Roomies

Xavier Baisden
When coming to a place of higher learning, one of the first things that students typically have to adjust to first is living with a roommate. Most students have become accustomed to living in a much larger room by themselves, so the prospect of living in a smaller room while having to share it with someone else is quite harrowing. However, having a roommate can be quite beneficial in many ways.
One of the main differences encountered when having a roommate can be simply realizing that someone else is in the room. This can be a double-bladed sword, as it will provide you with someone to talk to at times when you need to converse with, but it also prevents you from having privacy whenever you need some space. However, having someone from a different background to converse with can open your eyes to different practices. Many students have been raised by their parents to think there is only one train of thought when it comes to home life. This mindset can be slightly molded or radically changed when the student gets to college, as they will likely encounter many other cultures and practices as they observe others and what they consider to be normal.
Having a positive relationship with a roommate can be quite beneficial, as they can be the person to lift you up when you are feeling down, help you with homework problems, or even take care of you when you are sick. The relationship between roommates will typically last long past the time you spend together in college, due to the amount of time you have spent together, and can have many long-lasting positive effects.

Military - Dementia for Korean Students in Higher Education

Harry Han

In most things there exists a flow to it and a right timing. However if that stream of flow stops, people find themselves struggling to butt right back into the stream of flow. People say during higher education, students vastly expand their knowledge and prepare for their career. Unfortunately, most Korean students in higher education concern about whether military should be attended during higher education or after, and consequences may vary according to their choices.

Avoiding to attend military service is not an option for Korean students. According to an article “Leave of Absence for Korean Students,” by So-Yeong Kang, number of students staying out of colleges for a long period of time increased from 500,000 to 600,000 between years 2000 and 2005. Among these large groups of people, there are Korean students who are mostly of attending military. This so called gap year affects academic lives of Korean college students as it brings a stop to their thinking process. Within almost two and a half years Korean students miss out on every aspect of academics while undergoing hardcore training. Thus, by the time they get back to college, students find themselves troubling to readjust to the academics and most regret as they notice their brain no longer functions as it used to be.

People say between the age of 20 through 25 is the best period where one can obtain most knowledge. However to throw out this chance of pushing students to their next level of academics, by attending mandatory military service is a disadvantage to students’ lives. Although avoiding this mandatory service is impossible there are other options to it. According to Korean Government Law, one may attend military within the age of 19 to 24. This indicates that Korean students has a choice of finishing their college first and then attend military.

Attending military service within college years is not a smart move. Korean students will surely face consequences having an absence of academics, and in order to succeed one should plan ahead, judge smart, and study when they can.

As States Decrease Funding, Institutes Look Out of State

Greg Jones

Throughout 2008 and up until the summer of 2009 the state of California underwent a massive budget crisis. Falling incomes made income taxes less reliable and legislators disagreed on what to do. Some people in the state senate wanted to increase taxes while others wanted to cut funding. The California constitution stipulates that no increase in taxes can be done without a bond measure voted on by California residents. Not surprisingly the residents of California repeatedly rejected the idea of tax hikes. This eventually ended up leading to furlough days for state workers, $2 billion in IOUs being written by the state, and the eventual agreement to cut $15 billion in spending (K-12 education cannot be affected by these cuts because the state constitution says these funds cannot be cut without a bond measure but spending on higher education is affected).

The University of California system is already hurting for funding, but these additional cuts will only make the situation worse. The article At Public Universities: Less for More, by New York Times writer Paul Fain, details how some flagship universities, like UCLA, are attempting to cope with these decreased budgets. According to Paul (the article's writer), the most viable option for many of these universities is to admit higher percentages of out of state students because the tuition payed by them is much higher. The downside that he points out, however, is that with the downturn in the economy there is only a small pool of students looking to go out of state and universities would have to compete for these students. The increased number of in state applicants to flagship universities along with the decreased number of students seeking an education out of state could limit this ability to only a select few universities. This strategy is one that hits close to home because I am an out of state student at a flagship university, namely Georgia Institute of Technology. I think that admitting out of state students is in fact a good way to raise funds, but maintaining your commitment to in state students should be your top priority as a state school.

