Mary Braselton
Director, Associate of Arts in Teaching Program
Midland College
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been troubling me for a while now. In the beginning of the demonstrations, I heard that a few demonstrators were angry because they had such exorbitant school loans to repay at the end of their university educations and didn't have jobs. Then the media gave some exorbitant dollar amounts of college costs of unnamed institutions located mostly in the eastern states. Since it seems no one can do anything about unemployment, this article is about college debt.
At the onset of the occupy movement, it occurred to me that if those students don't like enormous debt why don't they attend Midland College? Not only does MC provide a quality education at minimal cost, students who do depend on loans can graduate with minimal loan repayment obligations.
The proof of those statements is in concrete data found on the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) website (accessed Dec. 1). Midland College costs are compared to state averages, and they are on par. At Midland College, tuition and fees are $864 for 72 credit hours; statewide it's $868. (Source: www.tacc.org )
Harvard University in comparison, lists the cost for attending their school for one year at $56,000 to $60,200, plus the cost of required health insurance -- which is $1,834 unless the student's family policy is in effect.
That comparative example demonstrates the need for families to inform themselves about the enormous differences in college costs by comparing apples to apples. The breakdown of scholastic credit hour at Harvard comes to approximately $1,000 more per credit hour than MC. While credit hours are the same whether at a community college or a university, parents must decide whether the quality of an Ivy League education translates into that much more graduation collateral. Those occupying Wall Street seem to think so, except they do not have jobs.
Back to incurring college debt. When a family discusses the cost of a college education, apples must be compared to apples. Go to the source to get understanding of what any college's fees represent; do not believe everything you read on the Internet, and do not be afraid to ask questions. Many websites provide charts with inaccurate costs; for example, one chart I researched shows higher dorm fees at MC, while Howard College fees for room and board are quite low. Not apples. MC's dorms are new and still have bonds out while the 50-year-old dorms at Howard have long since been paid for.
Today's dorms reflect the relative affluence today's students have grown up with. A few years ago, universities created recruitment plans to upgrade dorms to residences to satisfy students who do not want to share bathrooms or rooms with other students. Residences connote a homey living environment, which translates into high cost. Now, colleges build apartments (Odessa College; Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi) to accommodate the desires of the current student -- meeting the market demand. Upgrades cost money, which students' parents will pay or which students will undertake loans to pay for. Let me hasten to add that I would not wish a few of my dorm rooms on anyone -- namely the 1932 Doak Hall at Texas Tech University.
The actual amount of money a student contributes toward his/her own education provides a surprising statistic. In 1994, during a Finance of Higher Education course, I learned that the actual money a student contributed toward his college education was 16 percent. Today, some 17 years later, most Texas students contribute 29 percent toward the total cost of their higher education. Hold on though -- because of the generosity of so many folks in this town and outside sources, MC students pay approximately 20 percent of the cost of their education. Hard to believe, but true. MC is not running with the pack.
Now I understand that there is some mythological (OK, not entirely) view out there that a degree from an Ivy League school is superior to a local education (the term is value-added to account for the boost one may get from having a prestigious degree) but think about it. One can go to a community college for a fraction of the cost of a big university, then transfer to a big school and graduate with most folks being none the wiser. Students alsocan CLEP out of all those subjects aced in high school and get college credit for a fraction of the cost of tuition.
Oddly, the television remote may indicate that a community college education is equal to an eastern education. Recently, a Ph.D. engineer from MIT who was interviewed on CNBC said he wasn't smart enough to read the engineering language necessary to program his remote for his television. So there you have it -- the great educational equalizer: the television remote.
Finally, the truth is that college is a culture all its own. It always has been, and it takes time for most youngsters to adjust to the new freedom and its corollary: responsibility. Additionally, it takes time to adjust to college advising, to figure out the college catalog, to master time and money management and to write something more than a five-paragraph essay. Some students do not succeed at first. As a former associate director for Admissions at West Texas A&M University and as a professor for 20 years, I see (and have seen) many transcripts of students who have wasted several semesters of time and money just learning the college culture of responsibility. Those students invariably were and are embarrassed by their non-achievement, but my response to those failures is encouragement to get it right in the do-over. Meanwhile, college debt is piling up.
The serious part of this article is really about getting a reality check about debt and education. It is true that college costs have gone up, so maybe it is time to rethink educational goals that are in line with the economic reality of education in 2011. Homework is involved. So the message is simply this: plan for college by comparing costs (apples to apples) of housing, of tuition and fees. Seriously consider CLEPping hours and start thinking positively about the benefits of transferring from a student-friendly college to a bigger institution.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I heard this funny bit of wisdom. "A man was calmly holding his cat in his lap and stroking it from the tail forward toward his head. A visitor noted that the cat would be happier if the man stroked the cat from its head to its tail -- the way the fur naturally grows. The man continued stroking the cat back to front and said, 'If the cat doesn't like it, he can turn around,'"
If you don't want the debt, be smart; join the 13 million students already in community colleges nationwide. Occupy a desk at Midland College, your college.
This column first appeared in the December 12, 2011 edition of the Midland Reporter-Telegram, and appears here, in its entirety, with the MRT's permission.
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