There’s been a quasi-bit of EMU news lately about Barack Obama’s rallies here in Southeast Michigan the last couple days. As has been reported– for example, here, here, here, and in the AANews– there was a question and response from Obama about student aid, the role of higher education in the future, college success, and (for lack of a better way of putting it) sucking it up. Here’s a quote from the AP version of the story:
Part-time student Stephanie Baker talked to Obama about her daughter who is at risk of losing financial aid due to slipping grades at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
Baker, 43, of Detroit, said tuition concerns are part of the problem.
“It’s not optimal to be going to school and have to worry about money,” Obama told Baker. “I think my main message to your daughter would be to stick with it, because the cost of not getting through school and not keeping your grades up are so much greater.
“There is a million dollars’ worth of difference in the lifetime earnings of somebody who has a high school education and a college education.”
I don’t know; I guess I don’t expect Obama to be intimately aware of the plight of a lot of our students, of the sort of catch-22 of having to work too much to pay the bills and college tuition, which in turn means there’s less time to study and succeed at school. But I think it’s a more nuanced and complex problem than just “work hard and you’ll succeed.”
I wouldn’t say it’s all that nuanced. I busted my ass for seven years earning my bachelor’s and then my master’s. It was hard, but I did all that was necessary to earn both degrees. The question shouldn’t be if you work hard will you succeed; it seems to me it’s once you’ve done all that’s asked of you, will it pay off after school?
Well, I’ll speak only for myself on this one: when I was an undergraduate 20-some-odd years ago, the state paid for a lot more of my education, the tuition was a lot lower, and my parents could afford to pay for much of the expense. Oh, I worked hard to succeed as an undergraduate (and as a graduate student, too), but I also think I was relatively privileged.
Nowadays, the state (Michigan and just about everywhere else) pays dramatically less money to support “public” institutions. Tuition increases for the last 20 years have dramatically outpaced inflation, which means in even converted dollars, it costs a heck of a lot more to go to college when I went. My upper-middle-class parents were able to pay for a big chunk (though not all) of my college, which meant that I never had to make a choice along the lines of what our students have to decide all the time: do I pick up extra shifts at work so I can actually afford to pay some of my bills, or do I borrow even more student loan money, thus putting myself further into the hole, so I have the time and money to finish up some more classes.
So I guess that’s why I’m saying it is more complicated than just “work harder.” Not that I have the answer, exactly.
When I went to EMU in the late 60′s the state paid for about 75% of a college education. Now it’s around 35%. If I remember correctly tuition back then was around $14.00 per credit. It was a lot of money back then when you could only make about $160.00 a week busting rocks as a laborer. When I was on campus I didn’t have a car, very little spending money and very little new clothing. When I see kids today with all the things they need, such as electronics, new cars, including the bad habits of smoking and drinking I wonder if they think about how much that diverts from paying for their education. In addition, all my children went to Eastern. They all worked during the summer and at sometimes during the school year. For everything else that they could not pay for I paid cash to EMU. Never borrowed a dime. My wife and I are not rich, but we sacrificed and so did the kids. I drove the same car for 10 years and had two in college at one time. Nobody had a car until they needed one for student teaching or nursing classes that took place at a hospital – then they had used cars. Nobody went on spring break unless it was a sponsored trip through EMU for some volunteer cause. What ever happened to sacrifice, hard work and no debt. When I see students driving a late model car from Riverrain over to the commuter lot, the only thing I can think of is how unnecessary that is, including the cigarette stuck in their mouth. The value of an education is taught to kids at an early age.
I personally witness many of my students who have great potential let their work suffer because they are working too much. In the visual arts, especially in the discipline of graphic design, it is putting in the time it takes to build a portfolio of well crafted, interesting, thoughtful work that gets you the job after you have achieved your degree. Not putting in the time to build a quality portfolio is why I witness several of my students struggle after school to gain employment (especially in a region whose economy is can barely support design to begin with).
Students need to thoughtfully wager their approach to getting a degree. I see too many try to rush through EMU, work full time, and ultimately their work suffers. I know myself and some of my colleagues have given the advice to students to take fewer classes so that they could focus on giving a smaller amount of work the attention that it deserves. But many who come from community college programs, in which many of their credits didn’t transfer, which is a loss of money in their eyes, and they feel as though they have been in school too long and desperately want to finish.
