#educationmisconnection

Recently, a big campaign began here in my home state of Alabama. Every time you turn on the TV or the radio, you hear the commercials loaded with various promises. Some even take advantage of alliances that listeners or watchers have had their entire lives.

What is the subject of the campaign? Is it a politician's campaign? Is it about a law?

The answer: It's a campaign about college.

This recent campaign by many colleges in my state is targeting the very people that I am writing this blog for. They promise the Non-Traditional caste of students an easy path towards the degree of their choice while helping them to do it at a low price. They tell them things like "Its flexible! It's cheap! Do the work on your own time!"

Among this campaign are two local names. One is known only among the more rural areas of central, west,and north west Alabama and hosts 3 small campuses around the central-north west portion of the state and is a low priced community College, Bevill State. The second is a name known around the world. It boasts several blocks of buildings, a wide diversity of Greek organizations, a Tier 1 law school, and 15 national football titles, 2 of which are back-to-back, The University of Alabama located in Tuscaloosa.

In Bevill's commercial, they show 2 Non-Traditional students that both have a need to return to college, both work, and both have a family to support. The first student returns to class physically at the tune of over $4,000 while taking time away from his family to attend the lectures. The second student spends around $1,000 (+/-) and takes her classes online and can work on her material at any time that works best for her.

In UA's radio commercial, they talk to a variety of Non-Traditional students. They all talk about how they have been "the ultimate Alabama fan" their entire lives. They have attended every game, bought every piece of memorabilia, and have even raised their children to be equal fans. However, there has always been that one piece of Alabama that they thought was always out of their hand. No, not the crystal football that the fans seem to revere as a holy object, they're talking about getting a degree from the University of Alabama. Now, with UA's distance education program, they can do just that - get their dream degree from their dream school.

Notice something different between Bevill and UA? UA's commercial doesn't give a price for you to consider. Instead, it appeals to the potential student that already spends all of their spare money on the Capstone. To find out about the cost of education from this school, you'd have to call & ask or learn how to find the information on their website. I'm not sure about you, reader, but when I think of this, I think the advice "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

Every time somebody asks me for advice to help them as they begin college or return to college, I always tell them the same thing. It doesn't matter if you are heading off to a Technical, Community, or 4-yr College, the advice is always the same and it has helped many of the people I have given it to. What is this blanket advice that is so short and sweet to say but saves so many from endless grief?

GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

"Excessive" is never a word to think of when you pull out your pen and notebook or even your cellphone to record the conversation to archive. Many will try to tell you that there is no need to take down their names or keep notes because they will "give you something to take with you." Do not fall for this trick. Many times, when they give you something, it is a generic form or statement that does not have a date, time stamp, name, or email address to prove when and where you received the document, much less who you spoke to. That business card? Take one to attach to your notes and double check the information. Don't just say "Is all of this up-to-date?" Instead, skip reaching or even looking at the cards until the very end of the appointment and you are about to walk out the door. Make them spell out their email address, phone number (including extension), and, of course, their name and office hours.

If, however, you live a long distance from your school or if you're a Non-Traditional student and don't have the time to drop by the college of your choice for information, email is a wonderful tool to use to help you with this. My personal choice for email is Google's free email service, Gmail, because it allows you to archive your emails so you can access them again at any time with no expiration to the archival. Gmail also collects and presents the emails between you and your contact in a format that reads not unlike a messenger in many cases. This makes finding everything you need easier and faster to help you in your quest for school.

Gmail is also available on the Android network as a free app that comes pre-installed on many of the devices purchased today.

When you have all of the information collected from your conversations, amassed your contact info, and made yourself feel like some sort of spy, then you are well armed against any surprises that may come up. Even from the most infamous department for surprises, the Financial Aid department. However, I have learned that as long as you stay on top of your notes, you have little to no road bumps to deal with because the people you spoke with will remember your attention to detail (especially if it was a face-to-face experience). 

Recently, the University of Alabama network approved a jaw dropping tuition hike that is set to be in effect at the beginning of the fall 2013-2014 semester. Like many of the students belonging to the network, I began asking the question of Why. Why would the UA network need a tuition hike? Why are other fees rising such as the parking pass? Why would they do this to students that are already struggling to make their educational goals happen? Why, why, why?

  Then I received the answer. From an anonymous source, I learned that the primary reason behind UA’s hikes is because they have promised their faculty and staff a pay raise for a job well done. To make this happen, however, we, the student, have to pay for it.

