This story is a damn share. In yesterday’s New York Times there was an article that talked about a tough decision that Reed College needed to make regarding its incoming Freshman class. Frankly, it’s a decision that I fundamentally disagree with for personal reasons, but completely understand in a professional sense. As best described in the article:

Money was the problem. Too many of the [Freshman] students needed financial aid, and the college did not have enough. So the director of financial aid gave the team another task: drop more than 100 needy students before sending out acceptances, and substitute those who could pay full freight.

The whole idea of excluding a student simply because of money clashed with the college’s ideals, Leslie Limper, the aid director, acknowledged. “None of us are very happy,” she said, adding that Reed did not strike anyone from its list last year and that never before had it needed to weed out so many worthy students. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m still doing this.”

What a shame, huh? Not only do you have a cohort of young students that are literally losing their shot at going to this particular college, but I think this story is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the effects that the economy will have on college campuses.

This is something that I’m going to keep an eye on for personal interest, but if you have college-age children or soon-to-be college-age children (or if you’re a college student or soon-to-be college student), I would suggest keeping an eye on these types of developments. The education industry may present a very real, very scary, cold slap of class warfare on the lower and middle classes…and soon.