Access to Higher Education for Undocumented Students

Aimee Turner

A Supreme Court decision in 1982 (Plyler v. Doe) guaranteed undocumented children a free public school education; however, this ruling applied only to K–12. Access to postsecondary education remained severely constrained by federal laws that prevented undocumented students from receiving financial benefits to attend college. Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and many acts to follow aimed to exclude undocumented students from receiving state or local benefits for postsecondary education. Neither federal nor state law forbids undocumented students from attending college, but in effect many are turned away for financial reasons.

Most immigrants now come from Mexico and the countries of Central America, the Caribbean, and South Asia, rather than from Europe. There are also many more undocumented immigrants than ever before, now numbering around eleven million. Most of these illegals entered the United States by crossing the Mexican border with Mexico. Others entered with stolen or fraudulent visas or simply overstayed legal visas. Most illegal immigrants come to the United States to get better-paying jobs. Like most Americans, they pursue the American dream of a better life than they left behind. Education is the key to fulfilling this dream; however, this dream is stifled by their inability to fund the education on a collegiate level.

Remember that the Plyer v. Doe ruling is geared towards undocumented “children” who are seeking a free public education. These students came into America as children, in many cases against the will, and they should not be penalized for their parents’ choice to come to America. Furthermore, for those who are indeed taking the initiative to do well in grades K-12, should not have to struggle to make it to the next level in education.

Economic Crisis Affecting Educational Opportunities?

by: Kevin Brawley

In the current economic situation, individual businesses and corporations are taking the brunt of the force of the downfall. Just like any business, higher education is taking a real hit. Universities are having to raise their prices to stay afloat, and students were already having to pay large amounts of money to study at these universities. According to Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed, public institutions are having to increase their prices the most because of cuts in the state budgets. When paying for college, a majority of what students have to pay besides the tuition is the room and board. For public schools, this price went up 5.4% to $8,193. For private schools, this price went up 4.2% to $9,363.

With these shifts in academic costs, student financial aid has decreased therefore paying for college has become more difficult. Students at private universities receive on average $14,400 in total grant aid, lowering their net tuition cost to about $11,900. In-state students at public four-year universities receive around $5,400, making the net tuition to about $1,600. However, the majority of students attend public and community colleges. These schools are experiencing a larger increase from last year to this year than from two years ago to last year in the total cost of tuition and fees. Private colleges have managed to slightly reduce the increase in cost between the two times, but the fact is, the costs are still increasing from year to year. At this rate (assume a yearly increase of 5%), students could be paying twice what they pay now in just fifteen years. And this is not even counting the many other unexpected costs associated with attending college (books, activity fees, supplies, etc.).

All in all, college is becoming more expensive when students and their families are facing difficult economic times and the job market is also suffering (making it difficult to pay off those massive student loans). Education should be an institution that works to relieve the economic problem, not add to it.

College: For You? Or Your Parents?

Xavier Baisden
Throughout our youth, many students have been pushed by their parents to get good grades. Sometimes parents would introduce a motivator, whether it was a reward or punishment, but in the end, the focus would be on the student succeeding with their education. However, college is one of the first times that students are autonomous and have full control over themselves and their grades. At this point, the motivation is placed solely on the student and their desire to succeed in their education, not on their parents motivation for their child to succeed. This lack of an external motivator causes many students to relax and not work as rigorously, or take the attitude of a quote from Ben Franklin, "I am lord of myself, accountable to none." This attitude can be quite detrimental to a student's college grades.
Rather than having the student have heaps of freedom along with the pressure given to them all at once upon arrival at college, both the student and the parent should work together to make sure that the student will use their time wisely. This will allow for a much easier and much more successful transition to college. A student's first semester in college is their most important as it is during this time that they develop most of the habits they will carry with them for the rest of their college career. If the student can develop responsible time management skills early, the stress that they experience will be much easier to handle than it would've been, resulting in a much more positive college experience for them and their parents. (Except at Georgia Tech, where students will always be stressed out and happiness is unknown.)

Stolen Laptops – Thefts in Higher Education

Harry Han

Today laptop is almost a requirement in higher education. However it comes as a difficult task keeping them safe. Having a laptop is a convenience to work through higher education however when it gets stolen numerous issues emerge, disrupting both life of higher education students and the security of University.

Students use vast number of data and files within their classes of higher education and these files are essential sources to thrive within tough higher education courses. Laptops are convenient sources of keeping these files organized both within the class and outside the class. But when it comes to losing it, not only student’s life in higher education but also the security of entire school are devastatingly impacted.

