College & University Information

College Low Expectations Game Cost Students, Parents, & Taxpayers Thousands of Dollars


During a recent conversation with a client, he shared with me his frustration when registering his son for his first year at college. This university, incidentally one of the big 10, would only allow his son to register for 12 hours. The university's position was the "expectation" that 12 hours was very, very difficult and for him to expect more as a parent was not realistic.

I suggested for my client to have a new conversation with the university and simply ask the following question: Since my son is earning a 4-year degree, how can he do that only taking 12 hours per semester? With most 4-year degrees averaging 120 hours, taking 12 hours per semester requires 5 years (12x2x5). Given that some required courses are only offered once a year and may have additional criteria, 5 years can easily stretch into 5.5 or 6 years. This expectation game of taking only 12 hours per semester may be one of the answers as to why the U.S. national average is 5.3 years to earn a four-year degree.

Many parents are planning for their children to attend a post-secondary experience at a local junior college, a public or private university. In 2003-04 academic year, the average tuition investment for one year in a four-year public college or university was $4,694. This represented a 14% increased over the previous year. Room and board costs could increase that investment by $10,636 to a total of $15,330. With books, supplies and additional fees, this total could increase by another $1,000 to $3,000. Given that college costs continue to rise much greater than the cost of inflation, each additional year becomes more expensive that the previous one.

Not only are colleges costing student and parents directly with the additional one to two years, they are also affecting the future of these young people. If the students agree with the university's expectation game and stay in college another year or two, they are losing earning dollars and two potential years of gainful experience. This loss affects their ability to move up the corporate ladder.

Parents suffer because college is expensive even when planned and parents have other needs to direct those college dollars. By not being proactive and insisting on at least 15 hours per semester, the parent's financial future is jeopardized.

Taxpayers are also losing in this game of low expectations because young people who aren't in the workforce full time are not contributing to significantly to the local, state and federal taxes especially social security. Communities suffer because loss of income contributes to negative economic development.

The only winners in this game of "Low Expectations" are the public universities and their professors who incidentally are paid with taxpayers' dollars. Given that the U.S. is graduating the same percentage of college graduates as in the early 50's, this game of "Low Expectations" demonstrates when you set the bar low, you get what you expect - poor performance.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P's of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. She is one of the first national certified facilitators for America's Rising Stars and coaches young people to create a life long plan for success. Leanne believes we need to stop setting our young people up for failure. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capacities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement (Fall 2005 release), she speaks nationally to a variety of audiences.

Contact Leanne at 219.759.5601, leanne@processspecialist.com or visit http://www.processspecialist.com/youth.htm if you are seeking amazing results.

Copyright 2005 - Leanne Hoagland-Smith, http://www.processspecialist.com

Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).


MORE RESOURCES:
Google

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) to Build National ...
FOXBusiness - 11 hours ago
WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), a national organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college ...


Average of 40 complaints per college
Expressindia.com, India - 9 hours ago
Pune July 23 The goof-ups ? of students being shown absent though they appeared for the exam ? are not limited to of Vinit and Ganesh. ...


Don't lose competitive edge by cutting college budgets
Atlanta Journal Constitution,  USA - 18 hours ago
By Rob Hassett According to Tuesday's AJC, the chancellor of Georgia's 35 public colleges and universities has asked the presidents of those institutions to ...


Lee County substitute teachers have orientation in August
The News-Press, FL - 12 hours ago
While full-time teachers are getting ready for students to return in August, substitute teachers will get their own orienation that week. On Aug. ...


Campus Planners Discuss Challenges in Attaining Sustainability
Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) - 26 minutes ago
By SCOTT CARLSON At the annual conference for the Society for College and University Planning, sustainability isn't a foreign notion anymore. ...


Students get firsthand look at China
Agoura Hills Acorn, CA - 1 hour ago
Nineteen of Viewpoint School's Upper School students recently returned from a twoweek educational exchange in China, which included visits to Beijing, ...


DiCarlo represents a natural beauty, which might make her a winner
Caledon Citizen, Canada - 1 hour ago
By David Anderson She will be competing with 30 other hopefuls in this year's Miss Canada Globe in late August. She graduated from the early childhood ...


Inter-club volleyball set at USLS
Visayan Daily Star, Philippines - 2 hours ago
BY NDIA BUENAFE Champion volleyball teams from Negros Occidental and neighboring areas are expected to converge at the University of St. La Salle College ...


Drinking games prove deadly to college students
Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com, MI - 6 hours ago
WINONA, Minn. -- On the morning after the house party on Johnson Street, Jenna Foellmi and several other twentysomethings lay sprawled on the beds and ...


Dentist missed hockey history by the skin of his teeth
Chetek Alert,  United States - 10 hours ago
Shea, who works at Midwest Dental in Chetek, has quite the story to tell about his brush with hockey immortality. The tale starts when Shea was three years ...

College-University - Google News

home | site map
© 2006