To the Editor,
I write this letter to express my concern with the growing number of complaints I’ve read about in The Post surrounding the university’s recent tuition increases. My concern is that my fellow students, by lamenting incessantly for the supposed forfeiture of their futures on account of the ever-increasing cost of higher education, are also forfeiting away their own power to be in control of their own lives. Before I am deemed a scab, allow me to introduce myself as another Bobcat who has taken out private loans and has the opportunity of paying them all back upon completing my chosen curriculum. We’re all in the same boat here, people.
Here’s the thing: I plan to be able to pay off all of my loans. This may sound overly optimistic to some, but that is something that is up to me and no one else. The decoded message I hear when people complain about tuition increases goes like this: “I stand no chance of getting a half-way decent job after college that will afford me the means to pay back my loans, so maybe if I whine loud enough and often enough, perhaps I will be spared the task of being a young adult in the world who has to earn what they get.” Where’s the confidence? I think of the Ohio University student body as a much more capable bunch than that.
I am a non-traditional student pursuing a second bachelor’s degree. The first one was working out so well for me that I felt the need to return to college. Take it from someone who’s been in the working world a bit, no matter how little you may think the Board of Trustees or the administration cares about you, the world after college cares less. It’s a fact. If paying off school doesn’t bleed the pocketbook dry, something else will, and that’s assuming there are no wishes to start a family.
I had a housemate during my first college experience; we’ll call him Ray. Ray liked to eat wings, drink beer, and listen to George Strait and to my knowledge he still enjoys doing all three of these things. Ray’s father attended the same university we did 30 years prior. Between the time Ray’s father left college and the time Ray and I entered college, the cost of tuition doubled. Then it doubled again while we were still students. And this is how it goes. Who knows why tuition keeps increasing everywhere? Not me. People claim to know, but who can say for certain? In my opinion, the reason things are so tough to understand is because there’s no transparency because BS tends to get covered up by more BS until it’s just layer upon layer upon layer.
I would urge Ohio students to recognize the immense power they have to control their futures. Sure, it requires some introspection and it’s not obvious every second of every day, but I encourage all to walk tall with the knowledge that it exists. Don’t throw in the towel before the fight even starts.
Nathan Ryan McGuire is an Ohio University senior studying media arts & studies.
