4 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
News Features MARCH 1989
High costs aside, private schools still attract students
By Linda Milch receives more applications each year, Va., and the Universities of Virginia with public schools, but with the Ivy
The Daily Texan
U of Texa n and the $12,750 for tuition and fees is and Michigan. League.
U. of Texas, Austin worth the private attention and close- Gary Ripple, dean of undergraduate "If a student has to decide between
Admissions directors from some of knit environment offered. admissions at the College of William & Amherst or a public institution, ni*
the nation's most prestigious private "You're dealing with a group of peers Mary, agreed. "We take some great kids and a half times out of 10, he'll choose
universities disagree on whether they who challenge you more than a state away from those very outstanding pri- Amherst," Martinez said.
are losing applicants to public schools school," Anthony said. vate universities," he said. She said Amherst could be considered
because of high tuition costs. But academically competitive public Ripple added prestige and selectivity more cost-effective than a public uni-
Several directors of private institu- schools have their cost advantages. in school name has become unduly im- versity because there is a greater possi-
tions said that despite the rising costs, Anthony said no admissions official portant. "Parents are really paranoid bility of financial aid.
their schools have been experiencing a would want to say, "Sure, come to Col- about name brands, rather than being Amherst and other private institu-
steady increase in the number of appli- gate, spend another $10,000 a year." at the right place for the right reason," tions' concern, however, is the rising
cants and are academically competitive Anthony said competition for good ap- Ripple said. tuition and costs that threaten to reach
with the Ivy League. plicants comes not from New York state Ana Martinez, associate dean of more than $20,000 a year, squeezi
Tom Anthony, dean of admissions at institutions but other public schools, admissions at Amherst College, Mass., out middle-income families, Martin
Colgate U. in New York, said his school such as the College of William & Mary, said her college's competition is not said.
Blacks excel academically, intellectually
at predominantly black universities
iV
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;s
By Susannah Wood
Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia, NY
Black students at predominantly
black colleges show almost 50 percent
more intellectual and academic de-
velopment than their counterparts at
largely white institutions, according to
Dr. Jaqueline Fleming, author of Blacks
in College.
Fleming based her assertions on her
seven-year study of more than 3,000 col-
lege students in four different states.
Fleming discovered in her study that
there was a large gap in academic de-
velopment in the black students at
white colleges. Students at black
schools are much more likely to describe
themselves as competent by their senior
year than those at white schools, she
said.
Fleming cited three pressures on
blacks in college that hinder their
academic development: pressure to be-
come involved in campus life, pressure
toward academic achievement, and
pressure to establish meaningful rela-
tionships with faculty members.
"A unique pressure for black students
at white schools is faculty-related
pressure," Fleming said.
According to Fleming, black students
at white colleges are much more likely
to report unfairness in grading and lack
of interest in their work by professors.
They also find it more difficult to estab-
lish informal relationships with profes-
sors outside the classroom than their
white counterparts do, she said.
"Minority students are faced with a
curriculum that ignores their existence;
the teachers are ignoring them as well,"
she added.
Fleming offered three suggestions to
black students at white institutions to
help them meet the pressures they en-
counter: become leaders in campus acti-
vities, find a mentor and concentrate on
becoming academically confident in one
area.
"The challenge for minority students
is to try to get the best of both worlds,"
said Fleming.
"The challenge for the school is to cre-
ate an environment where this is
possible."
SCA MPUS Q UOTABL ES
"The days of ring-around-the-collar are still here, and still nobody has
asked why he doesn't wash his neck."
-Dr. Jean Kilbourne, speaking on women's role in advertising at West
Virginia U.K Gregory Moore, The Daily Athenaeum, West Virginia U.
"Vietnam was our first TV war. Many journalists reported irresponsibly
... Certain TV personalities had more influence on the public than the
news announcements."
- Gen. William Westmoreland speaking at James Madison U.,
Va.E Kari Burr, The Breeze, James Madison U., VA
"What this (television and movies) has done to us is to make us think
that our lives are not good stories. Lives are not supposed to be stories -
stories are supposed to be stories."
-Author Kurt Vonnegut speaks at Temple U., Pa. U Jonathan Berr, Temple
News, Temple U., PA
"I'm finding that nothing in my life ever is or ever has been planned. I
never expected to live. I was always expecting to eat a can of tuna fish with
botulism in it. So everything's been a surprise as a result."
-Actor Spalding Gray talks about life.E Sarah Haines, Columbia Daily
Spectator, Columbia U., NY
shows "that (CU-Boulder Chancel-
lor James) Corbridge is sincere,
and we appreciate his efforts."
Oliver said if CU is committed to
increasing minority retention,
there would be more financial aid
available. "I'm getting half the aid I
did when I came here."
Oliver said she has known of
many Hispanic students who
started a semester and signed up
for deferred tuition, but had to
leave school becauseoftheirtuition
bills.
The lack of exposure to other cul-
tures is evident in both the student
body and faculty at CU, Martinez
said. She has had teachers "slip"
and make discriminating com-
ments.
Many at CU "are insensitive to
our feelings because they don't
understand the (Hispanic) history
and culture."
Denver North High school did
not adequately prepare Oliver for
CU either academically or for the
white culture she found at the uni-
versity.
"It was just awful when I got
here. Ijusthated it. I didn't think it
would be so white. CU is not di-
verse, and not receptive to people
who aren't white."
Living in the dorms shoved Oliv-
er into a white world "of drugs and
money" she had never seen before.
She said there were students get-
ting an allowance of $500 every two
weeks.
".It's a whole different world
here," she said. "They haven't seen
poverty, and when they do, they
have their own ideas of why it hap-
pens, which is usually to blame the
victim."
School was difficult at times
when teachers expected Martinez
to know things she hadn't been ex-
posed to. And Oliver said she was
"upset at North for a long time be-
cause I thought they threw me to
the dogs. But I vowed I would
graduate if it was the last thing I
did.
April Long, who is Chinese,
graduated with a degree in econo-
mics in August. Long credited CU's
Opportunity Program with giving
her writing and math skills.
Pia Kelly, a member of the Black
Student Alliance who will gradu-
ated with a degree in English, said
CU offers services such as peer
counseling and tutoring that are
not always used.
"My first semester here I flunked
trigonometry because I wasn't 6
aware of what was offered. People
need to keep their eyes and ears
open, and take advantage of what is
offered before complaining about
what isn't there."
Oliver encouraged prospective
minority students to "keep fighting
to get in" to CU.
CU has done well in recruiting
minorities, Long said, adding that
there are two ways graduation I
rates could be improved: money
and atmosphere. "Makingus feel at
home is a big part of it."