  Never mind the fact that the UA network makes millions of dollars a year off of the sales of sports memorabilia across the nation. Never mind that it makes thousands of dollars a game, even with the rising ticket prices in this failing economy. Never mind that The University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, could easily make more money by giving tours of the campus the thousands that flock to its iconic Denny Chimes like pilgrims to Jerusalam or Mecca. Never mind that they could raise the price of their on-campus merchandise (like notebooks, t-shirts, etc) because most of the things that they have for sell at the Supe Store is limited edition and available only in that shop. Nevermind that they can simply raise the prices of the snacks in the vending machines that dot the campus or just raise the prices of the food a little at every eatery on campus. What do they care, anyway? Their getting their minimum every semester from the student and FAFSA anyway. Maybe they can even give a little higher charge for adding money to the dining plan, Action Card.

  The point is, I can easily think of a dozen alternatives to charging the student so blatently for the raise promised the staff of the school network. I am also sure that, should the UA network take the time to talk to their students, both traditional and non, they would learn areas where they could easily raise the money that they need without causing further financial pain to students and their families. Even if they don’t want to pull funds from their glorified sports programs, which make money hand-over-fist every day, the students can help them find a way. Here’s a good way just off the top of my head: don’t promise something you cannot already deliver. If the funding for a raise or bonus is not already in your general fund, or in the fund for such things, then don’t promise one!

In the last entry, the road of good intentions discussed was that of the Dining Plan cards “provided” by the University of Alabama network. We showed that, although the ideas that inspired the card could have been honorable ones, but that the overall system of it was heavily flawed and put students deeper into financial difficulties and awarded the schools with even more money to which they may, or may not, have the right to. In this post, we will look into the residential requirements that many colleges across the country have for their students and question whether or not such policies are necessary in today’s crippled economy.

  As exemplified in one of the previous postings, today’s student is coming to college from a different world. Because of unexpected burdens placed on their shoulders, more and more students are looking for colleges close to home where they can save money for either themselves or their families by living at home or with extended family members. For these students, the idea of living on campus is one that isn’t even to be considered once they see the estimated price tag. However, many students are finding that their school(s) of choice requires that all incoming students with less than a certain amount of college hours live on campus where they “can have easy access to” their classes, campus facilities, and be in a “safe” environment at all times.

  At first, this seems like a logical choice, especially for the young and single student entering into college for the first time. However, when we stop to consider that the cost of on-site residency can be an additional $10k AND UP per semester and that most federal loans (subsidized and non) range from approximately $3,000 to $7,000 (+/-) for the average student, rules such as those for student residency will require additional funding that most students do not have access to. Sure, there are hundreds of banks in our nation that would be willing to give a loan for education to help cover these costs for those with a good credit rating, but, the end result is painfully obvious. Not only would the [i]student[/i] be lost in overwhelming debt, but so would their families as they would be forced to alter their lives for many years to come as they struggle to pay off their student loans at a rate that is doomed to increase as our economy worsens and the Federal Interest Rates rise.

  If you press these worries to a college, they will tell you that there are ways to opt out of rules such as campus residency if you follow the bureaucracy to prove that living off of campus would be better for you and your needs. At first, it sounds like an easy process. All you have to do is write up something and interview with someone and tell them that you have to live with your family or friend because it is cheaper for you, or because it’s closer to work, or because you’re just not comfortable with the idea of living with strangers. Until, that is, you learn that there are miles of paperwork that are filled with questions about your finances, your family’s, your roommates, and, of course, any sort of medical conditions that you may have that cannot be properly handled by the school and it’s dormitories. Oh, and, by the way, you cannot submit these forms until you also provide documentation of your claims. Tax forms, W-2s, bank statements, pay stubs, ADA (American with Disabilities Act) forms, testimonials from your physician(s), and, in some cases, the results from a health screening to authenticate any medical claims. The list of forms, documents, and appointments are endless – and all before you can start your first semester if you really want to save that money.

For many large universities, such as the University of Alabama network, dining plans are a requirement for students attending half time (6 credit hours) or more each semester. In 2007, UAB (University of Alabama in Birmingham) required all students taking more than 1 class a semester (1 class = 3 credit hours) to participate in a dining plan with a minimum of $300 per semester. In theory, the program was a good one and was created out of concern that some students may not be eating regularly due to financial strain. The currency on their student ID (UAB’s known as Blazer Bucks) was accepted at any eatery establishment on campus and even at select eateries just off campus.

