College shouldn't be free, but ...

One day when I was in high school – either sophomore or junior year, I’m not sure – Mom and I were going through a box of her “memorabilia.” I’m not even sure what we were looking  for, if anything. But in that box, from a top shelf in her closet, were some of her mementos from high school, including a fancy embroidered, script letter “J.”  She had graduated from Jefferson High School, the same school and building that I was attending.  I asked, “What’s this?” She said, “Oh, that’s my letter for getting all A’s.” Wait, what? I knew my mom was smart, but seriously, all A’s? And not for just three years, but four, because back then 9th grade was part of high school. Also, the jocks got block letter J’s, but the academic people got script J’s, which I thought was peculiar. So I asked, “Well, Mom, why didn’t you go to college?” Because I knew that both of her brothers did, and my dad did. And I knew that her mom had been a teacher, and had at least gone to two years of college for teacher training. But, no, in 1938, there was no money to send a girl to college, even though there was a state college within bus/walking distance (at which she ended up working). Her oldest brother went, but partly with an ROTC kind of funding, I think. Her younger brother and my dad went later, after WWII, with the GI bill, or otherwise they wouldn’t likely have been able to afford it. They both became engineers, by the way.

Somehow, that day, I knew that I was going to be able to go to college but that I shouldn’t ever forget that it wasn’t an opportunity to be wasted. I studied. I read the assignments. I took it seriously, when some other students, mostly males, were more focused on having a good time. Because I couldn’t forget Mom and a lot of women like her.

I don’t think that’s why she shared that box of memorabilia that day, but you never know. Mom was pretty smart. She had that “j” to prove it.

By the way, I do know that it was even more difficult for men and women of color, especially in 1938 but also in 1969. I think that it is mostly better now, but we need to be vigilant.

Do I believe that college should be free? No. It should be affordable. There should be scholarships for people who don't have financial assets but have shown that they take their studies seriously. "A" students should get scholarships as easily as athletes do. Students might need to work in the summer instead of going to Europe (although I'm in favor of study abroad, but that's different). They maybe shouldn't go on expensive spring breaks. They maybe should have some skin in the game. I fear that making college completely free would devalue it, making it like free high school, less respected, less serious. It is, in fact, ridiculous that there are lists of "party schools," some of which are at least in part publicly funded. It's also ridiculous that some students emerge with crippling debt, but there may be multiple reasons for that and multiple solutions, including good financial counseling from the get-go.

But should any child growing up in America resign themselves to the fact that, no matter what their abilities and dedication are, they can't afford to go to college? No. Not because of gender, not because of race, not because of their parents' finances. We need those young men and women to achieve their potential. All of them.