"Money tight, loans scarce, some do college in 3 years" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | August 24, 2008
For most students, college is a four-year rite of passage - a time to dabble in multiple subjects before settling on a major or a chance to spend a semester abroad - with frat parties sprinkled in between.
That's a luxury some students say they can no longer afford.
Translation: the best part of school now sucks even more!!!
Soaring tuition costs are prompting a small but growing number of students to compress their college careers into three years and, in the process, save their parents and themselves tens of thousands of dollars. Few schools have current statistics tracking three-year graduates, but several college officials and education specialists predict that more students at private schools will choose this option amid the troubled student loan market and the overall economic downturn.
The crop of early graduates often comes from middle-class families who might not qualify for need-based financial aid, college officials say.
We got plenty of dough for War Looters!!
Many have younger siblings or want to save money for graduate school. Most were overachievers in high school, accumulating a slew of Advanced Placement credits that put them a semester or two ahead of their peers entering college.
"The price of tuition is just so ridiculous, and with the economy being so bad, you just have to do it as fast as you can and get out," said Alicia Zweig, a Florida native who in May graduated in three years from Boston University with a journalism degree and now plans to apply to law school.
I can understand that feeling regarding the brainwashing.
Well, I'll let the kids tell you the rest, folks:
Abigail Lees, a Russian studies major from North Carolina, will begin her third and final year at Wellesley next week with mixed feelings. She has not been able to study abroad or write a thesis, her two biggest regrets. But she says she is determined to make the most of her last year, including squeezing in courses in neuroscience and art history.
As a sophomore, Lees decided to cut her college career short after realizing that her education was taking a toll on her family's finances. Her father, a professor who studies volcanoes and earthquakes, has picked up part-time work as a consultant to pay her tuition; her mother took a job as an administrative assistant.
"It's not fair for me, as one of four, to demand so much of my family's income," said the 20-year-old.
And it is not fair for this government to rape us blind, either!
Brittany Braudo, who plans to graduate early from Emerson College in May, also did not want to burden her parents, a teacher and a salesman who, at 61, are planning for retirement. Braudo won a scholarship that covers half her college costs of about $40,000 per year, and finishing a year early will save her parents nearly $20,000.
"I'm not going to slack off and take four years when I know I can do it quicker," said Braudo, 20, a journalism major from Michigan.
Why would you want to be one of those liars, girl?
Berklee registrar Michael Hagerty said early graduation can give students a leg up on entering the real world. "It affects the kinds of jobs they can go for, whether they are able to buy a house, and has an impact across the community," he said. Annual tuition and housing at Berklee cost about $40,000.
Chelsea Jacobs , a junior at Boston College, is balancing the need to save money with a well-rounded college experience by graduating in 3 1/2 years. The aspiring neurologist spent this summer learning French in Paris - for credit, of course - and started an AIDS education program in Mozambique and Malawi. Jacobs is still able to squeeze premed requirements into her psychology major and minor in international studies.
The compressed timeline helps her stay focused. "I feel like the more I do, the more I get done," said the 20-year-old from Colorado. The oldest of seven children, she expects to help her youngest brother, now 9, with his college tuition.
Some students find that packing their schedules to the brim leaves them too burned out after graduating to plan their futures. John DiSalvo, who graduated from BU in May after three years, is making $10 an hour working at a coffeehouse in Marion, where his parents live, until he finds a substitute teaching job or goes to graduate school. He said his final year was a blur, rushing to earn all the credits he could to wrap up.
Yeah, just GET IT DONE, get that piece of paper, WHO CARES if you ENJOYED IT or LEARNED ANYTHING, right?
"I was stressing myself out all the time constantly studying and writing, whereas everybody was out partying on weekdays," said the 20-year-old magazine journalism major.
Translation: It sucked!
He laments not having had the opportunity to take electives like graphic design and painting, but he said the estimated $30,000 he saved his parents by graduating early was worth the sacrifice. "I thought of my brother and the fact that I didn't want him to get short-changed because I sort of used up the family coffer," he said.
How about FREE EDUCATION for ALL, huh?
When are we gonna get that so families don't have to put up with this shit, huh?
DiSalvo's mother, Janette, says she was concerned about her son's stress level, but his high grades each semester eased her worries. He graduated summa cum laude. "It was a push for him, but it was a huge help for us," she said.
Zweig already seems nostalgic for her college days. She plans to stay in Boston an extra year and to live with three BU seniors in an off-campus apartment while she studies for the LSAT. "It's nice just to know I can kind of pretend I'm still in school," she said. "It's too hard to give up that extra year."
WTF?!!!
--more--"
I'm glad I'm an old fart coming to the end now; I'd never want to be a kid now, not with all the crap they have to put up with!
