It's not the money, part one

In 1988, two Washington, D.C., area philanthropists offered to pay the entire cost of college for any fifth grader from Maryland's Seat Pleasant Elementary School who graduated from high school and got admitted to college. Of the 59 "Dreamers," as they came to be called, 44 graduated from high school, and another 5 got their GEDs, a higher percentage than the overall graduation rate for Prince George's County students at that time. Almost half enrolled in college, and at least 11 got four-year degrees. But most dropped out of college. Among the 59 dreamers are a doctor, an elected official, a policeman, a lawyer, a cellist, two drug dealers, a suicide, and a murderer.

Thinking that these donors may have waited too late, a different set of philanthropists set out to issue golden tickets, starting even earlier. In 1993, there were 73 third-graders at Orr Elementary in the District of Columbia, who were told that their college would be paid for. After 10 years of intensive mentoring, tutoring, summer camps and ski trips, 54 of the 73 Orr Dreamers graduated from high school. Among them was a single mother, a gunshot victim, a violinist, an artist, dozens of honor roll members, scholarship athletes and several aspiring doctors. Starting earlier hadn’t delivered much different results; their high school graduation rate was nearly identical to the first dream class.

This is particularly poignant in light of recent demands for universal, cost-free (except to taxpayers footing the bill) college admission and tutelage. Writer Michael Brooks warns, “At some point, the ubiquity and perceived societal value of a college degree will evolve into an argument for financially supporting it as an entitlement.” And university president Hamid Shirvani adds, “As soon as the word "privilege" enters the conversation, people bring up the subject of access, with the implication that if something is a privilege, only privileged people will enjoy it. But in America, access to higher education is unparalleled. No other country has so many fully accredited colle or has provided such widespread access to student financial aid.” Shirvani concludes, “…as the costs of education rise, [students assume that] government should absorb them. That is no longer possible or desirable.”

Nor is it a guarantee of success, in light of the Seat Pleasant and Orr experiences. It’s not the money, Part Two...next Tuesday (January 3, 2012).