McKinney

by Julie Neumann

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Vanderbilt senior India McKinney addressed federal financial aid and the practical needs of college students before the U.S. Senate committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions yesterday in Dirksen Senate Building.

“I am a senior preparing my résumé to send out to potential employers, and one of the things they emphasize is that even though my degree is from Vanderbilt they look at the experiences that I have had in the workplace,” she said.

“At Vanderbilt there are a limited selection of courses offered over the summer, which forces students to find something else to do. Whether that is going abroad, finding a job or internship or getting an undergraduate research grant, they are all valuable experiences that will help students in the long run.”

Chaired by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the hearing was conducted to explore the possibility and implications of colleges moving to a year-round calendar, as advocated by Stephen Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University, in a Washington Post editorial last year.

He argued that such a schedule would reduce housing and class competition, maximize income for the universities and lower tuition.

“Summer break for work, reflection and fun has been as much a part of the college and university tradition as the cap and gown at graduation,” Alexander said in his opening remarks. “Colleges are changing their traditional schedules because their customers are increasingly not traditional. The average age of the undergraduate student today is 26. Many have jobs, many are married and many more are women. A cry often heard at commencements these days is ‘Way to go, Mom.’”

The Higher Education Act is currently in a two-year process of being reauthorized on the federal level.

Reauthorization allows Congress to review and change its policies connected with the collegiate system. Though it is treated as a private or state-run entity, higher education is still strongly tied to the federal government through research funding and student aid.

“Our purpose today is to hear about the year-round calendar and to explore what the federal government should do, if anything, to encourage it or at least not impede it,” said Alexander. “Specifically we want to explore if students ought to be able to use their Pell Grants for 12 months of study instead of nine, whether students should be able to use their allocation of student loans to finish their study in three years instead of four, and what impact year-round study would have on work-study programs.”

In addition to McKinney and Trachtenberg, testimony was heard from Michael Lomax, president of Dillard University and president-elect of the United Negro College Fund; Dartmouth’s director of financial aid Virginia Hazen; and Margaret Hazel from the University of California system.

While the other witnesses addressed the financial concerns of their institutions or student bodies as a whole, McKinney brought a more personal perspective to the hearing. She was almost unable to attend Vanderbilt due to financial concerns, and she stressed the importance of changing the financial aid program to meet any changes in the collegiate calendar.

McKinney also challenged the idea that an accelerated three-year schedule, rather than four years spread out through various terms including the summer, would benefit students personally and professionally.

“Creating the opportunity to take classes in the summer would be beneficial to many students, as long as summer classes remain a choice and not an obligation,” McKinney said. “Forcing students to take classes during the summer might deny those students the opportunity to get summer jobs, internships or undergraduate research grants, which would hurt the collegiate system in the long run. I think college is about personal exploration as much as it is about learning solid facts, and I believe that the space created in the summer is invaluable.”

The conclusion that all the witnesses came to was flexibility in higher education is essential. Students could attend college for the whole year and graduate early, or they could rearrange their schedule to take a spring or fall term off to find internships during less competitive semesters. Others might stagger their terms so they can work more often in order to pay for their education. Whatever the outcome, federal financial aid must change to support the varied needs of both colleges and their students.

Additionally, as McKinney alluded to in her testimony, education and the United States job market are inexorably linked.

“There is much talk these days in both the country and on the floor of the United States Senate about job loss,” Alexander said. “Higher education is America’s secret weapon for job growth. We need to make sure we are using our secret weapon most efficiently, so that it operates with the highest possible quality and with the greatest access for the largest possible number of qualified students.”

The hearing was concluded with Alexander proposing a commission that would intensely study the current system and consider the impact of a year-round calendar and financial aid options.

Then Alexander addressed McKinney. “Based on my own personal experience, you are well on your way to being a U.S. senator.”

Posted 3/10/04