College Matters

One of the most poignant discoveries I made during my year of AmeriCorps service is the concept of poverty extending far beyond racial divisions. Prior to my year of service, I lived in Lubbock, Texas, the epitome of racially defined income class constructs. With few - if any! - exceptions, all of the African-American residents live on one side of town - the poor side. The houses are falling apart, streets are all cracked and strewn with potholes, and the drainage is so terrible that every time it rains the entire side of the town reeks. Caucasian residents live on the other side of town - the affluent side. There are certainly different degrees of affluence, but without exception, that side of Lubbock consists of middle class and up. Nothing below. The college, Texas Tech, echoes this division in a way; if you see a person of color on the Texas Tech campus, you can almost guarantee that he or she is either a) an athlete or b) from another country.

The first six months I lived in Lubbock, I was completely confused. I moved to Lubbock from Huntsville, Texas, a prison town that is extremely diverse in both population and income class distribution. Huntsville has the interesting distinction of being both a college town and a prison town, so the two major employers are the Texas State Prison System and Sam Houston State University. Employees for both come in all colors, and they live next door to one another. I arrived in Lubbock, and during that first six months I didn’t see an African American, at all. It was bizarre. I thought that perhaps the town entirely consisted of Caucasians with a few Hispanic-Americans. Then, one day, I got lost, and ended up on the east side of Lubbock. Lo and behold, I discovered a different color palette…and discovered a lot of poverty.

After living in Lubbock for six years, my mind had unhappily adjusted to the notion of poverty being inextricably linked to race. I had certainly known both poor and rich people of all colors, growing up in Houston, but I began to think that this was only the case in the urban environment.

Then I moved to Belfast, Maine. Belfast, the county seat of Waldo County, is a small community, with about 6,000 year round residents. During tourism season we have more than that, but no one pays any attention to the tourists. Belfast just pays attention to their money! Belfast’s population is predominantly Caucasian, as is most of Maine. Even Portland, the biggest city, has little racial diversity. My college roommate, Shamyra Pope, would jokingly generalize that it’s because African Americans aren’t crazy enough to live somewhere as cold as Maine. Generally in Belfast when you meet a person of color, he or she was adopted into a Caucasian family as an infant.

Waldo County happens to have quite a bit of poverty, too. Obviously it has nothing to do with race; in fact, adopted kids of all colors often come from wealthier families, because it takes quite a bit of financial chutzpah to adopt an infant in the first place. Waldo County, despite the tourism industry, remains an overwhelmingly impoverished rural county. There are people who live in this county that have no running water. Granted, that’s exceptional, but it does exist. Other examples of poverty are much more widespread. Some people have gas heating but can’t afford the gas. Living in a place where temperatures falls significantly below zero degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, that’s a problem. Another example: many, many children are on the free-lunch program at school, and that’s often the best or only meal they get per day. The Game Loft, where I served as a VISTA (and where I continue to volunteer) aims to change that, offering all children who walk through the door a full and nutritious meal. This is essential in the summer, while school is not in session.

This has all drastically altered the face of poverty for me; it has been truly transformational. In light of this eye-opening experience, I’d like to post the following advice, dealing with racism - it’s reminiscent of things I saw in high school, in Houston. A person from Nigeria attends school in the U.S., and is accused of being a “traitor” by other African American students, because this person has Caucasian friends.

Check out the latest post, about a senior in high school stuck on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. What do you think? Should he pursue the military, game design, or should he rethink altogether?

A friend on twitter posed an interesting question in response to the discussion of minority scholarships. Read the original advice, to the white kid that thinks minority scholarships are racist, here. My twitter friend wonders what people like this student think of disability scholarships. That gave me food for some deep thought, and I went back to some writing I did six months ago, which is integrated into this entry.

Disability scholarships are designed with the same thought in mind as minority scholarships: they are all intended to assist some of the underprivileged yet deserving individuals in their quests for higher education. However, in the same way some admissions policies have made a mockery of these efforts by lowering the standards for ethnic minorities, the office of disability services (every campus has something of the sort) has succeeded in assisting with the dumbing-down of American campuses.

Gasp! Politically incorrect, you say? How can I be so calloused and insensitive? Where do I get off? Here’s where, people: I’m an epileptic. I have grand mal seizures if I don’t get enough sleep, don’t take my medication properly, or take any of a number of other substances, like over-the-counter decongestants, alcohol, or any kind of stimulant, legal or otherwise. When I have a seizure, I’m pretty much worthless for an entire day afterward. I can barely speak or move, and everything is really foggy.

So, as a college student, this certainly provided some difficulty not experienced by all students. For one thing, I didn’t know about the decongestant issue until I was about halfway through college, when a campus doctor finally thought it would be a good idea to explain that to me. I’ve never been a big drinker – wine was always allowed in my house growing up and as such alcohol never held any sort of magical allure – but I was the queen of caffeine, a staple for surviving all-night study sessions. And caffeine, my friends, is a stimulant – and my favorite of the caffeinated poison, espresso, is an especially potent stimulant.

