Universal Pre-School

I always thought I was for universal preschool.  Being stuck in the middle-class (2 teacher incomes) in a city with a high low-income population, you tend to notice that there is not much difference in the lifestyles.  The main difference as I saw it was that I had to pay for everything I had and if the money wasn't there, we did without.   When I stopped teaching to care for my 2 children everything was tough.  My husband took on an extra coaching assignment which put us over the income requirements to qualify for CHIP by $200 per year.  Instead we struggled to pay the $500 a month cost of health insurance.  The lesson?  Hard work doesn't always pay off.  As I saw it, it's just not fair.   Why can't my children have go to preschool for free?  Why are they at a disadvantage?  The answer:  Because life isn't fair and they are not at a disadvantage.  

They have educated parents who will do what it takes for them to succeed.    We have access to libraries and computers and knowledge that has allowed me to not only make money from home, but also to provide my children with a preschool of my choosing.  I get to choose the philosophy and methodology that best suits my family.  If I started at the school and later realized that it didn't live up to my expectations, I have the option of moving my child without a long, political process filled with meetings and endless paperwork.  And, while I have not yet felt the pressure to put my youngest (3 yrs. old) in preschool, I suspect that would change if preschool were open to everyone.  Do you remember when kindergarten was half day and consisted of playdough, dress-up time, story- time and singing?  I worry that the panic over our education problems is coming to drilling our babies and taking time away from what is important in being a child.  I haven't done the research but I am willing to bet that we are not behind the rest of the world by age 3!  

So, I finally had an epiphany.  I am against universal preschool!  

My Baby can go to Harvard! (And yours can too!)

I am so excited!  My son (8 yrs. old) had told me that he wanted to go to Harvard.  At first I thought, wow what an awesome goal!  Then, reality hit me like a tether ball in the face.  The average cost for Harvard is $45,000 per year!  You don't want to discourage your children from a dream like that but there is absolutely no way that we, as teachers, could ever afford to send our 3 children to a school like Harvard...until now!  

I just learned that Harvard has what they call a "middle income initiative".   The deal is that Harvard will charge 10% of household income for tuition for students whose families earn between $120,000 and $180,000.  This means that instead of paying the normal $45,600, you would only pay $12,000 to $18,000.  This is still a stretch for 2 teachers, and we may be left eating beans for 4 years, but it is doable!  

Harvard will also give grants (not loans) in financial aid packages that don't count equity in a home so that parents won't be forced to sell or borrow against their homes to send their children to the prestigious university.

What's even better?  If you make under $60,000 your child can go to Harvard without any contribution from you!  And, an income of between $60,000 to $80,000 will yield you significant discounts.  

Knowing this, I no longer get that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when my son talks about going to the Ivy league school.  I feel confident that if he does the work to get in, then the option is open to him.  What a fantastic country this is!  Now, if he says he wants to go to Harvard and get a degree in "Underwater basket weaving"....we need to talk!