Op-Ed comments

PART 1

• I was a first gen student in the late 80s, before anyone used that term, and I encountered many of the struggles that Enoch describes still happening today. There are enormous barriers around higher education for kids from lower income families. While we talk about being a meritocracy, we actually have a strongly-entrenched class system. Education can help one move between classes, and it can impede one from moving between classes. We need to do better. Thanks for helping your peers, Enoch. I will tell you that this is so tough, but it is helping you develop "code-switching" and coping skills which will help you greatly as you move forward in life.
• I grew up in a small town with parents who attended a little college, because their parents had some money, but neither graduated. However, this was in the 60s-70s, so you didn't really need a degree. Some college was pretty good and both had what would have been considered good middle class jobs in the 60s-70s. However, I grew up in the 80s-90s. We were always just barely in the middle class, and that was with some help from both sets of grandparents as I later found out. College was kind of assumed but never strongly pushed or looked at. I think my blue collar dad, who had the opportunity to go to community college when he was younger but didn't take it seriously, would have been fine had I decided not to go. It wasn't until my junior year that my parents realized that the world had changed and that college or trade school was basically mandatory for a middle class job. But, they had no money saved and as a white, 3.4 GPA kid who was only moderately good at athletics, with parents who made just above the poverty line, I had very limited options that I could see. I ended up joining the military, just for the college money. As much as I didn't really want to do it, I'm still glad I had the experience. I'm glad people are pushing for more options for college access for everyone.
• I was a highly recruited high school basketball player in 1979. The college coach told me to go into take my SAT and just sign my name. I did and was admitted to college. I went on to graduate 4 years later.
• This piece hits home and speaks some serious truth. My experiences were so similar, albeit in a rural area. I had absentee parents and lived with my grandparents, yet as my parents were still my legal guardians, I had to submit their financial information. They raged - how dare I disclose their personal information!  My chance of receiving any kind of aid was contingent upon their cooperation. Worse still, the “better” schools required information from divorced parents, under the philosophy that a divorce does not absolve their financial responsibility. What a great thought - except it’s entirely false for disadvantaged kids. Your parent absolved themselves of all responsibility your entire life, leaving you to raise yourself?  Too bad. Track them down, get them to disclose their financial information, then get penalized as they have never, will never, contribute one scent to you, let alone contribute to your education. With no support system, no one to turn to on how to navigate such complex systems, I felt so behind my peers every day.
• Difficulty, however real, is not the same as punishment.

PART 2

• This is the considered, real-world perspective our national conversation around higher education sorely needs. The communication degree is clearly working out for Enoch.
• That's classic USA, right there. The more you need help, the less help you get.
• It’s too bad we can’t work out a deal where people willing to pay a bribe to get their kids into a prestigious college instead if paying the bribe to some hack/greedy coach, pay for a needy student’s free ride.
• He's right. The FAFSA process is a train wreck.
• I hope that part of the solution is getting rid of the Betsy DeVos types and possibly getting people like yourself to be well supported by the Dept of Education as a consultant to high school students looking for some help. There is no reason that high school students should be bombarded by the many predators of our current educational system. I despair about getting FAFSA improved. You may recall that there was some talk about making tax returns easier.

PART 1 

These comments are good because of I knew something or I learned something when I read them. Also, these comments has own opinion for this Op-Ed. Some people gave self- experience to comment this issue, and the real experience fit on this topic.

PART 2

These comments are not very enough and detail. People just want to say something then wrote something.  Some are not very fit on this Op-Ed and very negative. When I read them, I feeling nothing or uncomfortable.