Residency Requirements & Today's Student
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.
It is for this reason that many students are seeking out the education from smaller schools such as community colleges. Even students who dream of graduating from the school whose team logo adorns their childhood home and dream of earning the ultimate fan piece: a diploma from the school with their name written with elegance. They are finding that by taking equivalent classes at junior colleges and waiting to transfer to their larger dream school until they have met the minimum hours to avoid residency requirements at the larger campus, they can save time & money. Sadly, however, many incoming students still believe that community colleges carry a stigma that they can never erase. They hear “junior college” or “community college” and often times think that the education that they receive from such institutions are poor in comparison to that of larger the 4-year institutions. Yet, if these incoming students will take the time to read over the equivalencies between junior and 4-yr colleges with their families, they will find that many of the classes at the cheaper schools transfer easily and only once the schools have established that they are indeed equal (and with no work by you on this so you can spend all your time studying).