According to the article “Increase in Stolen Laptops Endangers Data Security” by Andrea L. Foster, in University of Virginia, due to a stolen laptop, the thieves were able to retrieve up to US$22,000 by hacking into university systems under names of 7,000 employees, students and professors. Clearly, thefts can bring severe impact to University securities but it also influences the lives of the victim of the theft issue.

Stolen laptops not only concerns student with its cost of replacing it but it also disturbs and confuses the student. Due to the stolen laptop, student may find himself difficult to be back on track with his academics as he is missing data and files. Moreover, as Foster states that there is no way to prevent laptops from wandering, which indicates that chances of finding the laptop are pretty low. However, higher education students find the problem difficult to shake it off. Plus replacing the laptop also kills time thus meanwhile students will face numerous inconveniences.

Stolen laptops come as a serious issue to higher education today. Although it may seem like an issue affecting just an individual, it is rather an issue that the Universities must face and work to find a conclusion of prevention.

Universities Look in New Places to Trim Budgets

Greg Jones

Schools are running out of funding, and as a result they are looking to the private sector for ways in which they could trim their bloated budgets. The University of North Carolina recently did what most companies do when their budget is running a little high, they hired a consulting firm. In a recent story by the New York Times entitled Universities Turn to Consultants to Trim Budgets, by Tamar Lewin, outlines how the consulting firm hired by UNC told them how to save up to $150 million dollars. The key, the consulting firm says, is to make sure to stay away from touchy subjects like tenure and course loads. "Like any other large organization," the chancellor of UNC was quoted as saying, "we hire people, we buy stuff, we connect to the Internet, we build buildings and take care of our property, and we wanted [the consulting firm] to look at how we could carry out those functions as efficiently as possible." Since this consulting company, Bain & Company, did this consulting with UNC, it has been hired by University of California: Berkley and Cornell University. The University of North Carolina clearly isn't the only one interested in trimming the fat in preparation for budget shortfalls.

The main advantage of hiring a consulting firm to streamline processes such as procurement and IT is, put simply, experience. It's the same reason why doctors don't attempt to treat themselves when they get sick, because they know there are specialists out there with more experience in the field they are looking at getting treatment for. The people at Bain & Company have been doing this for over a decade, and though their prices may be high ($3 million dollars in the case of Berkley), if they produce real results the cost will be well worth it. This issue is important to students in higher education because if solutions aren't found to budget crises at universities on the business side, then funding will start to be subtracted from the academic side. These funding cuts could even include; rises in tuition, cuts of programs, and overcrowding of classes.

Facebook: How to Make the Most of It

Aimee Turner

The fact of the matter, one cannot be bias about the effects of Facebook on college admissions, job interviews and networking. However, one should be mindful of the image they are portraying on their Facebook profile. As you enter college, be mindful of the people who will be viewing your page such as, the admissions staff, new peers at your college, your professors, potential employers, both on and off campus, and of course, that creepy kid who is obsessing over you.

So how do you ensure that your image is protected? Remove or block any photos that show you drinking alcohol, even if you were in a situation where it was legal. Remove photos with rude gestures, that are sexually suggestive, promote illegal activity. Unsubscribe from any groups that show bias or bigotry and groups that promote illegal activity (those "I hate the World" and "I Love Getting High" groups). Also, remove contact information such as your phone number and address--not only is this a safety issue, but inclusion of such information shows bad judgment on your part. Choose an attractive and professional-looking photo for your profile picture. Most importantly, visit your site frequently to untag any unflattering photos your friends may have posted.

Many people will suggest that you block access to your account so that no one but your friends can view your site. This is good advice, but some housecleaning is still a good idea. It's hard to keep track of your online friends once you have hundreds of them, and it's hard to know who might be looking over the shoulder of one of your "friends."

Also, realize that you can actually turn the tables on those nosey employers and admissions officers who might be snooping around your site. Use your site to make yourself look good. Think of it as a free place to promote yourself and increase your chance of acceptance. For example, post pictures that show you doing constructive things (i.e. reading to kids, doing volunteer work, restoring a car). Post pictures that show you and your friends in a positive light -- colleges and employers want applicants with healthy social skills. Join groups that have positive messages (breast cancer awareness, peace not war, and so on)

If approached thoughtfully, social networking sites can be one more tool to help you get into your top choice colleges.

