Transfer Counselor Shares Thoughts on the Future of Higher Education
By Aisha Schor | Observer Contributor
Photo by Ken Lund from flickr
Every year a multitude of students nationwide make the genuine investment and commitment to continue their education and attend four-year colleges. The process takes time, dedication, and hard work. But a process that should be straight forward is growing in complexity and inequality. Between college admissions scandals and the rising cost of tuition, attending college is becoming increasingly difficult for students. This hits particularly hard for community college and non-traditional students given that the obstacles they have to overcome to continue their education are often greater than the average student.
Transfer counselor Sarah Pingeton spoke about the college admissions scandal that involved numerous well-known celebrities, “We’re talking about a piece of our society that we shouldn’t be proud of. There’s many people who can buy their way into things that others work really hard for.”
Following an investigation, it was revealed that celebrities and wealthy parents were willing to cheat and scam the system to get their children accepted into elite colleges and universities across the country. Some took the route of bribing SAT/ACT test proctors into changing their children’s answers and test scores. Others claimed their children played varsity sports, getting them admitted through fake sports scholarships.
As a counselor who works every day to help students get into four-year schools and pursue higher education, Pingeton’s advice to students was, “Persist. Just because other people get into elite schools through unethical means doesn’t mean you can’t get there through ethical means.”
Rachel Fortier, student ambassador and Media Arts major who works in the Admissions office talked about how she felt after hearing about the scandal. “I grew up with six siblings, and none of them felt like they could ever make it into college, myself included, so I felt very disappointed to see that other people don’t have to work as hard as I do to get into their dream school,” said Fortier.
With a passion for TV production and stop-motion animation, Fortier plans to transfer after completing her associates degree. “I have applied to multiple schools: Michigan School of Art and Design, Emerson School of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, and LA Film School. Any one of these would be amazing, but for the exact career path in stop-motion I want to take, I hope Emerson accepts me,” said Fortier.
Like many high school and community college students who want to transfer and get accepted into college, Fortier is working hard to build a portfolio and get involved on campus to elevate her chances of getting accepted. “Hopefully I can gather up enough portfolio work to help me get into my dream school.” Fortier continued, “I am currently working on a stop-motion as well as a horror movie. Both are hard, but in their own ways.”
When asked why she thinks the issue received so much publicity, Fortier believed it was in part generational saying, “I think the thing about our generation is that we are more outspoken, which can be good and bad, but at least we’re giving our culture a voice.”
The question now is how elite colleges will redeem themselves from the scandal and if there will be serious reconsideration as to how students are admitted. Pingeton brought up the higher education bubble and explained that there’s more to admissions than letting in the students with good grades. “Higher education is predicted to have a pretty big crash in the next seven years,” warned Pingeton. This crash could result in many college closures and/or school mergers – trends in the U.S, and Massachusetts in particular, are already seeing. “This makes me nervous it won’t change because the students who can bring the money to help keep a college open could be the ones to get admitted, making them harder and harder to say no to,” said Pingeton.
A closer look at the higher education bubble begins to reveal evidence that higher ed as it’s known today could be coming to an end, affecting admissions in the process. “The College Bubble is Starting to Burst,” a CommonWealth Magazine article, explained how both economic and societal changes may force colleges to change how they’re run. Bob Hildreth, the author of the article, is the founder of three non-profit organizations that work to get low-income students into college.
With four colleges having recently closed in Massachusetts (Hampshire College, Wheelock, Mt. Ida, and Newbury College) it’s no surprise that the state is looking for a solution to the growing issue. “Massachusetts has suffered the greatest number of closures and mergers. If this trend of college closures continues it will cause deep economic disruption in our state,” wrote Hildreth.
Hildreth also explained how student loan debt is the root cause for the higher education bubble saying, “Much of the long-term financial decay of our colleges can be attributed to their dependency on student loans. Most of the $3 trillion in loans issued to students so far has gone to colleges as free money.” Hildreth continued, “What became a burden for students became a bubble for colleges. Free money caused the number of colleges to double, enrollment to triple, and tuitions to soar-but not graduation rates.”
With prospective college students being deterred from continuing education due to its high price tag, and recent grads not being able to pay off their student debt, a cultural shift and new approaches to higher education seems inevitable. “Colleges thought that with free money covering a large portion of their tuition increases they could keep raising prices,” said Hildreth. “They were wrong, and after a decade of discounting tuition sharply to attract students, colleges find their net tuitions have remained flat.”
Pingeton has hope for the future of college admissions saying, “I think we’re seeing a cultural shift where people are much more in support of alternative schooling paths. I don’t think students are any longer getting the message ‘the only option is college.’ Instead, you’re seeing encouragement to get a trade or go to community college.”
This cultural shift and new message is what’s going to cause four year schools to change their practices. “I think being regarded as a college or university that plays fair and offers something to all students will be what serves colleges better in the future,” said Pingeton.
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