Opinion 1: Nichols College: Stop The Blame Game
Special to the Worcester Business Journal
I read with interest WBJ's January 7th issue's "College Building Boom" feature on the cost of education, as well as your editorial entitled "Well Endowed." I take exception to your comment that a college education has no inherent worth, but applaud your insight into why tuition costs are skyrocketing.
You can't compare financing a car to financing an education.
An education lasts a lifetime, and I can certainly speak for a Nichols College degree's inherent worth. One in 10 of our alumni is a CEO, president or business owner, and for our Class of 2006, 96 percent obtained jobs within six months of graduation with an average salary of $40,000. Such educational outcomes have become an engine for economic strength in our region, country and around the world.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's "Educational Attainment in the United States: 2006," adults with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $54,689, while those with a high school diploma earned $29,448. That's 46 percent less a year! Now consider that amount over a career lifetime. In addition, research completed by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities found that students and families pay only two-thirds of the actual cost of a private college education.
Private colleges do not push students into loans. Rather, our success in a market economy depends on satisfying our customers.
Changing Demands
Today's high school students and their parents demand amenities such as residential suites, fine dining and elaborate athletic centers. This is certainly an indication of how well the U.S. economy has done in the past 30 years or so, and it has lifted our lifestyles. While the baby boomer generation grew up on frugality, the next generation is taking advantage of the finer things in life.
Nevertheless, these shifts are putting an unbearable financial burden on small and medium-sized colleges who are not well-endowed. The problem is further compounded when state universities strive to raise the admissions bar and increase both tuition and student fees, which is not only contrary to their original purpose of making higher education accessible and affordable for the middle class, but in fact, further burdens our community colleges.
Nichols President Debra M. Townsley and Quinsigamond Community College President Gail E. Carberry have initiated discussion on an "Associate's to Bachelor's Business Program" with the hope of making a prestigious bachelor's degree available to students without breaking the bank. If all goes well, and this program is approved and launched, a community college student who has earned an associate's degree in business at QCC, can go on to complete a third year of business coursework at QCC and then transfer all 90 credits - equal to three years - to Nichols College and pursue a bachelor's in business administration in their fourth year. Program flexibility is a significant advantage to the student, as fourth year coursework taught by Nichols professors can be completed on the QCC campus, on the Nichols campus, or through the Nichols online program.
It's time to stop the blame game and work on educational programs that increase access for all. Let's keep U.S. higher education the envy of the world.
Ezat Parnia is the provost and executive vice president of Nichols College in Dudley.
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