  The Blazer Bucks were renewed every semester a student enrolled half time or more and was non-negotiable as to its amount, unless you wanted to add MORE to the card. Students were told to use the card as much as possible because at the end of the semester, any remaining funds would be erased to prevent roll-overs resulting in large amounts of money in the students’ accounts. UAB also advertised that students should eat as much as they could at a campus eatery known as “The Commons on the Green,” a glorified cafeteria located just a few blocks from the main student services building and on the edge of a grassy area that had once been a much needed parking deck. The students were often told that the best bang for their dollar could be found at the Commons and that there was plenty seating, although there never really was. After hours, students could go to the diner located on the second floor of the Commons to pick up food that was ordered earlier for dinner or as a late night snack.

Returning to college, or even going to college when no one else in your family ever has, is an expensive endeavor. Thanks to the economy, many families are struggling to make ends meet even as they prepare to send their children off to college for the first time. These children, now plunged into the world commonly known as “Adult” are no strangers to the world, although we would like to think of them as so. For many of today’s new college students, they have taken up the mantle of Adulthood by giving up portions of their childhood in order to help feed their families by working as many hours as they can, even while finishing high school. Often, by the time they have taken their seat in their first official college class, they have already come to know of the importance of a budget and preparing for emergencies by building some sort of savings thanks to watching their parents struggle with an unplanned termination of employment.

  These students are the ones that refuse to smoke, drink, and believe, almost religiously, in the power of Brown-Bagging-It with a variety of cheap meals that fill one up. Often times, when asked if they want to take part in an impromptu outing with friends, they decline and spend the evening at home paying the month’s bills. Even at the age of 18, these students worship the power of the coupon and learn to live without most of the luxury items that we mistake as necessities in today’s world. They learn to use the WiFi at school for tasks such as checking Facebook and playing games and boast a decade old television in their efficiency apartments for the sole purpose of watching movies from a collection that hasn’t been updating in years. They have memorized the quickest path to the closest thrift store and spend at least a month saving for their trips so that when their old shoes finally give away, they have the money to buy another pair.

  And to think, that’s just the first-time college student that is within the age grouping known as Traditional (Undergraduates age 18-24). Imagine life for a non-Traditional student (Undergraduate age 25+). To help you understand their umber complex life, let’s take a page from the life of one such student:

It’s 4:30 in the morning when your alarm screams into your ear. Painfully, you silence the alarm and pray for 5 more minutes as you groan into your pillow. The small speaker on your nightstand, however, plays a role in the life of someone that has other plans for you. The sound coming from its simple white surface and hidden speaker is that of your ailing mother who suffers from dementia. She is crying out for help because the sound of your alarm pulled her from her sleep and now she is confused and scared. You pull yourself from your bed and wrap your robe tightly around you and you scuttle down the hall to her aid, ignoring the overwhelming need to use the bathroom for the first time in hours.

  You calm your mother down successfully and give her the morning’s dose of medication. Once she drifts off to sleep in her chair to the lullaby of the TV as it plays its who-dun-it programming, you slip back to your room to begin your day. You rush to gather your uniform, towel, and utensils as your begin to run your shower. You finally relieve yourself just before jumping into the warm water that helps undo the kinks in your back from your degenerative disc disease, bulging discs, and herniated discs, all of which are signs of a life spent doing the hard jobs just to help feed your family. Once the warm water has put the pain in your back into a range that you find adaptable, you rush to wash your hair, body, and to brush your teeth while rinsing the conditioner from your hair. Finally, you jump from the shower, towel dry as quickly as you can, and shrug on your blue nursing uniform, the same one you’ve worn for nearly 30 years. You pull on your shoes as you step from your bedroom and into the kitchen and you hear your husband’s alarm sounding for him to begin his own day of hard labor.

  You pull the silver packaging of a room temperature poptarte from the blue box on the counter and pick up your morning Mountain Dew or coffee and turn around to see the pitiful face of your loyal dog. You place your breakfast on the counter and fill his bowls full of food and water and return to your ailing mother as she calls for you again. After settling her again, you remember that your daughter offered to stay home today to take care of your mother and you travel further down the hall to wake her earlier than the agreed upon time because your mother is having a harder time this morning than usual. Once your daughter is raised from her deep slumber, you pick up your purse, keys, and umbrella and run out the door to begin your hour long drive to work where you will work another 12+ hour shift. Half way through your commute, your stomach growls loudly and you realize that you left your breakfast and caffeine on the kitchen counter where the dog has, undoubtably, helped himself to it.

