College News: Is College Worth the Cost?

from the Daily Orange – Syracuse University

No Easy Decision: Higher Education Requires High Contemplation
With the economy just now taking steps to recover from a recession that caused millions of jobs to be lost, the four words, "was it worth it?" have likely been uttered by thousands of debt-ridden college graduates.

According to collegeboard.com, the average yearly cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public college for the 2008-09 year was $6,585, while private schools cost an average of $25,143. The Syracuse University Web site lists its tuition for 2009-10 as $33,630, with its total cost of attendance reaching an estimated $50,100.

Four years later, does this $200,000 expense, whether the financial resources come from family, 40-hour workweeks or loans, guarantee a high-paying job?
As a student with hopes of getting a job whose success I can parlay into a long and happy career, I find college to be extremely important and value the opportunities it has given me. However, I strongly disagree with the notion that college is right for everyone.

 

Click to read.

Howard University Responds to Student Demands

In an effort to address the student demands raised during the Sept. 4 protest , President Sidney A. Ribeau and Interim Provost and Chief Academic Officer Alvin Thornton sat down  with The Hilltop to go through each presented demand.

Howard University President Sidney A. Ribeau

Demand:  Hours of the  Financial Aid office should be immediately extended until 7 p.m. until the set purge date with staff (i.e. certified financial aid officers and managers) in place to render quality customer service and to serve the unusually large number of students who have yet to be validated.

Response: “That’s something that I agree with and will, in fact, do,” Ribeau said.

Thornton said even before students raised the concern, this issue was a priority. He said that the office will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. until the set purge date. He said additional staff people will be needed, but they have agreed to move a substantial part of the operation back to the Amour J. Blackburn Center. Ribeau said this move will be completed by Friday. “It’s not easy, but that’s what we’re going to do.”

Demand: 24-hour, 7-day a week access to the Undergraduate Library and Founders Library, as well as significant capital improvements and renovations to Founders Library and Undergraduate Library.

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Credit Card Companies are Certainly Out to get You During This Crisis

By Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.DrBoyceMoney.com

In case you weren’t sure, credit card companies are not out to help you. If you are financially illiterate and uninformed, they are going to exploit you. If you are worried about the financial crisis, they are going to prey on your fear to get money out of you. They are also doing exactly what the rest of us are doing: trying to remain protected in a fragile economy.

The stimulus is stymied. The bailout is a failout. The stock market has consistently given a “thumbs down” to every piece of legislation passed in response to this crisis. Our economy is like the sick man who won’t respond to antibiotics. While the results of the latest package are yet to be seen, the truth is that no one is sure what will work. Every company is out to protect their assets and hold on to their cash, which means they no longer have much interest in loaning money to you.

Yes, this is true even if you have a good credit score, which is the ironic part.

Customers are opening their monthly statements to find that credit card companies have started to either ration credit (give less of it) or raise the interest rate being paid on outstanding debt. This doesn’t even count all the dirty tactics used, like using your payments to pay off low interest debt first, quietly getting rid of the grace period or charging interest on your balance from the prior two months vs. the current one. Even when you’ve been making payments on time for years, banks keep raising the bar to maximize shareholder wealth. When liquidity is scarce, those giving out water demand a higher cost per bottle. Additionally, higher default rates have justified the increase in interest rates, but higher interest rates increase the likelihood of default. It’s a nasty cycle, really.

Lawmakers are trying to intervene. Congressional hearings have taken place. Banks are being scolded by senators who keep telling them that this form of business practice is unethical and that they are gouging the American consumer. All this might be true, but what is also true is that you can’t force banks to loan you money. Also, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to legislate a strong economy.

If you have a less than stellar financial history, there is an even greater opportunity for your credit card company to raise your interest rates. If you have defaulted on other loans or are a slow payer in other areas, then they have no problem telling you to pay up or ship out. The days of easy money are long behind us, and companies are dramatically shifting their business practices.

The bottom line is that THEY’VE GOT YOU. They know that you’ve become addicted to the debt they so readily offered in the past, and this debt has become the lifeblood for the lifestyle to which you’ve chosen to become accustomed. They know that they can charge you a higher interest rate because you can’t do anything about it. Like a drug addict who is angry about paying more for his product, you really don’t have any other choice.

Well, maybe you do.

Here is one solution: tighten your economic belt. That means putting together a financial fitness plan today that consists of getting rid of as much debt as possible. I’ve mentioned in prior articles and on our website that paying off debt can be one of the best investments you make with your money. This is especially true if you have a stable job and are paying a high rate of interest to your credit card company.

