5.
Absolutely. When I was at the University [of Texas], I injured my knee and quit running track. I kept the remainder of my scholarship and starting working, but I took less hours. So, I worked more and I ended up paying for the rest of my school myself, working part-time and taking as few as nine hours a semester. Which was still hard, working 30-35 hours a week. But, you can do it. The problem is you can’t get out in three or four years; it might take seven years. So, you can pay for your own education, and some people will work a semester, then go to school for two semesters. If you want a college education, and you’re willing to sacrifice your time, commit and be patient, you can pay for it yourself.
6.
I’m not crazy about it. I have one daughter in college right now, one that’s one year away, and another that’s four and a half years away. So, I know what it’s like right now to be paying for college. I’m paying for my oldest completely to go. Financial aid? We got none. No financial support. I don’t like the system because it seems to be completely based on income. When you crunch the numbers, as they do, and look to see what your income level would have to be to receive any type of financial aid, I wouldn’t say you’d have to be starving, but pretty close. You really have to sacrifice a lot.
I think people should be able to get support for their child to go to college, and still be able to contribute to their retirement, still be able to put money aside . . . The parents should not have to pay everything out of their savings to put someone through college. The system should be based not only on financial need, but also on merit. Students that do well or students willing to go into a career with shortages should be eligible for more financial aid. College should be an incentive to attract good students, to attract students to certain careers; not always based on the dollars and cents.
7. How may the current issues surrounding the price of education be resolved?
The only thing I see is a lot of universities are big on their prominence; their stature. How they appear. To do that, sometimes they overbuild on facilities, they overspend on some of their dollars to attract quality professors, researchers . . . Other people like that. It’s all about stature, it’s all about recognition, rather than what do we need in facilities and people to give someone a quality education. So, in that way, I think the price has gotten too high because their spending too much in those areas. I’d like to see that addressed, but as long as there’s the demand and people want to go to those universities, and they want that stature, they’re going to charge for it.
Interview