TORCH Opinion / Cost of a College Education

[beast of the east]

Beast,

I hold St. John's in high regard. I have many friends who are successful graduates. As a resident of Queens for nearly forty years, I consider it along with Queens College as the schools of higher learning that represent the borough. It was with great excitement that my Junior High School graduation was held at Alumni Hall. As an on and off basketball season ticket holder for the last twenty years and having attended games for over thirty years, I enjoy watching the basketball team with the same level of enthusiasm as my beloved Mets and Jets( Queens Teams) along with a great horse race.

I don't remember the average SAT score of my incoming class more than 25 years ago. I know I scored a 1300 without taking a review course and I had a 90+ average at the Bronx High School of Science. Many of my classmates from Science who were excellent students joined me. The students that attended Binghamton particularly the School of Management were all on par with us. I know of few of my fellow classmates that have not been successful in a great variety of fields.

The SAT scores from 40 years ago were reported to me by a BOT member. Your post illustrates that concern of many SJU alums. My peers during my time at SJU are among the brightest people I have ever met anywhere, so I share your esteem for them.

We don't have to become an elite school, though many suggest that is the goal of academic improvement. Though some posters who I have great respect for (Tom in Salem, Fuchsia) maintain that the way we offer opportunity for disadvantaged students is not only commendable, but in the tradition of SJU, it's also clear that the overall quality of student at SJU compared to 40 years ago is not the same. If the integrity of the academic institution is diluted, SJU cannot offer to students what it offered to us - a very respected degree as compared to many of the area schools.

 

[redfanUp9]

Student Debt relief is a really funny thing, I know plenty of people who through careful planning and good financial habits overcame student debt from both college and grad school by the time they turned 28. I also know Academy of Art grads with 100,000 dollars of debt who smoke a pack a day, buy lunch everyday in Chelsea and complain about thier debt. So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm all for debt relief provided that the person recieving it chose to go a public school, is fiscally responsible and got their degree in Math Science Law etc. There are plenty of colleges and majors that are worth the cost of tuition, but this idea that everyone has to go to college even if they can't afford it and want to major in theatre needs to and will be wiped from our national conscience.

And I guess we should ban you and members of your family from the Met, MOMA, Lincoln Center, the Museum of Natural History, churches with works of art, nature trails, and non-military clothing stores. Oh wait, military clothing is done by some of the finest and best trained designers in the world.

I myself have a film degree, I'm not saying don't go out and get one. (although I should as the degree itself is pretty useless.) I'm simply saying don't go out and pay for an art degree if you aren't going to be able to afford to pay it off. There are much more cost effective and efficiant ways to learn these skills without going to a university to do so. Film classes, internships, apprenticeships, and less expensive schools dedicated solely to study of an particular art or craft are far better options that spending 40,000 a year on a film/art/metal-cutting degree. I'm in no way arguing that kids shouldn't pursue thier goals in the arts, I just don't think they should be told they need to pursue those goals through our college system. From my experience most Prima Ballerinas don't go to college (not even Julliard) neither do most film/tv directors, and most artists I know. I'm sure FIT produces alot of designers, and maybe that is an exception to my rule but more often then not artists should be taking other paths besides going into debt to get a degree in thier art.