Keep on Pushing on

                Higher education is slipping out of our hands as fast as it is taking our money.  With rising tuition we have bigger class sizes, fewer course options and less full time teachers… Welcome to the real world, where everything does not make sense. It would make sense if the outcome of raised tuition was smaller class sizes and more classes to choose from, but that is not the case. It is discouraging to hear about class availability becoming slimmer and slimmer. An interesting article from Foxbusiness.com discusses the implications of raising tuition in California. The article is informative to help see how it will affect the students, the schools and California.

              As a student who would like to enter in the field of teaching higher education, I find this news to be discouraging. We work our butts off and strive to be the best students we can, in order to graduate in (timely matter) and then land our dream job (or at least something close to it). I am sure I am not the only one who is discouraged about the rise of tuition. Hereis a link that will help jive some ideas of how to stay motivated to graduate and keep on pushing towards that dream career. The five tips they discuss are good starting points if you’re really feeling down.  

CSUSB's Outrageous Payment Plan

          Hello my fellow readers today I would like to talk about the so called, "payment plan" CSUSB offers and how horrible it is. Also how it could be improved. Cal State's payment plan is as follows, you have to pay a third of your tuition, and then you have a whole month to pay the rest. Wow! What a thoughtful, and considerate offer. Not really. I do think that a payment plan option is a good idea. Many students rather pay with their own money opposed to using student loans. Other students don't have a choice, but to use their own hard earned cash, due to not qualifying for financial aid or loans. Their only option would be to pay in full or to utilize the payment plan. My problem with it is the short window they offer students to pay. ONE MONTH! How preposterous! Maybe that length of time was reasonable ten years ago, but with the sky rocketing tuition, the time allotted needs to be extended. Ten years ago, tuition cost less than $1200 a quarter. I definitely think paying $400 initially then having a month to pay the rest was a fitting plan for the way things were, but with the major financial changes, our school payment plan should have changed too. It's no wonder we have so many students dropping out of college. Check out this article written in 2008 describing the climbing drop out rate for college students then, High Tuition Costs Force Students to Dropout. Here is another article written by a student, telling of the last resort of dropping out that more and more students are having to take, High College Tuition Increasing Dropout Rate. I understand that universities are being ran, now more than ever, like businesses rather than institutions who pride their selves on making higher education reachable for most. Because of that, we can expect things to be done based off the premise, are we making money and not based off of how understanding are we being to the students struggling to pay tuition.
          I have a friend who did not want to receive student loans and couldn't receive grants, so she decided to pay cash for her tuition. I remember her every quarter,stressing out to make her payment in such a short time. She told me once, " They want me to pay it in a month, but I don't even make enough in a month to pay them in a month." Obviously there was and still is a glitch in this "payment plan". Sadly  to say, my friend dropped out due to tuition and her lack of money.
          If I had it my way, the payment plan would go as follows: students will be expected to pay a third of tuition a week before that quarter begins and then they will receive the rest of the quarter to pay off their balance. If the student does not comply by the deadline, then a hold will be placed on their account until payment is made. To me that is more reasonable for the state our school's economy.

Students and Faculty Protesting Cuts

          Students and faculty have been largely affected by budget cuts in the last decade and have made it clear they aren't happy about it. Protesting seems to be the route most students are taking. This tactic may not put things back the way they were, but it gives a voice to the silent.
          At Santa Monica Community College, on April 4th of this year, students raised hell, protesting the huge cuts this year. The students who are already low on cash, feared their future in school. You can check out the rest of the article to get the full story  on, Hikes Caused by Budget Cuts.
          Another example of students protesting is the March on March. This is an annual protest against budget cuts, that students and faculty attend.It is held at the California State Capitol. This year the protest held 10,000 people. Some students made a commitment since the budget cuts began, to go to every protest march. For the extended article check out College Students Protest Cuts to Higher Education.
          Protesting allows for the unheard to be heard. Students and faculty alike choose to use the First Amendment to its advantages. Freedom of speech may be the tool students and faculty need to persuade the powers that be.

"Broke as a Joke"

                I’d like to dedicate this post to the picture “Broke as a Joke”. As a college student I am able to completely relate to this shirt. On freemoneywisdom.com they discuss some ideas to help college students save money. One of the tips they gave was to cut expenses, such as going out to eat, use of transportation and entertainment. For commuters this would be a more difficult task. Having to take the bus from city to city would be worthwhile financially, but it would waste a lot of time as well. Cutting out entertainment? That is was easier said than done. There are ways to have inexpensive entertainment, such as buying a board game and having your friends come over, or getting a redbox movie (just don’t forget to return it). Being a full time student is rough, you deserve to enjoy yourself, the trick is to plan it out and be smart with it.      

             Another tip discussed was to stay busy. The idea here is that the busier we are the less likely we are to spend money. The article suggests doing homework and studying, which makes sense because it is school that is making us broke. But sometimes you need  a break from studying and school. This is where buying a board game or deck of cards can come in handy help with this freetime.

            Freemoneywisdom.com had some great ideas, some you may like to adopt or tweak a little but they can definitely help with any financial struggle you may have while in college.

