What a deal! “Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo announced today that tuition will be free for students of families with an annual income of $60,000 or less,” according to the L.A. Times.
Soka University, Aliso Viejo sits on a 103-acre site just 1 1/2 miles from the Pacific Ocean…if you are a bird. (It’s seven miles if you are driving.) The campus is surrounded on 80% of its border by Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, which is open for hiking, biking and horseback riding.
Founded on the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights and the sanctity of life, SUA is open to students of all beliefs and is committed to diversity in its academic community.
Here are a few more excerpts from the Times article:
The new tuition policy, which begins with the 2008-2009 academic year, applies to students in the bachelor of liberal arts program. Room and board fees will still apply.
Daniel Y. Habuki, president of the liberal arts school founded by Japanese Buddhists, said he hoped the offer would “open doors” for high school students who hadn’t considered attending a private university because of cost.
“Soka University is proud to be one of the few private colleges in California that has been able to offer this exceptional opportunity to outstanding students whose families might not otherwise be able to support their educational dreams,” Habuki said in a news release.
Tuition at Soka for the 2008-2009 academic year will be $23,434, and room and board is $9,000. About 80% of students receive some form of financial aid.
I found Soka’s “Mottos and Principles” on their website:
Mottos
- Be philosophers of a renaissance of life
- Be world citizens in solidarity for peace
- Be the pioneers of a global civilization
Principles
- Foster leaders of culture in the community
- Foster leaders of humanism in society
- Foster leaders of pacifism in the world
- Foster leaders for the creative coexistence of nature and humanity
I hope that Santa Ana students will take advantage of this fantastic offer from Soka. I have been on that campus more than once, for various meetings. It is a truly beautiful campus. One of their teachers, James Spady, used to live in Santa Ana and I had the pleasure of working with him on a committee formed by Santa Ana Councilmember Michele Martinez. If Spady is typical of the teachers there, I can assure you that students will learn a lot at Soka.
There was a similar story recently about Standford launcing a similar no tuition program for people from families in about the same income range. Seems the impetus is the IRS saying these non-profit institutions of higher education are jeopardizing their non-profit status by accumulating massive piles of funds that just sit there while they charge fairly hefty tuition. Thus some are trying to draw down their piles of funds by going this route- Not really driven by some kind of noble humanitarian philosophy, but by IRS threat!
I’m glad you wrote this up Art and I would love to think they want our Santa Ana students going to school there. Sounds like a super deal but why is it that I’m pretty sure the percentage of Latino students is now and will always be pretty darn low. This is a great deal if you can get it but I bet you don’t hear a whole lot of espanol being spoken at Soka. What’s Soka’s philosophy on the undocumented?
Poster 2,
I did find a story on the Soka site about a student who was able to visit Chile as part of his degree program. So yes there are some Spanish speakers there. This program should result in a few more headed over there. It should be a great boon to Santa Ana students.
Dear readers,
Harvard has about the same offer for low income families.
The question I bring forth is which school would you like to have on your resume?
cqt96,
When you consider how few Latinos have college degrees, any college would be better than nada.
I doubled my paycheck when I got my MBA.
“I bet you don’t hear a whole lot of espanol being spoken at Soka.”
And what it would be good for if it would be spoken?
The English is worldwide accepted as the universal language among the educated people. So do you want Santa Ana Latinos be exception to the world education?
Sadly most of our Santa Ana kids will be lucky if they get a degree from Bristol Tech, let alone a 4 year Uni…
Dear respondents,
I only posed that question because I was asked a similar question by one of my history teachers from SAHS. He asked me what school would look better to prospective employers, The University of La Verne or the UC school I had gotten accepted to? BTW, the only two schools I had applied to.
The choice was clear. I chose the UC school.
The purpose of my question was to exemplify that there were other choices available that are offering free tuition for low-income families. And, if given a choice, opt for the better opportunity.
Bristol Tech ain’t that bad either if you use it wisely. I took my first and only semester of Spanish AFTER I graduated from a UC school(I had taken French while @ SAHS). I can say it helped me tremendously by correcting most of my bad speaking habits and understanding the roots of speaking correct Spanish.
And #6, Spanish, I believe, is the second most spoken language in Europe and #1 in the Americas. Your ignorance seems to know no bounds.
I should remind you #7 that most of the successful entrepreneurs are in fact High School Dropouts. The MS Bill Gates, Apple Wozniak etc. are good examples.
The failure of Hispanics is not lack of an education. It is their cultural and religious believes.
Pedroza is good example of it.
Anon 7
Your a joke! I know plenty of Santa Ana natives that have degrees. I have B.S. in psychology and right now im working towards my M.S.W and hopefully in 2 years ill be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Many of us young professionals leave this city and raise a family else where. Since all of us SA natives know how hard it is to grow in this city with all the Gangs and how our schools fail us to teach us anything by putting us down and we would never amount to anything.
So there you go if your going to criticize these kids. Please learn your facts before you open your mouth.
Dear Robert,
Just because you seem to have managed to avoid the welfare rolls thus far does not mean the the majority of your Santa Ana compadres will! I give you an “A” grade for the Si Se Puede high self esteem part of your Santa Ana education though. Most of your homies will still end up washing my car and cutting my grass. Lo siento mucho!!! Signed, An old school Chicano.
Art and all,
Art, thank you for writing this. Man some of you readers are cynical, though. I teach at Soka, and I am active in Santa Ana grassroots politics. We are actively trying to recruit Santa Ana kids. Spanish is spoken everywhere here by students. Want to promote free college in the communty Art? I’ll connect you with the PR people to set up an interview for your blog if you want to do another article, one with content nobody will have, anywhere.
At Soka, I serve on the admissions committee and regularly advocate for it. I interviewed brilliant low-income students with John Palacio and other in the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund last year. I dearly wished we were in the game and could offer a chance to some of these youth. Soka University is an international school where about half of the students have come from abroad, many from Latin America. Three and only three languages outside English are taught here: Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese–because these are the major “Pacific Basin” languages. On admission, the university is private and not bound by laws that regulate citizenship the way state/community college are. If you want to read more, I suggest the more extensive wikipedia page on the school: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soka_University_of_America
In solidarity,
james