Conflicting thoughts on Liberty Scholars Program
Editorial Board
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Ed-Op
Our University will create 250 full tuition scholarships for city graduates over the next five years. These scholarships are expected to cost around $28 million. Announced in the wake of widespread calls to ameliorate the education system across the board in Philadelphia, some have met this announcement with unwavering approval. Others have condemned it for ignoring the current Drexel students who pay heavy tuition. The Editorial Board is split.
Philadelphia's education system is broken. As residents of this city, we are facing an enormous mass of young individuals who go to schools that house racially motivated violence and gang activity - schools that are understaffed and underfunded. As college students, we know that education is the great unifier of society. In order to urge students to pursue higher education - to pursue the prospect of something more - we need to show them that there are spots waiting for them. As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, "no one should go broke because they chose to go to college."
To effectively make an impact in the community that we live in, we need to help the residents who inhabit it. Let's break the long-standing track record that urban colleges have of gentrification and alienation from the residential communities. Let's live together not apart. Let's have a campus in the city, not apart from it.
We realize that some people may oppose the $28 million pledge in the wake of news of tuition hikes - but let's put it into perspective. The cost of Drexel's tuition for undergraduates will increase by 3.5 percent. Penn State's tuition will rise by 4.9 percent, the University of Washington's by 14 percent and some campuses of the University of California will soar to a 32 percent increase on tuition. Yes, the economy is bad, yes, extra money is hard to come by - but the true test of our dedication to this community is not when times are good, but when times are bad. It's easy to throw a couple million dollars at the city's impoverished when you have a surplus. Giving money when it hurts is when it makes a difference. It's when you care.
Philadelphia's education system is broken. As residents of this city, we are facing an enormous mass of young individuals who go to schools that house racially motivated violence and gang activity - schools that are understaffed and underfunded. As college students, we know that education is the great unifier of society. In order to urge students to pursue higher education - to pursue the prospect of something more - we need to show them that there are spots waiting for them. As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, "no one should go broke because they chose to go to college."
To effectively make an impact in the community that we live in, we need to help the residents who inhabit it. Let's break the long-standing track record that urban colleges have of gentrification and alienation from the residential communities. Let's live together not apart. Let's have a campus in the city, not apart from it.
We realize that some people may oppose the $28 million pledge in the wake of news of tuition hikes - but let's put it into perspective. The cost of Drexel's tuition for undergraduates will increase by 3.5 percent. Penn State's tuition will rise by 4.9 percent, the University of Washington's by 14 percent and some campuses of the University of California will soar to a 32 percent increase on tuition. Yes, the economy is bad, yes, extra money is hard to come by - but the true test of our dedication to this community is not when times are good, but when times are bad. It's easy to throw a couple million dollars at the city's impoverished when you have a surplus. Giving money when it hurts is when it makes a difference. It's when you care.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Steve Dobbs
posted 2/05/10 @ 4:31 PM EST
Wow. If our endowment has shrunk to $187 million (per this story), from the $500-800 million range it has been in, then that is a much bigger problem/story than what you are reporting!
Danielle
posted 2/19/10 @ 9:06 AM EST
Providing scholarships is NOT about bailing out the local school system. Better public highschools would not change the financial situation of the students who earn these scholarships, and providing these scholarships does nothing for the schools. (Continued…)
Post a Comment