Contemporary Issues in Education Financial aid Caitlyn Angela

Standard #7: Planning for Instruction The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross- disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context. Preparing students for future academic planning beyond high school Challenging students to achieve higher success to gain acknowledgement through scholarships Utilizing school vouchers for schools tailored for students needs

Background Information  Financial aid is a huge part of being in college and many of the students can’t attend college without the financial aid help.  FASTA is the main resource of receiving the help that students that need it.  Federal Student aid has been a provider to us since 1965, they have provided $150 billion in federal grants, loans, and work-study funds each year.  The people that receive financial aid are non-us citizen, students with criminal convictions and the students with disabilities.  The voucher program is administered by the Indiana Department of Education. It was enacted in May of 2011 to make private schools affordable for low and middle class incomes. It saves Indiana money each year.

Pro School Vouchers  School vouchers gives parents the choice for their children.  School vouchers stops paying twice, once in tuition costs and again in tax dollars.  School vouchers meets the child’s unique needs more effectively  School voucher systems promote competition between local schools. In theory will raise the bar on the standard of education in all schools  School vouchers offer the students the opportunity for a chance to gain a better education in areas with poorly performing schools.

Con School Vouchers  School vouchers in theory take money away from the public schools. Vouchers do not benefit all students, since private schools still have the ability to pick and choose which students attend and could discriminate against certain students if they so choose.  School vouchers allow the use of tax dollars to pay for private schools that promote a particular faith is a contradiction of the constitutional idea of separation of church and state.  School vouchers leave some parents actually paying more out of pocket expenses for a lesser degree of education than they would get from a public school.  School vouchers may take the best students away from public schools hurting the standardized testing overall scores.

Pros of Financial Aid  The pros of financial aid is that it is free money and most of the time you work really hard to receive that money.  You don’t have to struggle on finding money to achieve your goals.  Scholarships are always out there and all you have to do is fill out your information and meet the standards for the scholarships and you will receive the money.  They have many types of financial aid like Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Federal TEACH Program, and FASFA

Cons of Financial Aid  The government bases your financial aid money off your parents income even though they are not the ones paying for the college.  Students think that loans they have a lifetime affect which most do, but sometimes they don’t give you the full information so you will have to end up paying them back in full and even all the fees that are applied.  A lot of the online scholarship, loan and grants websites are by scammers.  Students that receive financial aid take advantage of the program.  You have to fill out long applications and sometimes you even have to pay to fill the information out.  Some loans you have to start paying monthly right then and there.  The loans have hidden fees that are not applied until finishing your college degree

School Vouchers

Open-Ended Discussion about Financial Aid  How many of you receive financial aid from the government?  How many of you spent hours filling out applications for scholarships and did not receive any money in return?  Your thought about financial aid and scholarships?

References    School voucher photo  