Thursday, Fox News reported that Horrigan resigned. Keith Halloran apologized for his comment but did resign.
Grade: PASS (for taking responsibility and apologizing)
The following applies to both Democrats and Republicans: death wishes clearly have no place in politics. We’ve entered into a pretty sad era in our country’s history if we can’t discuss politics without without wishing our opponents were dead. We at The Giggle Test fear for the future of this country if this kind of viciousness continues. We may not want to live here in twenty years.
Of course, this isn’t the first time anything like this has happened. Abraham Lincoln, JFK, and Bobby Kennedy were all assassinated (although the latter was running for President and was not actually President). Let’s just hope that political violence doesn’t spill into the streets with average ordinary people doing the killing and dying.
August 11th, 2010
By now, you readers should know how The Giggle Test feels about raising taxes. We think it’s a bad idea to raise them in a recession, especially on the lower and middle classes. However, some of our country’s top leaders beg to differ. According to CNN Money, Alan Greenspan, David Stockman, and Paul O’Neill think we should let all the Bush tax cuts expire. Here’s some of the article said:
The White House and most Democrats have argued for keeping the tax cuts in place for most households, but letting them expire for those earning more than $250,000, about 2% of the country.
Extending the tax cuts for everyone would cost the government $3.7 trillion over 10 years. Taxing the high-earners would get back about $700 billion of that.
Grade: FAIL
Someone clearly didn’t do their math correctly. When the government raises taxes, people spend less money on goods and services because that money now has to go to the government. Raising taxes equates to taking money out of the economy. In a recession, money (from the people, not the government) needs to go into the economy to spur growth. There’s no way we’ll be able to get $3.7 trillion over the next ten years. We’ll give the majority of Democrats credit for this one – they understand that you can’t raise taxes on people who don’t have the money. Here’s more from the article:
David Stockman joins Greenspan at the far end, saying the nation can’t afford to extend the tax cuts now. “You have to pay your bills. I say we can’t afford the Bush tax cuts,” Stockman told NPR this weekend.
We’re curious about these comments. Are Greenspan and Stockman saying this because they have theirs and won’t have to worry about what letting the cuts expire will do to them? Alan Greenspan’s net worth (from AlanGreenspan.org) was roughly $4.2 million in 2008. We couldn’t find an official source for David Stockman’s net worth, but this blog says he’s worth over $100 million. It’s really easy to say that the lower and middle classes should pay for everything when you don’t have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck.
Greenspan and company should know better. At the very least, we need to keep the tax cuts on the lower and middle classes.
August 11th, 2010
Fox News had another article on pornography recently, this time focusing on how too much porn can trump your bedroom skills. The author of the article attempted to explain to women why men watch porn:
What women should know is that for many guys, porn is comparative to a day at the spa: It feels good and . . . → Read More: Excuses, Excuses …
August 8th, 2010
Video originally posted on CNN.
Was your mother a sex . . . → Read More: Sunday Giggle 8/8/2010
August 7th, 2010
This week, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett announced that they and 38 other billionaires are going to donate large portions of their fortunes to various charities. We tweeted about it this week, giving the billionaires a grade of PASS.
We were wrong to do so.
It’s nice to see the filthy rich do something for the little guy. . . . → Read More: We Were Wrong
August 3rd, 2010
The Hill had an interesting blog post today on the Republican Governor’s race in Colorado. Tom Tancredo, a “former” Republican, is running for governor on the Constitution Party ticket in Colorado. According to the blog,
Tancredo is a former supporter of McInnis, but said he decided to enter the race because he no longer views either . . . → Read More: It’s That Time of Year Again . . .
August 1st, 2010
It seems that our system of passes and fails hasn’t quite caught on with the Obama administration. On CBS Sunday Morning (this morning), Obama graded himself (if only we could have self-graded in elementary school):
You have Congressional elections coming up in just a couple of months, and whether you like it or not, this really ends . . . → Read More: Our Grade for Obama: FAIL, Duh
August 1st, 2010
What do you mean you don’t know who Snooki is!?
So apparently Snooki got arrested. We know, insane, right? Here’s what she said:
You can’t tell me what to do – I’m Snooki . . . Do you know who I am? I’m f—— Snooki. You can’t do this to me. I’m f—— Snooki. You guys are going . . . → Read More: Sunday Giggle 8/1/2010
July 31st, 2010
It’s that time of year again, folks, when students go back to school after lounging around all summer. And you know what that means, right? Spending more money on school supplies and clothes, so you or your student can be ready and hip on the first day of class.
Before you pull out your credit cards and . . . → Read More: Back to School Sales!
July 28th, 2010
The Citizens Against Government Waste (@GovWaste) has a new website out Spending Revolt.
They have a counter which shows the amount of money spent by the government since logging onto their site and some pretty good, although short articles.
The site is definitely worth checking out. For even more information, visit their Twitter. The dig up more stuff . . . → Read More: You Gotta Check This Out
July 27th, 2010
Fox News (via The Arizona Daily Star) is reporting that Elton John bashed entertainers who are boycotting Arizona over SB1070 during a recent concert there.
He apparently said the following:
“We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won’t come here. They are f***wits! Let’s face it: I . . . → Read More: Finally, Some Common Sense
July 26th, 2010
The New York Times featured an interesting post yesterday on the You’re the Boss Blog.
The author tried to find ways to boost morale at her business. The first she mentioned was honoring employees who exemplifiy the companies core values. Seems reasonable enough. . . . → Read More: Boss, You’re Fired!
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