  You finally arrive at work only to discover that you have been assigned the two sickest patients in the entire unit. Just as you buck up to take on the challenge, a Code has been called two units away and you are on the day’s Code team so you fall in line to run to the call as fast as you can. You spend an hour saving the life of a father of 4 and you are completely exhausted by the time you return to your patients. Now, your boss arrives to inform you that it was time for your annual review and that she needs to see you as soon as possible and before you get in too deep with your patients. You hope that the meeting only lasts a couple of minutes because you still have to assess your patients and read the orders of their doctors for their medications. Instead, the meeting takes just over an hour as your boss points out every little thing you’ve done wrong in the past year, including the day that you had to call out because your mother was sick and needed to see the doctor in order to get some medicine that did not interact negatively with the laundry list of meds that she is already on.

  Finally, the meeting is over and you can begin working with your patients. You get into the swing of things only for yet another Code to be called, this time, 5 units away. It will be a miracle if you manage to get anything done today. You begin to pray that your patients will make it through the day and when you return to your unit, you discover that the doctor of one of such patients has called and demanded that you call back because he wants to know the reason as to why you were so late to assess his patient.

  This tug-o-war lasts until the end of your shift where you spend almost 2 full hours catching up on paperwork. Meanwhile, you know that your family is at home, not wanting to begin dinner without you and staring at it as it grows cold. Finally, you check your last box and make your final signature and begin your long drive home where you arrive well after 11 pm. By now, your feet and legs are painfully swollen and you’re so tired that you can’t even bother with the thought of eating, even if you missed breakfast and lunch today. Still, for your family’s sake, you seat yourself at the table and force yourself to eat something as your mother tells you stories inspired by the day’s hallucinations. That is when you realize that you smell the fresh scent of floor cleaner and your daughter proceeds to inform you that your mother had locked herself into the bathroom and flooded it during the day.

  Most young women would be angry at such an event, but, you see your daughter struggle to smile against her own exhaustion. She waits until you are done with your dinner before she clears the table and cleans up the kitchen. It is then that you offer to help with her homework because you remember that she has a large essay due very soon. She smiles pleasantly and fetches her rough draft and places it in front of you and begins to bombard you with questions until she notices that you have fallen asleep with your chin in your hand and a pen pressed to the paper. Gently, your husband wakes you and helps you to bed as the clock turns to half-passed-midnight. You barely begin to dream when your alarm sounds against at 4:30 in the morning for another day.

  However, this day is slightly different from the day before. Today is your off day but instead of taking time to curl up with a book written by your favorite author or going out for a small shopping trip, you’re at home to take care of your mother while your husband is at work and your children at school. Along with caring for your mother, whose more physical ailments are in full swing today, you are paying the bills. You pay the mortgage, the light bill, the water bill, the television bill, and the car notes. You decide to wait to pay your car insurance because the cost of your health benefits have gone up again this month and you just don’t have the money to pay the insurance and still be able to buy groceries this evening. The thought of the groceries reminds you that you have a stack of coupons that need your attention and you start to feel hopeful that you can pay for your car insurance after all, if you can save enough with your coupons. [This concludes the story segment of this post.]

Now that you have met the average student of today, both Traditional and Non-Tradition, you begin to wonder why Universities such Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, require so many useless programs for their students. Between the require on-campus living for students with less than 24 credit hours (at least for certain programs), a required meal plan for Undergraduates attending 9 credit hours or more, and gym membership fees hidden in the cost of attendance, and the inability to opt out of these programs or others in order to save money where a student can, it is no wonder why so many students are leaving these larger universities to either attend a far cheaper school or are just opting to work and hope that they have the chance to go to school in the future.

  However, when students wait, they discover, with a severe degree of disgust, that the welcoming wagon for Non-Traditional students are large schools like the University of Alabama is non-existent. In many ways, Non-Traditional students are Undergraduates in name only are left to fend for themselves in terms of coming up with the funding to cover the ever expanding cost of education. Larger colleges are sickeningly unprepared for the older student and thus offer little to no financial assistance for them and are often times ill-equipped to address their needs or questions and seem to take offense when a student requests to opt out of some of the programs at the university such as the infamous Dining Plan.