[CTcard]

From the press release: "Other gifts provided support for student financial aid. In June 2017, 82 percent of undergraduate students graduated with zero student loan debt. Of the remaining students who did take out loans, the median amount of debt was $13,000 – less than half the national average. "

It misleads me into believing that 82% of all student educations are paid for by financial aid gifts, or that students have small student loans, when in point of fact, middle class parents borrow an inordinate amount of money to pay for these educations.

[quote author=g1313 link=topic=18685.msg223316#msg223316 date=1517989610]
What is it misleading you into believing?

[quote author=Mick link=topic=18685.msg223304#msg223304 date=1517968991]
[quote author=JustAnotherFan link=topic=18685.msg223234#msg223234 date=1517935883]
Isn't that 82% number pretty misleading? Many of them are from affluent families who covered the full cost of attendance, as opposed to benefiting from a financial aid system that is one of the most generous in the nation to those of lesser means.

The other reason it's misleading is that while the students may not graduate with debt, their parents certainly do.
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I agree there is at least a slight misleading nature to an implication that donations that end up as financial aid create the 82% who graduate without debt. Obviously, financial aid is a significant part of that, but as others have noted, wealthy families not needing loans is also a part.

On who gets the loans, I don't think the release is overly misleading; at least taken at face value.
It is true that they are probably talking about students with official student loans of one type or another, which Stanford has to verify that they are students and thus has the relevant information. If parents are getting loans on their own through other means, Stanford has no way of tracking that.

But they do seem to be giving the median of those with loans, not the median of all students (which presumably would be zero). And they are comparing to national figures which track the same information. So, it would seem to be an appropriate comparison.

From what I remember, that would seem to be a far larger percentage of students without loans than when I was there - and a far lower median loan size (adjusted for inflation). Though it may be that I tended to hang out with plebeians.

[CTcard]

From the press release: "Other gifts provided support for student financial aid. In June 2017, 82 percent of undergraduate students graduated with zero student loan debt. Of the remaining students who did take out loans, the median amount of debt was $13,000 – less than half the national average. "

It misleads me into believing that 82% of all student educations are paid for by financial aid gifts, or that students have small student loans, when in point of fact, middle class parents borrow an inordinate amount of money to pay for these educations.

[quote author=g1313 link=topic=18685.msg223316#msg223316 date=1517989610]
What is it misleading you into believing?

[quote author=Mick link=topic=18685.msg223304#msg223304 date=1517968991]
[quote author=JustAnotherFan link=topic=18685.msg223234#msg223234 date=1517935883]
Isn't that 82% number pretty misleading? Many of them are from affluent families who covered the full cost of attendance, as opposed to benefiting from a financial aid system that is one of the most generous in the nation to those of lesser means.

The other reason it's misleading is that while the students may not graduate with debt, their parents certainly do.
[/quote]
[/quote]
[/quote]

I agree there is at least a slight misleading nature to an implication that donations that end up as financial aid create the 82% who graduate without debt. Obviously, financial aid is a significant part of that, but as others have noted, wealthy families not needing loans is also a part.

On who gets the loans, I don't think the release is overly misleading; at least taken at face value.
It is true that they are probably talking about students with official student loans of one type or another, which Stanford has to verify that they are students and thus has the relevant information. If parents are getting loans on their own through other means, Stanford has no way of tracking that.

But they do seem to be giving the median of those with loans, not the median of all students (which presumably would be zero). And they are comparing to national figures which track the same information. So, it would seem to be an appropriate comparison.

From what I remember, that would seem to be a far larger percentage of students without loans than when I was there - and a far lower median loan size (adjusted for inflation). Though it may be that I tended to hang out with plebeians.