Anything But A Visa Credit Card: An Argument Against the Lack of Common Payment Forms

          For most students, paying for tuition is a stressful process. The idea of loads of money, that took them long hours to make, being sucked out of their account as if it was never there can be disheartening. Students who don't have the luxury of mom and dad paying their way, do not take financing their education lightly; especially when the payment options are limited. At CSUSB, the payment options are, to me, unpractical. The Bursars office accepts payments in the form of cash, visa debit and/or credit card. The credit cards they accept are Master Card, American Express and Discover. They accept Visa debit cards, but not Visa Credit cards.
         Compared to American Express and Master Card, Visa Credit cards are way more common.(Check out this link on most used credit card statistics.) Knowing this concept, why wouldn't CSUSB, modify their payment options to enable students to pay for tuition with what they have? If the board would take into consideration the socioeconomic status of the majority of its students, then they would see the need for a Visa Credit card option. Most students can barely afford paying their high tuition, let alone a bill from American Express that expects you to pay all  moneys used, in full. This complete inconsideration for students is more relevant now than ever. I have experienced this horrible payment system and have almost exploded due to not having the appropriate payment form required.
          Just this year, I had to pay my tuition. I waited in line at the Bursar's office and when finally making it up to the window, I was informed I had the wrong payment form. I thought, like other students have thought, that my common Visa credit card would no doubt be accepted. Not at all. They said they only took Visa debit cards. Already fuming from the shocking increase in tuition and now on the verge of a meltdown, I had to leave Cal State and go to my bank to have them take money out of my credit card. This inconvenient, inconsiderate, event happens every quarter. I am appalled that this has been going on for so long. We need consideration from the board and we need it now. It's very sad that the simplest ways to help improve student satisfaction in the midst of so much dissatisfaction, are being avoided.

Is The Price of Education Worth It?

          Paying for higher education currently, is a feat, next to graduating. Students in state colleges are using loans more and more due to the disappearing governmental grants. Although the loans assist students in allowing them to pay for tuition, they also pile up, waiting for the student to graduate or to leave school long enough for them to kick in. A study done by The Project on Student Debt at The Institute for College Access and Success found that students who graduated in 2011 with a bachelor's degree had an average of $26,000 in debt. (You can check the full article, Students graduating with more student loan debt). That is like paying a car payment on a new Toyota Carolla. The loans, that are meant to help you, actually seem to work against you. They enable you to finish school, but also make finding a job an even more serious decision. In the current state of our economy, job finding can be compared to finding a needle in a hay stack. A great example of this is of my close friend, who will remain nameless. She graduated about two years ago and has yet to find a job. She has student loans that have already demanded attention and pays for them by working at a bank. If it wasn't for the constant threat of an endless loan payment looming over her head, she would lose the motivation for looking for a job in her chosen career. (If you're interested here's a site that helps with loan repayment, its called Educational Debt Manual).
           My husband will be graduating in Winter 2012 and sadly, he's not a stranger to loans. He has attended CSUSB for over 8 years and had to make the same hard decision in the last two years; to accept large unsubsidized loans that would cover one year's tuition and then some or to accept subsidized loans that may not cover the whole year. How backwards is that?! You as a borrower, don't have much of a choice. You could choose one and have enough money to pay for that year's tuition, but create a loan that clones itself instantly, or you could choose the other and scrape up money that you don't have and hope to pay the first quarter's tuition on time before they drop your classes.
          Depending on loans is stressful. There are students who choose to continue with classes after they graduate with their BA just to avoid paying loans. We go into college in hopes to leave with a well rounded education and to receive the job of our dreams. Due to large amounts of debt, those hopes may have to take a back seat. McDonald's here we come!!!

Stress, the List Goes On and On

The list is endless when it comes to the number of things college students stress about. Grades are obviously number one on the list but tuition is right behind it in second. It does not take a genius to realize that tuition rates have risen astronomically these past years. In an article on articlebase.com they come up with three “solutions” for college students; 1- student loans, 2-student credit cards, 3- part time job. These solutions are old, and have not helped out the majority of college students with stress over tuition. I have two jobs, one full time, one part time while going to school full time. If I wanted just a quick fix I would take out a large loan or put all my expenses on my credit card and  just spend the rest of my life (slight exaggeration) paying it off. I would much rather work just my one part time job, not worry about tuition and just focus on my classes and the material I need to learn. Instead I am working like a dog trying to keep up with my classes, getting average grades, paying above average rates.  

                Stress is a leading factor that brings students to drop out. In an article entitled StudentDrop Out Rates Linked to High Stress Over Finances states, "The conventional wisdom is that students leave school because they aren't willing to work hard and aren't really interested in more education," Jean Johnson, executive vice president of Public Agenda, told the New York Times. "What we found was almost precisely the opposite. Most work and go to school at the same time, and most are not getting financial help from their families or the system itself." We need to become more active in our educational system to insure that the reason for the rise of tuition is for the better of the students; because right now it is not. The rapid rise of tuition has just given college students a bigger burden to carry.