Volunteering...Everybody's Doing It

Kevin Brawley

Students in college face the overwhelming knowledge of the fact that the world will soon be in their hands. In a few short years, the students studying in our universities will take over important roles like city mayors, state governors, national presidents, and international ambassadors. The current state of affairs in the world, combined with the fact that information spreads so quickly making the world smaller and smaller everyday, is cementing this fact more and more to today’s students. In 2006, The Chronicle of Education reported that more college students were volunteering their time than ever before. That same year, Georgia Tech was named to the President’s Honor Roll for the amazing turn out of their students on the largest community service day of the year, Team Buzz. And the trend continues. This year, Team Buzz again produced a record turn out of Tech students to help out in the Atlanta community. When asked, one volunteer related that she “knows how much of a difference she can make in the world, and really just wants to make it.” That mentality reverberates throughout virtually all college campuses in America and in the world. Poverty and other issues in their local communities are made very real and apparent to them, and students recognize that if they want to make a difference in the ever-shrinking world, they can, at home, or abroad; the number of opportunities, in fact, is almost overwhelming. The largest issue they face is the choice of which projects they want to be involved in and when they want to be involved.

Smoke Cleared, Truth Revealed

Chris Massad

Fortunately, the percentage of Americans that smoke has decreased and is still decreasing every year. In contrast to this statistic, more specifically speaking, the percentage of smoking students has been on the rise for the past ten years. The problem is not confined to public universities alone. No, the issue surrounds both private and public institutions. It is not limited to one gender or cultural group but affects both religious and secular institution, two and four year colleges, large and small universities, and schools in urban and rural areas.

First year students are thrown into a big, new environment, away from home, and are free to choose their own lifestyle. They are presented with many opportunities to make risky decisions. The decisions students make in college mold and shape their past lives into new life patterns that will define who they become. This is why college smoking is an issue with such a priority level. However, despite this great need for change, universities have not successfully devised a program to eraditcate the problem. The rise in tobacco use has not been accredited to one cause. It is due a number of variables, some of which have not been realized, making it that much more difficult to create an effective prevention program. Universities have done research on the matter and it suggest that "one of the issues that must be taken into account in studying this population is the growing cultural diversity of our college campuses. Cultural as well as gender differences in smoking habits have been repeatedly found. This suggests that different groups of people might have different reasons for smoking." Universities have launched new projects to try and eradicate the ideals students have on smoking and research shows that within the next decade, the percentage increase could be reversed to a decline.

College & Alcohol: A Deadly Combination

Xavier Baisden
The freedoms that students face as they are in high school typically are rather mundane, as most of the time students are generally always accounted for by their parents. However, once students reach college, they are truly free and for the first time, at risk for some of the dangerous activities that are consistently found on college campuses across the nation. The most common and deadly of these hazardous activities is alcohol consumption.

The most common danger that students may not have been exposed to, or at least at this magnitude, is the presence and ease of access of alcohol. In high school, alcohol had a much more suppressed presence, due to the fact that nobody in high school is of legal age to buy alcohol. However, in college, there are many fraternities, sororities, and other organizations that not only supply alcohol for their own parties, but freely serve it to anyone. This danger is not only that is is being served to students that are underage, but to students that may easily be pushed past drinking amounts that they're body can handle in an attempt to impress others. This leads to competition and games involving alcohol, such as beer pong and races to see who can consume the most alcohol.

Alcohol also has many far reaching effects for days and weeks after it is consumed. According to a report by Ball State University, one night of heavy drinking can hamper your ability to think for up to 30 days. This report also shows that 1 in every 3 students has admitted to failing a test or project due to the aftereffects of alcohol. One final statistic is that 1,400 people a year die on college campuses from alcohol abuse. So when offered a drink, ask yourself: Is it worth it?

Universities See a Rise in Violent Crimes

Greg Jones

Ever since the '66 shooting perpetrated by Charles Whitman in the University of Texas bell tower, there have been more and more incidents of violence on school campuses (see HERE). These incidents culminated in the Virginia Tech Massacre and, more recently, a stabbing incident at UCLA last Thursday. The latter of these outbreaks hit especially close to home for me and inspired me to do this blog post on the subject of violence at universities across America. The victim of this particular episode was stabbed five times, and had her throat slit after being chosen at random by a deranged student, luckily she was rushed to UCLA medical center in time for her to become stable and survive the incident. She also attended my high school, went to her senior prom with one of my closest friends, was really tight with my sister, and was my teammate on several science competition teams (see Science Bowl). When an incident such as this affects someone that you know well, it reveals to you the true severity of violent crimes at the university level.

