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QuestionAbound wrote:
So – my son was denied admission to BYU Provo.
Okay, that’s fine. He wasn’t totally on board with going there anyway, but it got me thinking…
BYU – Idaho accepts 99% of their applicants.
For my son, Idaho is his backup to his backup.
He has great test scores, quite a number of college credits already, great kid, etc. so there was no way he wouldn’t get in to Idaho, but this post isn’t about Idaho. I bring it up because one of the stipulations for Idaho becoming a 4-year school was that they needed to be as inclusive as possible…hence the low admission requirements and the track system.
We fund church schools with our tithing money (at least, in part).
So, we’ve (my family) been paying into these church schools all of our lives through tithing.
And now my son is denied admission to Provo.
And I am just not sure how I feel about that.
:think: Why can’t Provo be as inclusive as Idaho? I mean, it’s a church school, meant for church members, funded (in part) by church members (yes, even those who live in Zimbabwe), but not all church applicants are allowed in.
Why does this rub me the wrong way?
It really isn’t like he has been dreaming about Provo his whole life, it’s more like he applied as a “why not?” kind of deal, so I promise we aren’t heartbroken, but this tithing thing/admission thing is really bothering me.
The same thing happened with my daughter a few days ago as well and the same thoughts crossed my mind.
Hawk, I didn’t say no school can accept all students. Many are set up to do just that – like BYU-Idaho. What I said is BYU-Provo can’t do it. They simply can’t. I see the LDS Church trying to provide a college education to every member who wants one, with subsidized, absurdly cheap tuition as part of the foundation – and that is amazing to someone who works in the industry.
I apologize to everyone if I am a bit too blunt on this subject, but we can’t guarantee our kids get into selective schools – and BYU-Provo is a selective school. My daughter (who graduated from high school last spring) was a National Merit Finalist – and she made the Nevada All-State Choir all four years in high school (one of only TEN students state-wide who did so).
By every objective measurement, she was one of the top 1% of students in the country last year.She applied to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (and Vanderbilt). She was not admitted to any of them, despite her impeccable qualifications. She also had applied to Utah State University, since her sister’s attend USU and love it. She is there now and loving it. My tithing is helping other students attend church schools, even though NONE of my six kids will attend any of them. I am cool with that, since it makes me happy to help kids who couldn’t afford a college education otherwise get one.
For someone in the industry, what the Church does in the education arena is incredible. If almost ANYONE wants a degree from an LDS Church school, they can get it. In the future, “almost” might disappear. This is one area where I give HUGE kudos to the Church, even though my kids aren’t attending and won’t attend any of their schools.
I might just throw in here that I do believe Utah Valley University to be a viable alternative to BYU, even for nonresidents. UVU students are almost always in housing mixed with BYU students (and always wards mixed with BYU) and are able to participate in pretty much any BYU activity (including things like intramural sports) they wish as long as they are keeping the honor code (i.e. no beards). While not as “high” on the selectivity scale as BYU, the academic program is better than BYUI IMO. On the other hand, it’s still a “secular” university where there is more diversity (and no honor code). DarkJedi wrote:On the other hand, it’s still a “secular” university where there is more diversity (and no honor code).
This is not necessarily the other hand. For some, those are huge pros. Looking at it from an encourage-people-to-stay-active standpoint, those can still be huge pros. I know a number of people where BYU and it’s honor code were not insignificant factors in their journey out of the church.Just to add to Dark Jedi’s note – we also found that pretty much all Utah schools including SUU (Southern Utah University) do a western states reciprocal in-state tuition, so although the tuition is higher than BYU, it may be cheaper than your own state schools if you don’t live in Utah. Ray’s right–BYU has become more selective over time, but BYU does a good faith effort to be inclusive with online courses and the other two BYUs. Does anyone know what BYU benefit the children of mission presidents and general authorities get? That’s a pretty sizable group. Is the deal for BYU-P, or for whichever BYU school you qualify for? I’m not sure how sizable the group is, Ann. Most mission presidents I’ve known (or know of) don’t have children at home, although they might have some in college. I have it on good authority that the church pays tuition, etc. for children of MPs going tot any of the BYUs. I don;t know if they get preferential treatment on BYU admission (but I’m willing to bet they do). The church will also pay the $400/mo mission fee for a child of an MP on a mission.
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