The "New" College Student

by Amber Lee

Many of the recent high school graduates who are attending a community college this year are doing so because they want a cost effective education. But are they missing vital opportunities in an effort to save money?

The recession has sent more high school students to community colleges because it can be economical with little to no loss in the quality of education. The average tuition of community colleges is about $2,000. That’s about $4,000 less than tuition at a public four-year college and almost $22, 000 less than a private or out-of-state college. And not only does community college cost less, but you can also receive a quality education. For example, the College of Southern Maryland (CSM), a community college near my hometown, has partnered with many four-year colleges, such as the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Partnerships such as this allow students to easily transfer their credits and receive a degree from the larger school with or without actually attending.

By attend a community college you may, however, miss out on participating in sports, Greek life, clubs, organization, and other opportunities to meet new and interesting people. Because most community colleges do not provide housing, many students must live with their parents for the first year or two. Many of my classmates were born and raised in the same town, planned on going to CSM and then transferring to UMD – which is less than an hour away, and would probably end up working and living in a town close to home. Had they gone to a four-year college farther from home they would have been forced to mature (at least a little), interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures, and depend on themselves.

Some of the most important lessons in college are learned when you are forced to rely on yourself, but it is difficult to be taught this while living at home with Mom and Dad. While I understand that finance is a very important deciding factor in what college a student attends, one should not disregard the merits of a full college experience.

Why Costs for College are Rising

Rohan Gupta

The most obvious answer to this question seems to be the failing economy, but what specific events concerning the current economic downturn have triggered this massive explosion in college tuition? Before we can begin looking for answers, we must address the two different "categories" of higher education and

find from where each institution receives its funding. The two categories are plainly public and private. Public institutions are funded mainly by state subsidies based on taxes. States collect taxes and redistribute funds based on priorities. On the other hand, Private institutions receive majority of their funding from endowments from private contributors. I will focus mainly on state institutions since we all attend Georgia Tech and it is a state university.

Frighteningly, tuition costs have been increasing faster at public institutions which are known for their low tuition costs. What is causing this rise for public institutions is the passing of the college financial problems to the students in the form of higher tuition. This passing of the financial problem is occurring because of state budget cuts and increased furlough days. Similarly for private institutions, cutbacks on endowments have caused the institutions to raise tuition costs as well. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has observed by March of 2009 that 28 states, including Georgia, have implemented faculty and staff cuts and tuition increases from five to fifteen percent. Because this study was conducted during the early part of 2009, we can expect an even greater number of states to resort to these measures.

One source of aid for both private and public institutions is the Pell Grant. The Pell Grant has historically covered seventy-seven percent of college costs. Now the Pell Grant only covers a third of the costs. President Obama's 2010 Federal Budget plans to increase the Pell Grant and "replace the bank-subsidizing Federal Family Education Loan Program with the more efficient Federal Direct Lending Program." Hopefully these measures will lessen the financial burden for current and future college students.

Are Colleges Really Trying to Weed Students Out?

Shane Le Master

In the text American Higher Education, author Christopher Lucas comments on the criticism surrounding the “inability of American universities to graduate more than 50 percent of those admitted to pursue a degree.” This statistic reminded me of a common belief among my peers that colleges try to "weed students out" by trying to make them fail and/or drop out. Are the colleges really trying to do this, or is the low percentage of graduates the fault of the students themselves?

Georgia Tech alone has a multitude of free resources available to any students who are struggling in their classes. The Freshman Experience gives freshmen a leg up in their starting year with free tutoring in the basement of every dorm building. The Math Lab on campus has professors and TA’s in there four days a week to offer all students free help in math. Another amazing resource is the OMED study sessions and tutoring, available in many different subjects. These resources, which are just few of the ones that I know about, are clearly advertised around campus. At Georgia Tech, the argument that the school is trying to "weed students out" is completely defunct in the face of all the multiple resources it organizes to help its students succeed. And if Georgia Tech were looked upon as a typical American college, then nationwide, the high percentages of students not receiving their degrees is pretty hard to arguably blame on the academic institutions. As the old saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." In the end, whether or not a students gets his or her degree is completely up to him or her.

Grade Inflation: The Pitfall of Higher Education in America

Kevin Corley

At some point in the history of American education, students who received a mark of an ‘A’, actually earned it. A ‘C’ used to mean average and an ‘A’ was an exceptional mark for only those ranking well above average. However, nowadays, grade inflation has become such a major problem that an ‘A’ has become the new average. How can someone possibly be ranked properly if the highest grade achievable, in some colleges, is the most common grade given out? If the highest grade attainable is so easily given out, what incentive is there to excel? In the 1930’s, the average GPA of colleges in America was approximately 2.35 (www.gradeinflation.com). Since then, the average GPA has been on a constant rise ending up around 3.0-3.3 presently as can seen below.


In my opinion, this is no valid argument as to why such an enormous increase has occurred, except unmerited grade inflation. One might argue that this not a big deal. Perhaps our schools have gotten so good at educating people and the quality of our education system is on a constant rise. Or, perhaps, it is quite the contrary. When ‘A’s are so easily given out, students do not have to try nearly as hard to get good grades and, even worse, they barely have to try to even pass. In an article about grade inflation, Stuart Rojstaczer mentions that “A recent survey of more than 30,000 first year students across the country showed that nearly half were spending more hours drinking than they were studying.” Rojstaczer presents a point that continuing this trend will inevitably lead to having poorly educated student that have spent their four years in college developing an addiction to alcohol instead of enhancing their knowledge and skill sets. I certainly agree with Rojstaczer. If students can spend more time drinking than studying and still get good grades then there is definately a serious issue. Students will only do the amount of work necessary to get by. An increasing GPA year after year is extremely bad and will lead to a system providing students with a terrible education.