Procrastination led to all-nighters; all-nighters led to caffeine; caffeine led to seizures; seizures led to absences. Most professors at my university had absence policies. So, what did I do? The smart thing, avoid procrastination, perhaps? No, of course not. A professor kindly suggested I seek accommodations from the office of disability services in order to get attendance policies waived altogether for me as a student. Wow.

In light of that, I suppose it’s amazing I graduated at all, and in particular with a “B” average. Attendance policies are indeed juvenile, but suddenly having absolutely no requirement to show up to classes was further incentive for procrastination. Truthfully, I learn better from reading and writing than from auditory instruction, anyway – but most people don’t.

My point is, I didn’t really need disability services. I simply needed to grow up and accommodate my own disability by doing a little adult planning. Instead, I received well-intentioned babying – great for students who need to learn responsibility! And now, beyond epilepsy, we have the ADHD and ADD phenomenon. Every parent who has a kid who wants to act like a kid rather than a miniature adult seems to think the “answer” to this “problem” is to drag the kid off to a psychiatrist and dope them up. So they go through school thinking they have an excuse to be idiotic, and they don’t get to have those crucial years of irresponsible kid-dom – involving, goodness, actual playing – so they get to college and don’t know what to do with themselves. They go to disability services, get everything handed to them on silver platters, and, even worse, they have this effect on the kids around them. Entitlement complexes, when fed, breed personal laziness as well as resentment from one’s peers. Resentment furthers poor performance in college.

A commenter who works in admissions on campus supports minority scholarships but doesn’t agree with providing lower standards for minority applicants. I agree, and I would be insulted if I belonged to an ethnic minority and had standards lowered for me. It would make me feel like someone thought I was inferior. And I don’t think disability services should be viewed any differently. It’s there to provide an even platform. EVEN, not greater than.

Maybe as an epileptic I deserved the disability scholarships I got. Certainly some truly physically disabled students deserve them, just as underprivileged minorities deserve special scholarships. But disability services have not worked out as intended. Thanks to pseudo-psychiatry and the American dream (of not having to take responsibility for individual actions!) these services are making a mockery of so-called “higher” education.

It’s springtime, and scholarship deadlines are in the air, which means that resentment and despair prosper as much as hope and idealism. Everyone’s a victim, and everyone thinks they’re more deserving of scholarship money than the next guy. Many students who fill out scholarship applications do so with a misplaced sense of entitlement. They forget that scholarship awards are gifts, and the giver and/or his or her chosen committee have the right to determine the characteristics of the recipient.

A student complained that the scholarship opportunities for minorities, in their abundance, constitute racism against white Americans. There aren’t any scholarships allocated for only white American students, and some white Americans express outrage at this discrepancy. This outrage is at best misguided and at worst willful ignorance.

Consider some statistics in regard to race and poverty in this country. Only 8% of whites live at or below the poverty level. Over 20% of African-Americans live in poverty, with approximately the same percentage of Hispanics. Look at the Native American community and the percentage surpasses 25%.

But, you say, since there is poverty in every ethnic group, shouldn’t scholarships evaluate candidates upon individual circumstances (along with GPA and other criteria)? Poverty, in numbers, can be easily manufactured on federal financial aid forms, especially by the educated. The truly impoverished in this country often lack the education necessary for such manipulation. Public schools in lower-income neighborhoods are underfunded and the teachers are overworked. Children grow up in fatherless homes. These children did not ask to be born into these circumstances and deserve a level playing field. Most of them are American minorities. Minority-specific scholarships offer the steps for gaining access to that playing field.

College is expensive. It’s rate of price increase exceeds general inflation so exponentially it’s disgusting. While colleges across the nation tout their devotion to diversity and education, it seems that instead their focus lies in profit. That’s fine, I’m a capitalist, but I am continually disturbed by this effort of higher education to perpetuate an image of lofty idealism. It’s tantamount to that used car salesman telling you he wants to sell you the old beater because he has your best interests in mind…which is to say, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

So, costs continue to rise, and the latest suggestion by some lovely university admin was to lessen the course hours required by a degree to “combat costs”. I’ve mentioned before that I’m appalled by this notion; it further reduces the value of the actual learning that you’re supposed to gain in college. How about they stop paying university administration triple digit salaries? Maybe cut down on the modern art fund - or at least limit the budget to attractive pieces of work rather than spending gazillions on deep and meaningful eyesores?

Regardless, funding is a problem, and I’m receiving indications that it is in some ways the worst for middle-class America’s students. Many of these students have grown up sheltered from financial woes, and thus, it doesn’t occur to some that they may be responsible for seeking their own funding for college, until it’s pretty late in the game, as with the student that just wrote to me. Perhaps her parents wanted to shield her from financial realities? Or perhaps they didn’t know how much college costs have escalated in the past 15 years. It makes the fluctuations in gas prices look microscopic. I referred her to both FAFSA and a new site I’ve discovered, Funding-College, a fantastic resource.

How many people go to college with a concrete plan or career path in mind? How many more change that path numerous times, all while paying for classes?

