Monday, April 2, 2012
The Young and the Rest - less educated
In 2011, Gov. Rick Perry challenged Texas’ higher education institutions to make college more affordable. His specific request was for Texas colleges to find a way to create a bachelor’s degree that would cost $10,000 or less including books. In an article posted on March 29, 2012 in the Texas Tribune, by Reeve Hamilton titled: “Texplainer: How Can I Get a $10,000 degree?”, he explains how Texas A&M University San Antonio in partnership with Alamo Community Colleges have figured out a way to create a degree program for approximately $9700. There are three distinct stipulations for qualifying for the bachelor’s degree: (1) the student must take most of the required college classes while attending high school; (2) the student must attend an Alamo Community College for a year prior to transferring to Texas A&M and; (3) the degree obtained must be a bachelor’s of applied arts and sciences in information technology with an emphasis in computer security.
As an adult returning student, currently attending Austin Community College and planning to transfer to a 4-year university in the fall - I am immediately disqualified from the pursuit of this less expensive degree program. I don’t discount the plan completely. I believe the program will benefit the T-STEM Early College High School students in the San Antonio area who have a strong desire to maintain such a degree at an affordable price. My issue is that it looks like these are the only students who will be able to take advantage of the so-called $10,000 degree. My other issue is that Gov. Rick Perry seemed to only think up this grand idea during his campaign for the Presidency. Coincidence? You be the judge. The other extraordinary coincidence is that Gov. Rick Perry is the only Texas governor who is an alumnus of Texas A&M University, which is the only school, for now, that is planning to implement such a degree program this fall.
In his article, Hamilton makes a good point: “the degrees are very narrowly tailored to specific universities.” In my opinion, this also makes them less available to a significant number of students. Why not offer such a plan to single mothers, military service members and their dependents, and students who are economically disadvantaged? I can think of a plethora of students who could benefit and be willing to obtain a bachelors of applied arts and sciences in the information technology with an emphasis in computer security. Especially if they knew it would increase their chances of obtaining gainful employment in the near future.
According to Wendy Rigby a Journalist with channel KENS 5 news of San Antonio, “The degree will funnel students into the cyber security field, an area where San Antonio is second only to Washington, DC.” This is a great plug for the program, except during that same time an A&M System spokesman named Steve Moore expressed in an email that “There is not a scalable approach that will result in meaningful, affordable degree plan development…" so who should we believe and why should Texans buy into such a program? It seems that all of the major universities in Texas should have accepted Gov. Perry’s challenge and start doing something to reduce high costs associated with college education, right now.
My theory is that this degree was a plot to provide Gov. Rick Perry with some talking points on how he has “improved” education in Texas during his failed campaign for Presidency while also making a nice commercial for his alma mater. The $10,000 degree that can be obtained from Texas A&M San Antonio makes a very small impact in today’s high-cost world of higher education and still leaves millions of current and potential Texas college students with the challenge of finding ways to afford higher education and stay competitive in today’s ultra-competitive job market.
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I enjoyed reading your post Jackie. Your title draws you into the article and you site your references very well. I also feel you have an interesting take on the the events surrounding Governor Rick Perry's challenge to Texas’ higher education institutions to make college more affordable.
ReplyDeleteAt first I disagreed that there was something behind A&M being the only school so far to pick up on Perry's 'call to action', but the more I think about it, the more I think there probably is something to the claim. In class we talked about how Perry would love nothing more than to be in the A&M system and leave his "Big maroon thumbprint all over the state," as Professor Seago put it. I know Perry has yet to make it onto the board of A&M or into any other role with any clout in their system, but I am certain there must be a tie between his challenge to the College's and Universities in Texas and A&M doing something about it so quickly. It looks like one of those "I scratch your back, you scratch mine," type things.
On the actual facts of the degree that A&M is offering, I agree with your disappointment that it does not apply to people with low income, single moms, or those who have previously served in the military or any other of the vast groups of people who could truly benefit from a degree program that is less than $10,000. I also found it interesting that they only offered this plan with a specific degree program and that they even specified the specialization.
On the other hand, I think to criticize this plan so quickly is a little short-sighted. Everything has to begin somewhere, and it is entirely possible that if A&M has actually put together a respectable degree for under $10,000 that fully prepares the student for a future job, that this will become the gateway to more schools offering less expensive options as well. I do not think it is fair to say that most colleges and universities should have jumped onto the boat and already pushed out a proposal to meet Perry's suggestion. Most university and colleges are not brave enough, or crazy enough to take a leap like this and I applaud A&M for being an innovator in this area and coming up with an attempt at what seems to be impossible to other institutions.