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'FreeCollege' Programs May Not Help Neediest StudentsThe ideaof free higher education is not a new one in some parts of the world. But the idea has only recently increased in popularity in theUnited States as the cost of attending colleges and universities in the countryhas risen greatly. In the last few years, several states have either launched orproposed programs offering very low to no cost higher education. However, twonew studies suggest these programs are failing to serve the people who needthem the most: people with little money. Two programs that have recently received the most attentionoperate in New York and Tennessee. In 2014, Tennessee governor Bill Haslamcreated the Tennessee Promise program. This program covers tuition costsfor anyone in the state who wants to attend one of Tennessee's two-yearcommunity colleges. New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of asimilar program in his state, called the Excelsior Scholarship in 2017. It aimsto cover the tuition at public institutions for residents whose yearlyhousehold income is below a given amount.That amount started at $100,000 in 2017. In 2019, New Yorkers with yearlyhousehold incomes below $125,000 can apply forthe program. Yet recent reports from two higher education research groupsshow serious problems with the design of such programs. Researchers with the Institute for Higher Education Policycentered their study on the New York and Tennessee programs. The two programsare both need-based forms of financial aid. That means the less money studentshave, the more money they get. But the institute's study found that the twoprograms share a quality researchers says harms low-income students. Theprograms are both designed to be forms of financial aid known as "lastdollar."
计时2 (266 words) Lastdollar programs cover the remaining tuition costs students face after they havepaid what they can or made use of any other forms of financial aid. But, lastdollar programs do not consider the difference in need between students of differentincome levels, says Mamie Voight. She is the vice president of policy researchat the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Voight notes that many low-income college students in the U.S.make use of other need-based aid programs, like the federal Pell grant program.And New York and Tennessee's last dollar programs do not separate the amount ofother aid a student is receiving from the money they already have. So low-income New Yorkers or Tennesseans may appear to have moremoney than they actually do when they seek additional assistance from theirstate, Voight says. And a wealthier student will get more aid because theyappear to have greater remaining costs. For example, Voight's study found that before the TennesseePromise program launched, the state's lowest income students had, on average,over $7,000 in unmet need. And since the program's launch, that need has stillnot been met. Meanwhile, students with more money have been receiving onaverage, about $1,500 from the program. Voightsays the problem is that poorer students have to use the Pell grants and other"first dollar" aid to cover just the costs of tuition. But fees andadditional costs to higher education are not included in tuition. And the smallamounts of aid the Tennessee Promise program gives to low income students dolittle to help cover those expenses.
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"Theystill ... need to pay for things like books and supplies ... housing andfood," Voight told VOA. "And these free college programs, at least inTennessee and New York, don't do anything to support low-income students inpaying for those other college costs." Voight would like to see these programs become "firstdollar" aid. This means the states would cover as much of the tuition asstudents need based on their actual income level. Then low-income studentscould use federal and other forms of aid to cover the extra costs. However, Mike Krause argues it is unreasonable to expect statesto change in the way Voight suggests they should. Krause is the executivedirector of the Tennessee Higher Education Committee. He notes states such as his have limited financial resources andcannot offer the amounts of money federal and other aid programs can. Yet thatdoes not mean the programs do not serve a greater purpose. He says that for years, many Tennesseans have not seen highereducation as a possibility because of the high costs. But once the message of"free college" began to spread in the state, many people beganreconsidering this belief, even if some costs are still involved. "States have to operate within ... reality," Krausesaid. "So to just tell every single student, ‘You have a full scholarship'tomorrow, probably isn't possible. But ... if we get into, ‘In Tennessee,college is free, except for in the following circumstances...'the risk there is that you water down the message tostudents." The results of the Tennessee Promise program's message areclear, says Krause. The state reports that its rate of students entering intohigher education has increased by almost 10 percent since the program started.
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Also,Krause notes that the Tennessee Promise offers aid only for tuition atcommunity colleges, which higher income students usually do not attend. And8,000 of the Tennesseans who began studying in the time the program has beenoperating received Pell grants. This suggest that students with financial needare entering into higher education. Still, the problem is not limited to how much financialassistance these programs are providing, says Katie Berger. She is apolicy expert with the research group the Education Trust, which released itsown study of 31 "free college" programs and proposals. The study measured how well each of the 31 programs andproposals served low income students based on eight different qualities. Thestudy's findings showed that the programs and proposals made the ways in whichstudents receive their benefits needlessly complex or limiting. For example, by limiting the program to community colleges, theTennessee Promise program limits the choices available to students. Andcommunity colleges do not always have the same supports and resources availablefor students as four-year schools, Berger says. Anotherquality the Education Trust looked at was whether the aid these programs offerwould be considered a loan that students had to repay. This is the case forstudents receiving New York's Excelsior Scholarship if they leave the statewithin two to four years of completing their studies. Berger notes special rules like these do not consider the needsof low-income students first. So, she says, the "free college"programs are working against themselves. "A free college program can serve as a powerful messagingtool, telling students that ‘college is available to you,'" she said."However, the benefit of telling a low-incomestudent that they can afford college is ... undercut ifyou don't actually make it affordable."
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NewTechnology Provides Early Warning for Heart AttacksResearcherssay they have developed technology that could predict heart attacks yearsbefore they happen. The researchers report using mathematical algorithms toexamine computed tomography, or CT, images of a patient's heart. A CT scan usesX-rays and a computer to make detailed pictures of bones, organs and othertissue inside the body. The new method was developed by researchers at the Universityof Oxford in England. A report on their study was published in the medicaljournal The Lancet. Also taking part in the study were teams fromFriedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany, and the ClevelandClinic in the United States. Mostheart attacks result from a build-up of fatty tissue inside arteries thatcarry blood from the heart to other areas of the body. Too much buildup canblock this flow of blood and cause a heart attack. Currently, doctors use CT scans to learn when a sticky substancecalled plaque has already built up inside an artery. The new technology isdesigned to predict which arteries are at risk for future buildup. Theresearchers reported usingcomputer algorithms to examine CT scans to measure how much fat is presentaround heart arteries. That fat changes when an artery becomes inflamed,serving as an early warning system for heart attacks. Charalambos Antoniades isa professor of cardiovascular medicine at Oxford University. He told theReuters news agency he believes the research shows this method could be veryeffective in getting patients to take early steps to prevent future problems. "Say your arteries are inflamed and a narrowing willbe developed five years down the line. So maybe you can start preventivemeasures to avoid this formation of plaques," he said.
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