After I was informed of what had happened, I instinctively asked; why would someone do such a thing? The answer is the same as it always is in cases of school violence; mental distress of the perpetrator. The professors of the suspect in this case reported the student to the UCLA administration multiple times, citing e-mails in which it was clear to at least one professor that the suspect was in need of help. The question then becomes; why, after having gone through an incident like that of Virginia Tech, do university administrations continue to ignore warning signs pointing out the troubled students. Colleges and universities across the nation need to do a better job of recognizing these warning signs, taking these warning signs as serious threats, and acting upon these signs in order to prevent further rises in violent crimes on university campuses.

Ongoing Quarrel: Religion over Science in Higher Education

Harry Han

It all begins with Adam or Lucy; for centuries or even for thousands of years, an argument of whether to continue religious practices or search further knowledge has been a question to many people. Today science drives and improves people’s daily lives, and religion seems to fade out. Thus when it comes to higher education most religious students find themselves in trouble whether to focus more on the logics of science rather than their religious practices, and turns out balancing between religion and science seems difficult.

In class students face numerous interferences with religion and the discovery of science, especially in the class of biology. In the article “Religious right fights science for the heart of America,” by Suzanne Goldenberg, Al Frisby, a high school student who has been educated with the idea of God’s creation of “Eve out of Adam’s rib,” challenges his Biology teacher during the topic of genetics that God created life rather than bunch of cells. It’s possible that this argument can be debated within the high school level. However as education takes up to much higher level of college, science seems more logical and understanding than the words of the Bible. Thus sometimes religious students lose the idea of believing.

But the idea of science is not really the counter of God’s creation. According to the Merrium-Webster’s dictionary, the definition of science is “knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws.” This infers that science is a process of seeking truth but if the idea from the Bible and the general definition combine, science is a language to understanding god’s truth.

Many people still believe that science and religion cannot bind together as they contrast in their ideas. However the ideas between each other cannot clash nor counter as science in higher education is merely a language tool to figure out what god has created.

The Balancing Act: Degrees and Marriage

Aimee Turner

The primary motivation for going to college is considered to be the increase in earnings power that college education provides. However, there is also another potentially important benefit of college: college improves marriage opportunities by providing a social venue to meet potential spouses. Furthermore, a college-educated individual is substantially more likely to have a college-educated spouse. Thus, the individual enjoys educational balance in the household and benefits from the earnings power of the spouse. While this “marriage benefit” of college surely applies to both sexes, it is likely to be particularly important for women since married men on average have higher labor force participation rates and higher incomes than married women.

As Steve Watters pointed out in his article “Why College Men Aren't Ready to Marry,” the average age for marriage, for both men and women, has risen significantly since the middle of the last century. Is this a positive sign? In a culture where a significant portion of the current adult population hasn't been able to make a marriage last, it seems best to proceed with caution. The assumption is that that the longer you wait to get married, the more ready you will be emotionally, financially, and spiritually to build a lasting marriage when the time comes.

So when is the time right? Research studies have shown that women are tending to want to wait longer than their male counterparts. A common reason found amongst women who are decided to wait is that that they need an extended period of independence to “discover ourselves.” A second common reason I hear for delaying marriage is that college women need to focus first and foremost on getting a degree and pursuing a career. Often, there is pressure from parents, relatives, and teachers to continue on this path. But what message is this sending? Has money seems to have become more of a priority than relationships?

Are We Choosing the Right Major?

By: Kevin Brawley

When students across the nation, or the world for that matter, are applying for college, they have to make an important decision: what do they want to major in? This is a very important question that takes serious thinking. Some people base their major decision on which major will give them the best career in the future. Karin Fischer and David Glenn, from the Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote an article called 5 College Majors On the Rise that identifies and describes five majors that are now emerging at colleges.

