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“I think the tuition increase is ridiculous,” said junior Devin Allen from Virginia’s Eastern Shore. “If it wasn’t for my resident assistant position I wouldn’t be able to afford it financially. With my mom being a single parent and paying for it all, she picked up a second job to help with the financial cost. She’s just glad that I have a year left. Grants are taken away now because she makes more money even though she’s paying this by herself.”
While Allen feels the increased financial burden, students from out-of-state get hit even harder. Instate students have their tuition offset by a grant from the state in range of about $3,000. Given that this grant is awarded only to instate students, this is an extra $3,000 that out-of-state students must pay themselves. “The tuition I was paying to go to an out-of-state, private school was more than double of what I would pay to go to an instate school,” said sophomore Ang Miller from Kulpmont, Pa. “So I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life and transfer to a state school near me.” Miller now attends Millersville University in Pennsylvania.
However, Hickman said that there is help. “I have had three Financial Aid Workshops. We’re having another one next week to enable students to apply for aid in a timely manner.” “We hold these workshops a few times a semester to make sure students know how to access outside scholarships, meet the requirements, and make the deadline for FAFSA,” added Holland.
Letters have been sent out to the students and parents informing them of these workshops. To be considered for any percentage increase in funds, students must meet the specific criteria for academic scholarship and a minimum 2.0 GPA, which is stated in the letter. Also a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) form must be completed. The next workshop will be held on Tues., Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. in Boyd Dining Hall.
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| Photo by JEN KELLY The members of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority were nationally recognized with a total of eight awards, including the Mable Kane Stryker Scholarship Award and the Recruitment Program Award. |
“The whole thing has been an absolute thrill,” said Wade. The presentation of Tri-Sigma’s awards was something that the girls will never forget. During their initiation weekend Natalie Averette, Riggs’ Advisor, planned a surprise party in which Penny Robinson, vice president of Tri-Sigma’s National Committee, came and presented the girls with their awards. “The whole experience was amazing,” said Riggs. “Tears even came to some of our eyes during the presentation.”
But as Tri-Sigma goes through their initiation process for the new year, the question remains: can they repeat their success? There seems to be no doubt from the new president that they can. “We have awesome officers who make it all happen and make our chapter the best,” said Wade.
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LORING
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As stated in the proposal, “the (current) requirement poses particular difficulties for ASP students because of their ages, because of the length of time since they may have studied a foreign language, because most of them work full-time during the day and attend evening/weekend classes part-time, because most of them transfer in quite a few credits, and because many of them sometimes ‘stop out’.” As Loring explained, ASP students have few time slots for when they can take classes. In fact, they only have four time slots available for course scheduling in comparison to the more than 12 made available to those students enrolled in the day program. An ASP student’s enrollment in a foreign language course would have necessitated that the student attend that one course two nights a week, thereby leaving only two remaining slots to schedule other courses.
By the time an ASP student had completed the four-course foreign language requirement, two years have been devoted to this one requirement. In addition, most ASP students have a difficult time taking the four-course foreign language sequence without having to interrupt the sequence of courses. Many ASP students must “stop out” for a semester or two due to family obligations or job responsibilities. This causes a problematic interruption in a sequence of courses that should be taken back-to-back.
Another setback experienced by ASP students are the logistics of scheduling and scheduling conflicts. According to Loring, 75 percent of all ASP students are LAMP majors. With the LAMP major, the student is expected to follow a very structured and tightly sequenced program of courses. However, many students were finding that in order to take the mandatory foreign language course two nights a week, they were unable to take courses they needed for their major because those courses where scheduled at the same time.
Another characteristic that differentiates the ASP student from the traditional student enrolled in the day program is the length of time that has lapsed since that student was last exposed to foreign language study. It is more common than not for a typical ASP student to return to school 10 to 30 years after finishing high school. The traditional day student is coming right out of high school with recent exposure to two or more years of a foreign language. Many ASP students discover that the lapse in time since their last study of a language requires them to start from scratch. In addition, many day students are not required to take a full four-course load in college anyway.
“We are seeing really good students leave our program because they could go somewhere else and get their degree more quickly,” said Loring. When asked if the change in requirements was intended to increase enrollment in the ASP, Loring said, “yes, we hope it will and we hope that it will make those who are already here decide to stay here.” The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures is also working to implement new foreign language courses designed specifically for the adult learner. These courses, called “Spanish/German/French for the Adult Learner” will be geared more toward the adult student. The “Spanish for the Adult Learner” course will be offered in the Fall 2003 semester, with the implementation of the other language courses contingent upon the success of the Spanish course.
Although the change in this requirement aims to relieve the difficulties faced by ASP students in course scheduling and to increase enrollment in the Adult Studies Program, there is bound to be some opposition to this amendment. Thomas Blackburn, secretary of the Registrar, received his Bachelor of the Arts degree through the ASP in 1996. As an alumnus who continues to audit classes at Wesleyan, Blackburn voiced concern and opposition to this recent change in the foreign language requirement.
Blackburn asserts that if an ASP student is receiving an equivalent degree as a student in the day program, then the general requirements for attaining that degree should be the same for all students, regardless of the circumstances. According to Blackburn, it is college policy that if a student is to be exempt from the foreign language requirement he or she must provide documentation of a learning disability and alternative courses are then substituted for that student. In his opinion, the Adult Studies students are granted a lot of leeway, and this requirement change is just another instance in which that is the case.
Blackburn suggests that if the foreign language requirement is going to be waived for one fraction of the student body, then it should be waived for the entire student body. Loring responded that she did not think it was necessary to reduce the requirement for students in the day program. “I don’t think that those special circumstances of Adult Studies students exist for day students,” said Loring.
“I would hope that day students will realize that their own college experience as full-time day students will be a lot different from the experience of older adults who are working full-time jobs during the day and going to school part-time at night,” said Loring. “Day students have so many more choices available to them -- times that they can take courses and the number of different courses available to them,” said Loring. Adult Studies students do not have these options, and are more readily met with difficulties in course scheduling and placement.
Students who are currently enrolled in the day program cannot conveniently transfer over to the ASP to complete two courses of a foreign language and then switch back to the day program once their “lighter” requirement has been met. There is no loophole opportunity here. According to Wesleyan policy, a student who first enrolls in one branch of the college, whether it be the day program or the ASP, and subsequently changes to the other program is bound to the language requirement of the program in which he initially enrolled. The Adult Studies Department would like to emphasize that this was the only change made in the ASP requirements. No other requests for changes were proposed.
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