PRENTISS SMITH

Some time ago, John McGinnis, the veteran Louisiana political writer, wrote that Governor Bobby Jindal was reluctant to raise the tuition at public universities and colleges. Most Louisianans appreciate the former Governor's reluctance to raise those fees that many parents, who had children in college, already believed were too high. As a parent who helped put four children through college, I know that middle and working-class Americans are struggling under the burden of increased college costs. It's a travesty when parents have to take out second mortgages on their homes just to send their children to college. It should not be that way in the richest country in the world. Instead of making it hard for young people to attend college, we should be making it easier for them, because we know the more education or knowledge that a person has, the better that person does in life.

Governor Edwards also understands the value of a good education. He attended the best military academy in the world, West Point, where he excelled. He understands the enormous economic burden for a family that is trying to deal with the everyday expenses of life and also trying to send a deserving child to college or to technical school. Every parent of a college age child who has loaded up the family car or van with refrigerators, televisions, computers, and other necessities for beginning college students, also understands what I am talking about. Higher education should be diversified, accessible, and affordable. Louisiana has to do better with respect to higher education.

It is totally different from the time that I started Louisiana Tech University in the fall of 1970. I was fortunate to have a scholarship and a grant-in-aid that allowed me to go to school without any real assistance from my parents. It seems as though the bar has been raised to a point where families like the one that I grew up in, are left out of the mix. It now costs upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars a year to send a child to a public college. And if you want to send your child to a private college, the costs are averaging upwards of fifty thousand dollars a year. That is a shame in a country like America, and it shouldn't be. No, college should not be free, because nothing is free, but it should be affordable.!

There are so many young people who are not attending college today that should be attending, but they and their parents just could not come up with the tuition. And that is unacceptable in a country as wealthy as America. It calls into question the commitment that we as a nation have to future generations, who will have to deal with global competition from countries that are increasingly beating us in math and science scores among elementary, middle, and high school students.

The bottom line is that we owe it to our children to do everything we can to make college affordable and accessible in Louisiana. Parents want the best for their children, and for many of them, the best is a college education or the kinds of skills training that will allow them to get good jobs in the trades----electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and refrigeration, computer technology, welding, and many other skills that do not require a college diploma.

I have believed for a long time that college was not for everybody and that we should identify those young people who may not want to go to college, but who are smart and more adept at doing tasks with their hands. There are new job opportunities being created every day in a world that is becoming increasingly technical and computer driven. People are always going to need people who can perform tasks that they can’t do, and we should identify at an early age, those students who show a proclivity to using their minds to work with their hands.

Another way that we could improve the accessibility of young people to the educational resources they need is to ask them for two years of service in their community, the military, or some other public service entity in return for two or more years of free college. That is a way that we could tap into the volunteer spirit of the country, while taking some of the burden off of parents who are cash strapped to send their children to college. The truth is that we can do better, with respect to education in Louisiana.

Louisiana is trying to get the education thing right. Our pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs are nationally recognized as being some of the best in the country. We are identifying at risk children who are being given a chance on the front end of life, instead of having to deal with them on the back end that is usually a jail cell. Early education programs will help Louisiana in the long run. But as a parent who has dealt with the rising costs of college tuition, books, housing, and other fees. The Governor and the legislature deserve credit for having the foresight to fully fund the TOPS (Tuition Opportunity Program) scholarships for Louisiana High School seniors.

The program awards scholarships to high school seniors who adhere to a rigorous precollege curriculum of math, science, social studies, and English. It is a wonderful program that was a life saver for me and thousands of parents like me who would otherwise have had a difficult time sending multiple children to college.

I had three children in college at one time, and that was tough. But because they were all enrolled in the TOPS scholarship program, I was able to help them, whereas I would not have been able to do it without the program. They studied hard and did their work in high school, and the state rewarded them. Parents who need to take advantage of this program, should talk to their children and impress upon them the importance of the program. There are a lot of parents going into the poor house trying to send their children to college. The TOPS program does not stop that phenomenon, but it does make it less so. At least it did for me, and my children and I are grateful. And that's my take. smithpren@aol.com
 

THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE August 14 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.