Hello Friends,
Those of you who followed college basketball March Madness watched Davidson College's competition into the Elite Eight in the NCAA men's tournament. I was on the campus the day Davidson played Memphis and lost. The campus looked liked a ghost town because all the students were in the student center watching the game together. A great experience you would say. Of course, it is and it is made even better because as part of the tuition to Davidson, students get free laundry service.
Next year the expenses for freshmen will be $42,950 and of course that includes the laundry service. Davidson was beautiful, an outstanding academic environment, but do students really need laundry service?
Laundry service and many other perks are being demanded by students at colleges and of course, these services are not free. In fact, the perks students want are very expensive.
When did colleges become such luxurious spa like environments? Colleges are places of learning. When did luxury become synonymous with college?
USA TODAY reported that since 1982 consumer prices overall are up 95%, housing is up 124%, medical care is up 233% and college costs are up 375% according to the National Center for Public Policy and High Education.
College administrators say that if they do not offer these luxury items, they cannot compete with other colleges and would in fact lose students to those colleges who do offer the premium experience.
OK, why would a family pay for such luxury I ask? Although Davidson was a fabulous college, during my college tour, I visited many state colleges that offered as much if not more academically and were a fraction of the price. What about those families that are going into debt for these luxurious college experiences. Why? Have we proven that the laundry service really makes a difference in the outcome of the student? I would say - hey, learning to do one's own laundry is one of those learning experiences that we all just need to learn and certainly not one that an 18-year-old has earned the privilege to skip.
Call my foolish, but I think trying to keep colleges costs down especially when the number of high school age students starts decreasing seems like a smart economically move to me. But most importantly what is the main purpose of college? If we agree it is to get a good education in order to have employment options as well as a rich life, than what in the heck are we doing to our young adults.
I think we as older wiser adults, which most college administrators are, need to rethink what messages we are sending to our young adults.
As always, I welcome your comments on this issue.
Your College Connection,
5 comments:
AMEN! Finally someone with some common sense and the courage to say it the way it is. Keep up the good work!
As a Davidson alumnus and staff member I understand why you might think the laundry service to be an unnecessary perk. I'd offer in repsonse thought that it is a tradition that has lingered for decades and is not a recent move to maintain any competitive edge. And while you advocate on behalf of cheaper state schools, I'd suggest that the laundry service and the student union on the night of the Kansas game (not Memphis)are two of a thousand examples of a tight knit community of learners and high achievers who care for and support each other. Hard to find that at a state school.
Dear Mamerrell,
I really don't think you do understand. As a graduate of a "cheaper state school" (University of Maine Orono) and an Ivy League institution (MIT), I beg to differ. Learning, high achievement and "care and support" are not mutually exclusive to "state schools". In fact, these attributes and an attractive cost/benefit factor (ie. exception value for $$) are certainly available at "state schools" ( how elitist of you Mamerrell....) What is the unit cost for a load of "wash n' fold".... Really... I believe any young person who is fortunate enough to be subsidized to a $45,000/year institution of higher education should absolutely be required to wash their own clothes, change the oil in their cars and live on a budget... Otherwise we are promulgating a class separation which will ultimately "bite us in the ass"... and we end up sounding like pompous asses...
So let me get this straight. "Sampson" are you arguing that students having a laundry service, which probably only amounts to a few hundred dollars of the cost of tuition, is some kind of character flaw? We think it's simply a nice benefit that a small school like Davidson can offer like donuts and coffee with the president every Wednesday or busing all of the students who wanted to attend the NCAA tournament to Detroit on the college's dime. I don't believe that small schools have an exclusive claim to learning or to high achieving students at all. (Thanks for the name calling BTW)But having attended UNC after Davidson my experience whcih I think is common -- -- is that it is very easy to be anonymous at a large school -- be it public or private. To argue otherwise is disingenous. Doesn't mean that one school is better but there is no denying the very differnt experience of attending a large school versus a small school. Not sure I understand your class warfare argument though.
I didn't like your shot at "cheaper state schools".
Finding "a tight knit community of learners and high achievers who care for and support each other" is no more difficult at a state school than it is at an institution who's "tradition" is to do it's students dirty laundry (which, by the way, is a very "nice benefit" which 95% of the common folk cannot afford.... You can't understand the class significance of this? Hmmm... I rest my case).
I wholeheartedly agree with the College Connection original post regarding the proliferation of luxury college "benefits" and college tuitions (perhaps there's a correlation?);
"I think we as older wiser adults, which most college administrators are, need to rethink what messages we are sending to our young." adults."
No disrespect intended Mamerrell... just a lively debate. I certainly understand your comments on small vs large although the 'Small is good/Big is bad' argument is also flawed.
Does staff get their laundry done too? Sign me up!
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