Well-meaning guidance counselors and advisors often encourage incoming freshmen to experiment with various coursework and find a “passion” before choosing a major. However, students taking 12-18 hours of core curriculum college classes are hardly in a position to rationally analyze their “passions” and choose corresponding career paths. Instead, such a course load encourages students to find the easiest path - which is usually far from the best path - either in terms of finding a career to be passionate about or in terms of financial gain.

An enterprising and forward thinking high school senior wrote to me amidst choosing a university, trying to determine the most “efficient” degree plan with the greatest marketability. While I would never advise someone to pursue a mathematics degree if he or she is terrible at math, I think this student is on the right track by considering other criteria beyond what comes easy. So many people choose a degree plan in the second year of college, settling for the easiest and least stressful path - and then wonder why they end up in low-paying jobs with little or nothing to do with the chosen degrees.

If you’re still in the process of figuring out what you want to do with your life, I vote for taking classes on a part time basis and actually getting a job that doesn’t require a degree in the meantime. It gives you the time to learn about different types of careers in the world around you while also giving you the chance to learn responsible money management - something that eludes most college graduates.

Update: I’ve just received an article, from eCampusTours, that discusses this very subject, and it’s very helpful. Check it out!

I received a letter from a student about university library fines. Initially, perhaps this seems like a relatively trivial issue; however, when a student has lost books, fines multiply rapidly. It’s not unusual for a university library to charge upwards of $200 for a lost book. On first glance, that seems excessive. Appearances are deceiving.

My job at the library introduced me to the joys of acquisitions. That’s only slightly sarcastic, because it was actually exciting to get to decide which items to purchase. Plus, a large part of my experience at the library involved film acquisition, and I’m a film buff (though definitely not a film expert). What I found interesting was the policy of publishers concerning cost of materials and university libraries. Publishing companies are, by nature, capitalistic. They are corporations seeking to maximize profit. They recognize that when they sell a book to a university library, they are sacrificing multiple potential sales. With that in mind, they charge libraries much more than individuals for any given item.

So when a book is lost, the library is not looking at the base cost of a book on Amazon. Library employees have to put time and effort into acquiring another copy directly from the publisher at a marked up price. However, when a book is donated to a university, the library circumvents this problem. Most university libraries will lessen fines or eradicate them altogether if a student replaces a lost book by purchasing a copy. It has to be in decent condition, but it doesn’t matter what the student pays for it.

We do college students a disservice by glorifying formal education to such a point that it diminishes the importance of work ethic. During the last semester of my B.A., I searched fervently for employment. I went to job fairs, looked online, looked in newspapers, and discussed it with my department. Inevitably, when I made follow up phone calls, I was told, “I’m sorry, you just don’t have any experience.” And it’s true, I did not. I had worked multiple part time jobs throughout my college career, mostly on campus. When I felt I was in a position where I had to choose one over the other, I always chose school - and by choosing school, I mean I quit whatever job.

Even worse, well-intentioned (I hope) university admin often encourages students to take out additional loan money - even beyond the federally subsidized loans - and subsist on that rather than working. As a result, we have an entire generation - or two - of college graduates who massive amounts of debt and no realistic job prospects - because of lack of experience.

Students need to understand that choosing school does not mean quitting a job, and choosing work ethic, stability, and employment responsibility does not mean rejecting academia altogether. There must be a happy medium. A student wrote me asking me about this very subject; I’ve just posted it, here.

A student wrote to me in February upon discovering that the university had made a mistake and awarded the student a lesser scholarship than the student deserved. The student was understandably angry, and wanted to know what to do - trust in the university had been completely shattered. My advice might be controversial - although I initially suggested trying to find the positive parts of the university and keep them in mind, I also suggested consideration of a transfer. It’s a sad thing when bureaucratic paper trails cost a student significant money - but on the same token, I suppose the university is not required to give any student any particular amount of money.

The cost of textbooks has to be one of the larger rip-offs in the university experience. Publishers send free copies of various textbooks to professors for review, and professors choose one or more to assign as mandatory to their classes. The publisher(s), upon securing a mandatory audience, price the book(s) at the maximum price they can, relying upon parental support and financial aid money (even loans!) to guarantee purchase - plus, since students are on a deadline for when they must have the textbook(s), they don’t have time to comparison shop. Many students are unaware that the textbook companies charge even higher prices to libraries, and won’t even sell the newest edition(s) to libraries at all - hence, why, if you’re one of the enterprising students willing to study at the library, you have to fight for the one copy that the professor placed “on reserve.” It’s ridiculous! And science and math textbooks, the ones that are perhaps most useful, are the most expensive. The publishers and the textbook stores alike make a financial killing.

Good news, though - there’s a new, innovative textbook price comparison site, that will comparison shop instantly, saving time and hassle as well as money for students. I’ve now got a widget for it on my book reviews page - check it out. Do everything you can to give the textbook companies the least profit possible - form a study group and share the book among three or more people, for example. Don’t let textbooks cause you to take out even greater amounts of loan money - the interest makes the textbooks all the more expensive, with the bank profiting from this colossal rip off as well!!!