The only other option of getting an education is debt. I know many students shy away from student loans, and for good reason (I continue to pay a good chunk of mine off every month). Not to mention additional costs that I encountered that had to be supported via credit cards (supplies, equipment, software, computer, etc.). Debt sucks, I still pay an extraordinary amount of money on credit cards. I incurred my debt in graduate school a much shorter period, but I find that every penny was worth it.
And the sad truth of it all is that there is no guarantee that getting an education will all pay off in the end. Some of us are tied to spouses whose jobs limit them to locations which may not support what the other person does. Some of us are tied to family in the same way. Others are seeking employment in an economy that seems to continue to fail and cannot afford the move to a location where they may flourish (it takes money, resources, etc. to be able to just move and find a job elsewhere). I have friends with graduate degrees and some of them are now working as a temp to stay afloat. In my field it comes down to having a great portfolio and even then it is no guarantee, there is luck, timing, and just being a good passionate person involved in getting that job.
So while I rant with no single point, I don’t think Obama is off the mark in his very safe answer. I agree with what he has to say, but it should probably go one step further and not just stop with the degree, you have to work hard afterwards too.
I agree with a lot of what Alum and Ryan are saying here, though I am still reluctant to say it’s just “the kids today” or it’s just about working harder.
You know, one difference I see between my experiences in college and many of my students’ experiences is readily available credit cards. When I was in college, I could never spend within my means and was constantly broke. (Actually, this is still true in some ways, which is why my wife manages the books in our family). But I didn’t get a credit card until after I finished college, and in those days, you didn’t see all these institutionally-endorsed ads and give-aways on campus to encourage college students to get that credit card and to get right into debt.
Things like credit cards and car payments– which I would bet cost many of our students more than whatever it is they are actually paying EMU on a monthly basis– can really begin the downward spiral that can sink a college career in a hurry. You get a credit card and you go out and buy some goodies and/or pay some bills, spending up to your limit, which, of course, the credit company just raises. You go out and buy a shiny new car because you can (hey, it’s Detroit, the motor city!) and because you initially think you can afford it. Well, before you know it, you’re working a whole bunch just to pay off the debt for stuff you probably don’t actually need, and pretty soon, college just represents another expense.
Jim Allen wrote,
“I wouldn’t say it’s all that nuanced. I busted my ass for seven years earning my bachelor’s and then my master’s. It was hard, but I did all that was necessary to earn both degrees”
I completely agree and I am absolutely shocked that Jim Allen would use that language.
Unfortunately, Jim Allen and his Senators supported the University House Project to the extent that he told me to SHUT UP about it at one point in time when I showed anger towards the University Student Government for REFUSING to oppose it.
SERIOUSLY….
I don’t think any EMU STUDENT BODY MEMBER has any right to complain about the cost of Tuition to a Presidential Candidate like Barack Obama, while ignoring the real culprit.
That’s EMU’s irresponsible budgeting practices and EMU STUDENT GOVERNMENT’s total lack of Ideological Diversity to mount a big enough political assault against these bad practices.
Let’s face it…. JIM ALLEN and GREG JONES and BOBBY MURKOWSKI and DAN CICCHINI and so on…. They have all failed miserably simply by failing to oppose the EMU Administration’s Budgeting Process.
Instead of mounting an opposition… They whined and complained to me that the Budget is too complicated. Yet, not a single member ever said they saw the budget or ever spoke with the Budget Director (who now has been fired).
The *ANGER* continues to be completely misplaced. Everyone wants the easy way out.
EMU Students continue to point their fingers at the lack of Government Money instead of the real reasons for the budget problems.
I keep saying… Michigan could pour TRILLIONS of dollars into EMU’s budget and we would not see any improvements on campus for Academics because that’s not what the money is being spent on. 90% of all money spent goes for things not having to do with a single educational class or program. Think about it. It’s true. It’s absolutely true.
Instead of demanding that the entire Budget Process get reformed…. EMU Student Government Members continue to sit idle… continue to do nothing.. continue to blame GOVERNMENT for their problems.
These are supposed to be *human beings* with a *brain* and they fail to use the brains they were given.
The real problem is EMU doesn’t have a single clue how to spend money wisely and EMU Student Body Members do not realize that they HAVE NO EMU STUDENT GOVERNMENT willing to stand up for them.
Can anyone tell me what ACCOMPLISHMENTS they have had in regards to the EMU BUDGET in the past 100 years?