The five majors are as follows: Service Sciences, Health Informatics, Computational Science, Sustainability, and Public Health. Service Sciences studies ways to "improve productivity and increase innovation." Health informatics will teach students going into health-care how to use electronic databases. Computational science teaches "the use of computer modeling and simulation to advance other fields." Sustainability teaches the science behind being environmentally sustainable. This major is along the lines of environmental engineering. Lastly, Public Health teaches more epidemiology and less of actual medicine in an undergraduate setting.

These five majors are on the rise because they are all based around the most rapidly growing fields today. However, most college students probably do not have that in mind when choosing their major. Unfortunately, some choose the easiest major just so they can go through college carefree. Others choose their majors to follow in the footsteps of relatives, or it is predetermined by their parents which major they want their son or daughter to pursue at university. Then, there are some students that go through three years of college to finally figure out the right major for them. Fortunately, in the end, a lot of students choose their majors based on what they are passionate about and feel like they can contribute the most to the advancement of the field.

Sticky Hands

Chris Massad

Americans between the age of 25 and 44 are the most likely age group victims of scam and credit card theft, according to a 2004 Federal Trade Commission report. However, many people are unaware of the growing rate of identity theft and scam for college students. Experts say that because of their naivete and love for technology, students in college are prime targets. Many scams are birthed online. Buying books online is one way thieves target students. Experts are urging students to be extremely careful when purchasing books online. Denise Owens, Comerica Bank's Texas fraud and identity theft investigator says, "If it seems too good to be true, it is." Another way criminals like to take money is through money transfers. Foreign students are often wiring money home or having money wired to them from home, and that creates opportunities for smart computer hackers to drain an account.

Many college students either lose or report stolen debit or credits card every day. Sometime, this is unavoidable, but universities have been making matters worse. Colleges around the nation have adopted an I.D. card with debit card capabilities. Students don't treat these cards like credit or debit cards, and coupled with the fact that they need them most everywhere they go on campus, it makes it very easy for another student with sticky hands to grab the card and drain the funds. It's tough for students to avoid theft when there are many opportunities to fall victim to the crime. The only preventive measure students can take is be careful when purchasing this online and use protected sites whenever possible.

Assignments: from Paper to Electronic

Harry Han

Communication makes our life comfortable. One of the best communication systems developed during the 20th century, internet has been providing people convenience and nowadays, paper-printing seems ancient. Thus due to the improvement of communication worldwide, colleges are finding internet a useful source of convenience for handing assignments in.

Online sites known as “T-Square” and “Web-Assign” are a convenient systems for Georgia Tech professors and students, where they can have access to assignments and homework online. As a result, professors are able to assign homework to students, in their very own desks, without handing each student a hand-out for their assignment. Moreover, it also became convenient for students as students did not have to track down their professors to find out what they have missed as they only had to log in to T-Square and check out the assignment block in their classes. However, with great convenience, students had to show some more maturity in their management with assignments.

As posting up and handing in assignments became easier, some students find themselves finishing their homework during the last hour of assignment due date. Moreover, students now have fewer excuses to earn a freebie from late assignments because all their assignments are posted online and missing a class due to sickness will not extend their due date. Therefore through this type of online system, students can learn to finish their tasks without other people around them nagging.

Online posts came as a convenient and fast education system for both professors and students. However with much convenience, students of higher education find themselves in need of much maturity and organization with their assignments. In a nutshell, students may thrive within higher education if they are not influenced to procrastinate due to convenient online post assignments.

Living With the Opposite Sex

Chris Massad

Before the 1980's, coed residence halls were nowhere to be found. Then came the 80's, and with it, came coed buildings. As the times change, so do university, living policies. Today there are more than two dozen colleges that offer students the opportunity to live with people of the opposite sex. Many people think this is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but if you open your mind to consider coed rooming, it does have its advantages.



For one, students get to live and socialize with the opposite sex. Colleges who offer coed rooming their prospective students already have an advantage; many students find this to be a favorable living option. Universities also benefit it provides more housing options. because this offersIt also makes for great real life experience. Life is never going to be separated into same-sex compartments, especially in the work place. Some women feel safer and have a more comfortable sense of security when they share a room with the a guy. And you have to think, same sex rooming isn't for everyone. Some girls find other girls to be catty and full of attitude and would prefer to live with someone who isn't full of drama all the time.