So, the Dr. Boyce Challenge for this month is simple: Create a budget which includes the steady elimination of credit card debt. That means you should list every single expense you have for the entire month on one piece of paper or a spreadsheet. Don’t leave anything out. Count the money you want to use for getting your hair done, your nails, paying your mortgage, car note, whatever. Count everything. That will be your first step toward obtaining financial fitness.

As you create the budget, allocate at least 10% of your monthly after tax income toward reducing credit card debt. So, if you earn $3,000 per month after taxes,$300 per month should be allocated toward removing credit card debt, not including interest. So, if you owe $5,000 in credit card debt, you can remove this debt in roughly a year and a half. While $300 may seem like a lot of money to find in your budget, it’s there if you look hard enough. In fact, if you spend $10 per day on lunch and/or coffee, you can find the bulk of the money by taking your lunch to work. Make this one of the first bills you pay, not the last. The last bill is the one that only gets paid half the time. It’s easier to negotiate with creditors if you don’t need them so much. Take small steps toward finding your financial freedom.

Next month, we will move to step 2 of the Dr. Boyce Financial Challenge. While I confess that this change won’t be easy, I can promise that it will be worth it in the end. Be strong and remain focused, this is your opportunity to shine.

Dr Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “Financial Lipo 101: From financial fat to fitness”, to be released in April, 2009. For more information, please visit www.DrBoyceMoney.com.

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My Trip to BET: Please Give me Your Thoughts

Greetings,
BET is doing a special on Barack Obama and the Presidential election. I’ll be one of the academics brought in to provide the scholarly perspective on this. In my last project with BET, “The 25 Events that Misshaped Black America”, Michael Eric Dyson was my partner in crime. Mike is my friend, and was one of my greatest inspirations when I chose to pursue a career of public scholarship.

As you’ve seen, I don’t hold back on my own point of view, even if it is not popular (I am not a politician or in a popularity contest – I believe the role of the public scholar is to engage in sincere intellectual leadership). However, as I move forward with this project on Obama, I feel an obligation to be cognizant of what the black community is thinking.

We tape the episodes in July, and I expect them to start airing in September. So, in order to get my finger on the pulse of the community, I would like to encourage you to submit your opinions. Tell me: How do you feel as you’re watching this election? Are your feelings changing as time goes by? Has anything surprised, disappointed or angered you? I would really like to know.

I want to quickly give a shout out to the Atlanta Black Achievers. I’ll be keynoting their teen leadership summit on September 6. I wanted to mention this particular engagement, since I owe a life debt to Black Achievers. Had it not been for the Louisville, KY chapter of this organization, I would never have gone to college. In fact, I dedicated my first book “Everything you ever wanted to know about college” to the Black Achievers organization. If there is a chapter in your city, I encourage you to join or make a donation. It was my mama’s willingness to yank me by my afro and force me to go to meetings on Saturday mornings that changed my life forever. I encourage other parents out there to not give up on their kids and do the same thing. EVERY BLACK CHILD IS COLLEGE MATERIAL. Don’t let teachers, counselors or anyone else tell you different.

In case anyone is interested, I wrote an article on the feud between rapper Ice-T and Soulja Boy. As someone who speaks regularly to high school kids (all of whom seem to live and die for Soulja Boy) I felt like this was a chance to discuss the divide between older generations and younger ones. I am not sure if we always give our youth the respect they need to make them feel empowered to carry the torch. Yes, we are better drivers, but we need to trust them with the wheel, since we can’t drive forever.

I even witness this divide myself when I appear on shows with individuals from the Civil Rights generation. While many of them are open to the idea of new leadership, there are some who don’t seem to feel that any generation after their own has anything of value to contribute to the world. But I applaud the NAACP in their decision to elect Ben Jealous as their new president. I am optimistic that Mr. Jealous can inject fresh, youthful blood into the organization, while maintaining a sincere respect for the contributions of the past. Properly passing the torch requires a delicate and respectful negotiation between generations. Berating young people only marginalizes them. I am a fan of encouraging youth and empowering their desire to bring fresh, energized and educated perspectives. In return, when we sit at the table to give advice, we will find them quite receptive. Whether you realize it or not, the feud between Ice-T and Soulja Boy is no different from the divide between Bill Cosby and black teens, or what I’ve gone through with some (not all) Civil Rights leaders. As we work with youth, it is critical to remember that the phrase “tough love” also includes the word “love”. Love and hate can be reflective devices: the more you give, the more you usually get back. Let’s love our kids to greatness.

At any rate, be well and God Bless.

Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.net
www.YourBlackWorld.com