A MODEST PROPOSAL

Along with student grants and loans, the federal government provides U.S. colleges and universities with work-study funds – money to support financial aid eligible students to work either on or off campus.

At STCC Lyudmila Gritskevich (pictured above) is a work-study student in our English as a Second Language Office where her Russian language skills are valuable in greeting Russian-speaking students and assisting them in filling out college forms. Originally from Belarus, she has been taking classes at STCC since 2004, starting in English as a Second Language, earning a certificate in clerical office assistant this past May, and studying medical office assistant program.

Like other students, Lyudmila’s work-study has given her valuable work experience, increased her engagement on campus, and elevated her self-esteem. Although I know of no studies linking college-work study and student success, I believe that it does.

Now for my modest proposal: double the federal funding of college work-study funding. The federal work-study allocation is $980 Million - a very small fraction of federal outlays. For comparison, this amount is about the cost to the US taxpayers of three days of the Iraqi War.

Students have in the past supported themselves with outside employment while attending college. But the scarcity of jobs has dried up such opportunities. Meanwhile, our colleges, particularly community colleges, are flooded with new students seeking education and skills for jobs of the future. Helping them now with more work-study funds would increase student success while helping transition the country through this period of high unemployment. Lyudmila and millions like her would benefit.

Introduction to What's Right with Public Higher Education

My name is Ira Rubenzahl and I am President of Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) in Springfield, Massachusetts. STCC serving over 6000 credit students each semester is one of fifteen public community colleges in Massachusetts. Although technical is in our name we have, over the years, added new programs in engineering transfer, computer science, business, nursing, health and liberal arts. In fact, liberal arts which leads to transfer to a baccalaureate degree institution is now our largest major.
(For more about STCC, please visit our website at www.stcc.edu)

As the title indicates, the purpose of this blog is celebrate what is right about our college, public higher education in Massachusetts and public higher education nationally. In this era of instant news that highlights all the tragedies of the world, it’s especially important to remind ourselves of what is working in our society. And public higher education is working by giving opportunity for undergraduate education in Massachusetts to one hundred eighty thousand credit students (180,000), by educating our citizens for the jobs of the future, and for providing access to those of modest means including the growing Latino and African-American population. Moreover, public higher education does all this effectively squeezing out efficiencies from limited state support.

To put a face on public higher education, let me introduce you to Madeline Lopez, 27, a single parent of eight-year-old Destiny. She just graduated from Springfield Technical Community College in Liberal Arts Transfer, and next fall will be entering Mount Holyoke College. Madeline will be studying pre-med, on track to become a doctor, and is a strong role model for her daughter.

Madeline is representative of her fellow community college students. They are varied in age, ethnic background, and country of origin. Often, as Madeline, they are coming from a low-income situation, and are the first generation in their family to go to college. They often work full time, as Madeline does, and may be supporting a family.

Madeline is grateful for the support and encouragement of her teachers and counselors at STCC. This was her second try at college, and she not only got back on course educationally, she achieved a perfect 4.0 average for her final two semesters.

Madeline says, “Education is number one –- it’s the key to everything.” And that’s what she’s teaching Destiny.