The majority of universities do not condone this policy. They believe that the risk of coed dorms is too high and is overall inappropriate. Then again, 30 years ago, coed buildings didn't even exists, now almost every university has coed buildings. Colleges are evolving, and even though very few schools offer coed dorms, who's to say that in the near future more and more schools won't "get with the times" and adopt this policy. Students who live with the opposite sex admit that it really is not a big deal. It makes for a great learning experience and a lesson in maturity. Big name colleges including Harvard, University of Michigan, and Dartmouth College have adopted this way of living. If these schools can function successfully with this type of living environment, others can to.

Costs and Rewards of College: Is it Worth it?

Xavier Baisden
During these tough economic times, attending higher tier colleges and universities has been become increasingly difficult. Students’ inability or unwillingness to pay such a high cost for higher education has put them in a compromising position: attend a school of lesser prestige that is affordable, or graduate from a higher tier university with massive amounts of debt. For those who choose to attend the more costly universities, the financial stress causes many to look for other means of financial support. Many students are required to work in some fashion while attending college to defray some of the costs for their education. This form of making ends meet, in turn has many inconspicuous, adverse effects on a student’s performance in school. The extreme costs of higher education not only impact a student’s college choice, but also the student’s performance and lifestyle while attending college.
Over the past three decades, college has gone from being a place for the wealthy and smartest of students to an almost mandatory form of higher education. However, a constant rise in the cost of attending college has accompanied this paradigm shift in those attending college. According to Syracuse.com, tuition at private universities has risen 154 percent, and has risen 187 percent at public universities. This constant increase in costs can be attributed to multiple sources, such as the increase in technologies required to successfully run a college, the rise of the community college, and sheer inflation. However, this escalation in the cost of in tuition has rapidly outgrown the average income, putting both students and parents alike in the precarious situation of finding the cost-effectiveness of attending certain colleges. This decision is simply part of the money aspect of attending college.

The Reality of Student Hazing

Kevin Brawley

When some students think of joining a club, fraternity, or a sport during their time at college, the thought of student hazing has to run through their mind. This criminal act has been in the news for happening on college campuses all across the country. Many would think that since this is against the law that hazing would not occur. Unfortunately the law does not stop some groups of people. An occurrence of hazing was in the news lately. Twenty-seven members of the Jacksonville State University marching band were suspended for beating freshman as a form of hazing.

College officials need a way to stop this from occurring, instead of having to deal with the problems after they have occurred. The Hazing Prevention Organization puts on an annual Hazing Prevention Symposium. During this symposium, those who attend examine the research, theories, and practical implications for addressing the problem of hazing. For this to have an effect on campuses, college officials should attend symposiums such as this one so they can develop ideas that would help stop hazing from occurring on their campuses.

Students should not have to worry about joining a club, fraternity, or a sport. College is supposed to be a time where students go outside of their comfort to try new things. It is hard for students to want to do that if they have to worry about the possibility of hazing happening on their school's campus. Personally, I did not want to join a fraternity because of the thought of hazing. I would not want to have other people telling me what I had to do which is what pledges have to go through each year.

Academic Research

Greg Jones

Ever since the end of World War II, academic research has been a fixture of all major universities. Universities are a logical place to conduct research because they offer a nexus of higher level thinkers, centralized facilities, and hundreds of students more than willing to work ungodly hours if professors need help. Ever since research began in major universities across America, most of the funding has come from the federal government. In the article Federal Spending on Academic Research Rose Slightly in 2008, Charles Huckabee (the author) explains that while the amount of federal funding for academic research indeed increased, the overall amount spent on academic research increased much more. The data for this article was collected by the National Science Foundation. The foundation breaks the funding down into which department of the federal government is doing the funding and what is being researched with their funds as well as which institutions receive the most funding (Georgia Tech is number 19 out of the public institutions in federal funding).

What does this mean to administrators and students of these research institutions? It means that the administrators must look to other sources for the funding they require for research. In a time of economic turmoil, funding from industry been surprisingly forthcoming, increasing at a faster rate than funding from the federal government. Other sources of funding for academic research include state and local governments and universities themselves. For students, this decrease in the percentage of funding by the federal government means that unless other sources of funding are found there will be less academic research opportunities for undergraduates at universities across America. Academic research is vital to the furtherance of science and technology and administrators need to begin searching for new ways of funding it if the increased spending trend is to continue.