Sept. 10, 2005 - 13:08 MDT

SAY WHAT ?

A confusing time for all I think, and the brass trying to think their way through things sometimes can't seem to understand much.

An article in Friday morning's Rocky Mountain News by Berny Morrison of that paper brings it to light I think. In full:

CU WON'T CUT RATES FOR EVACUEES

But unversity will offer aid to needy students who enroll

BOULDER --"College students fleeing Hurricane Katrina won't automatically pay in-state tuition if they enroll at the University of Colorado, President Hank Brown said Thursday."

"Hurricane victims from out-of-state will be charged the much higher nonresident rate, but CU will use financial aid to help offset the cost for needy students, Brown told the Board of Regents."

"If you have a student who's wealthy or could cover the cost on his own, you'd be less likely to offer help" Brown said after the regents meeting."

"Colorado State University announced Wednesday it would apply its in-state rate to all students displaced by the hurricane. In-state tuition at CSU is $3,381; it's out-of-state rate is $14,343."

"At CU-Boulder, in-state students pay $4,446, while out-of-state tuition starts at$21,900."

"Brown's comments came in response to a question from Regent Michael Carrigan who asked whether CU would follow CSU's example."

"Brown said in-state tuition doesn't cover the costs of instruction. The difference is made up by Colorado taxpayers and students from other states."

"If we take out-of-state students and give them in-state rates, we end up subsidizing out-of-state students," Brown said, "which is something Colorado citizens would have a problem with."

"Carrigan said later he agreed with Brown's reasoning."

"Some students from Gulf Coast states are able to afford the hefty tuitions at private colleges, he said."

"Still, CU should find enough financial aid to bring down tuition for students of modest means who were paying in-state rates at public colleges," Carrigan said."

"Their misfortune shouldn't result in a windfall for us," he said."

"All CU campuses had enrolled 177 students from the hurricane region by Thursday afternoon."

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Trying to figure out just what Mr. Brown is saying, or what he means by what he is saying.

Seems that Mr. Brown is making an assumption that the taxpayers would have a problem with help to victims of Katrina who wish to have a university education in a field they wish to pursue.

Is he saying that our state cannot afford the extra tax money it would take to handle the tuition of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina ? Of course in-state students get a lower tuition rate as our taxpayers put in the difference one way or another.

I would rather expect that the "rich kids" who can afford private college tuition will be going there instead of CU any how. So why was that mentioned, other than to smoke screen the situation ?

Subsidizing evacuees ? ? ? ? People who were lucky to be able to bring their driver's licenses and little else ? Some who came away in just the clothes on their bodies ? Some who would have no way to refer to records that are lost ?

I wonder just how much bloody red tape the victims will have to go through to get said "financial aid," and how many years they will have to pay it back into the "financial aid" system ? ? ?

So, perhaps Mr. Brown feels that the old dormitories at the former Lowry Air Force Base should be the nesting place for young people who are eager to learn and become professionals of one kind or another but can't afford the tuition ? And eventually go out to flip burgers with our needy here in our state.

Seems to me that perhaps rather than complicate things these folks who want to go to college should be given their tuition and housing as a part of the charitable effort to help folks who lost everything in Katrina. If put to the taxpayers in the right way maybe they would approve of that measure.

Language, words, thoughts and philosophies get all tangled up in this world now. Mr. Brown - - - - SAY WHAT ? . . . . . . . . . . . .

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