"they get a quality education in lowell and it costs cheap"
proposals to raise student fees another $1500 at umass lowell have the local student body taking to the streets. (judging from the newspaper's choice of front page quotations, i'd say somebody there still has a sense of humor). it's also easy from it to conclude that the needs for our local affordable educational institution remain significant each and every day.
however, in preparing for my oldest's impending needs for tuition, fees, and room & board, and having reviewed the costs at the various educational choices at his disposal, i'm not sure if these kids really know what they're complaining about. put it off to a cranky old man bragging about the glories of a bygone era, but i put myself through four years at one of the most expensive private colleges in the northeast with a combination of scholarships, loans and year-round job income back in the day, and i can hardly look at what these kids are paying today and feel sorry. would i have chosen the same school today? no way. but i'd have felt like i had won the lottery if this is all i would have to pay for a solid college education. (umass lowell's physics and engineering departments are some of the more rigorous and will-respected around just for starters).
as a matter of fact, digging out my records from my senior year in 1982, i paid more then in un-inflation-adjusted dollars and cents than these umass lowell students are paying 27 years later with today's copious-like-snowflakes dollars, and earned less per hour than these kids can make at mcdonald's for just getting out of bed and showing up. oh, yes, i know indeed that it is very tough these days, and i don't mean to make light of that. my car cost me $500 and almost nothing to insure and gas up, for one thing, and rent and groceries and utilities were but a fraction of today's costs, too. not to mention that beer at the pub on wednesday nights (we could drink at 18 back then, too) started at fifty cents until ten o'clock, and then topped off at a buck til closing. so i know it's not apples to apples.
but, add it all up, and look at the money that doesn't exist in our state coffers to pay for things, and i'd say these kids still have it pretty good. yup, they're being asked to come up with another $30 a week for the privilege of their education, and it's going to hit some of them pretty hard. but, at today's costs for beer, we're talking about cutting back on relatively little to achieve it, and i'm sorry that i'm not feeling compelled to take to the streets with 'em, except to try to correct their grammar and punctuation, and admonish them to get back to class where they can continue to get more of what they lack.
nothing is more valuable than education. it shouldn't come as cheaply as its absence might be these days.
however, in preparing for my oldest's impending needs for tuition, fees, and room & board, and having reviewed the costs at the various educational choices at his disposal, i'm not sure if these kids really know what they're complaining about. put it off to a cranky old man bragging about the glories of a bygone era, but i put myself through four years at one of the most expensive private colleges in the northeast with a combination of scholarships, loans and year-round job income back in the day, and i can hardly look at what these kids are paying today and feel sorry. would i have chosen the same school today? no way. but i'd have felt like i had won the lottery if this is all i would have to pay for a solid college education. (umass lowell's physics and engineering departments are some of the more rigorous and will-respected around just for starters).
as a matter of fact, digging out my records from my senior year in 1982, i paid more then in un-inflation-adjusted dollars and cents than these umass lowell students are paying 27 years later with today's copious-like-snowflakes dollars, and earned less per hour than these kids can make at mcdonald's for just getting out of bed and showing up. oh, yes, i know indeed that it is very tough these days, and i don't mean to make light of that. my car cost me $500 and almost nothing to insure and gas up, for one thing, and rent and groceries and utilities were but a fraction of today's costs, too. not to mention that beer at the pub on wednesday nights (we could drink at 18 back then, too) started at fifty cents until ten o'clock, and then topped off at a buck til closing. so i know it's not apples to apples.
but, add it all up, and look at the money that doesn't exist in our state coffers to pay for things, and i'd say these kids still have it pretty good. yup, they're being asked to come up with another $30 a week for the privilege of their education, and it's going to hit some of them pretty hard. but, at today's costs for beer, we're talking about cutting back on relatively little to achieve it, and i'm sorry that i'm not feeling compelled to take to the streets with 'em, except to try to correct their grammar and punctuation, and admonish them to get back to class where they can continue to get more of what they lack.
nothing is more valuable than education. it shouldn't come as cheaply as its absence might be these days.
posted by kad barma at 12:10 PM
2 Comments:
I come at this from a different life experience. My education was "free," and I paid for it a nickle at a time through the time committed to the ROTC program. My thanks to the taxpayers.
However, my two brothers went to Cal State Long Beach and my Father used to bemoan the cost of their education--$100 a semester, each. He would say: "You call this a free education? It costs me $100 per kid per semester." They both have done very well with that education. And the nation has benefited from their dedication as Civil Servants.
Enrollment was open to pretty much everyone with a pulse. On the other hand, the end of first semester washout rate was 50%.
I think that system was one of the glories of California in the 50's, 60's and 70's. But, somehow it all seems to have been squandered.
Regards -- Cliff
I think we agree more than not.
To me, the "nickel at a time" (e-before-l ;-) is exactly the mechanism that inculcates the importance and value of the education into the one receiving it. (Or the $100, or the $1500 a year in fees, or what have you).
I believe wholeheartedly in the 50% washout rate, (it reflects the truth that students who won't/don't study won't/don't end up being educated anyway, so what use is a piece of paper confirming their attendance?) and I have no conscientious objection to it being just that little bit more difficult for someone to reach for the key to a brass ring, so to always remind them it's a precious and valuable thing.
At my so-called prestigious private college, the vast majority of students went there on Dad's nickel, and ended up learning next to nothing. Yet, they've been wielding that piece of paper over the heads of so many others better educated and better qualified for years, who worked their tails off to put themselves through affordable alternatives. When I hire, I actually put a premium on self-educated and self-financed educations, regardless of the institution. My group has always performed at the top of the company rankings, and I know it's because it doesn't have to carry the dead weight of all those paper tigers whose resumes aren't worth the paper they're printed on, Ivy or otherwise. (Some day I'll tell you the story about the ex-investment banker my boss once hired with the Oxbridge sheepskin, who didn't realize there were 100 basis points to the percentage point--I have no illusions as to why so many of our top banks are failing).
I am completely convinced the reason I am educated to the degree I am today, (no snarky comments from the peanut gallery, please), is because of what I had to do in the process of earning it. It has absolutely nothing to do with where I went to school, or what the final price happened to be.
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