The Rising Cost

Part of our journey this time was to encounter a few American colleges for our girls to give them an idea of what higher education was like in the States.  Last year, Elsa went to the University of Queensland for a tour on her camp experience.  This year it was Wartburg, UW - Platteville and Concordia, Seward.

On the plane ride home, I watched a documentary on post-high school education.  It wasn't particularly gracious; the point of the movie was that college education expenses are so out of control, and student debt has mounted so greatly, that most graduated college students will not be able to pay off their debt for years.  The rising costs of facilities; more and more professors receiving tenure and then turning over their classes to adjuncts, has created a Hindenburg balloon over our heads - one small flash fire and BOOM!...

The entire 1 trillion dollar school loan debt in the United States will come crashing to the earth.

As I survey the present day college landscape from a distance, I recognize the need for activities: But does a university really need to pay the head coach of one sport eight million dollars per year, simply to be a athletic motivational speaker?  Doesn't it seem strange that the only ones paid for athletics are the coaches, not the players?  Sure, sure, the students are given an 'athletic scholarship' for their 'university studies' - but more often than not, they are lured by the megabucks of professional athletics.

And the fact that they are treated like gods.  Adherents of the university athletic religion rise to their feet, waving their arms, asking the blessing of the athlete.  During the college worship services, the games, they dress for the event, sing and chant, long with expectation that their worship will influence the outcome.  At what cost?  The average athlete will play sports for four years, wreck both of their knees and a shoulder and then consider it awesome that they have a diploma in general studies with which they received a healthy C- average.  That's quite a generalization, but too often we only hear the stories of the superstar athletes that invest most of their time for the one year of college as their own promotional, and not the ones that look back to college as just 'the glory days.'

I'm off the track here, but I was thinking about where Elsa, first, would like to go to college.  My emotional side thinks that Wartburg College, a small Lutheran college in eastern Iowa, would be one of her top choices.  So, a few months ago, I organized through the admissions office a time for a tour and some tickets to go to the Christmas concert where the bands and choirs perform.  When we arrived, people were stressed - the admissions person who was with us, a very nice young lady who had chaperoned people before, mentioned to us that it was finals week and we were a nice 'break.'  She ushered us around campus at breakneck speed.  I felt sorry for her because I knew we were probably an interruption that she didn't need, but she did her best and as we were whisked through the auditorium, and even more quickly through the music building, I thought to myself, "This is where I went to college and either I don't remember, or I don't want to, the stress of finals." 

Then I remembered, what stress? Compared to the rest of life, college is an oasis of serenity; classes, learning, socializing, more socializing with a dash of socializing on top, music and then socializing.  That's what I paid for.  I only finished paying off my degree in finance, ahem, my social degree (as Christine affectionately refers to it), about eight years ago.  Now, I imagine, some students are attempting to repay their college loans four times as much as I borrowed.  Some of them could have bought a house with theirs.

What's the point that I'm getting at?  It came on the third leg of our journey.  The new sports complex on Wartburg's campus.  It is absolutely incredible.  I'm sure that there are many sports teams that would love to have a hall of fame like the Wartburg facility.  As the young student ushered us through the doors, it was like entering the Hall of Justice where the Superfriends hang out.  You ascend the stairs and what assaults the eyes is a 160 meter hallway of athletic awards that Wartburg has won over the years.  It was incredible.  Awesome.  I could feel the pride rise up in me, even though I had absolutely nothing to do with the garnering of any of these banners or trophies.  I wanted to look around at the students who were milling about and say, Yeah, look at me, I'm an alumnus.  I made this possible for you.  You can thank me now or later, makes no difference. 

New basketball courts, a swimming pool (awesome), an indoor track, climbing wall - How does anyone get any studying done when there is a place like this on campus?

I asked our guide how much this had cost.  She looked at me with a mixture of sheepishness and pride - "It cost 100 million dollars."

Gulp. 

No wonder it costs $42,000 to send a 'child' to college.  We've got to repay the debts.  

"It's not just the athletic building; we upgraded the cafeteria and the library, the science building and the auditorium." 

Well, that makes it all better.  I was just about ready to turn our family around and head back to the car but I remembered that we needed to get to the concert that night.  Wartburg, how could you have fallen into the temptation of 'trying to keep up with the Jones's?  Why couldn't you just offer the same, quality, affordable education that you gave (or tried to give) me?  Why turn this place into a theme park?

With a small amount of despondency, we went to the Christmas With Wartburg concert which was in Neumann Auditorium where I used to work on campus.  We sat in the balcony with my parents.  After stuffing our coats onto a rack, we plodded up the stairs.  This musical event was monumentally transforming in my own life when I went to Wartburg and I was glad that I was going to get to share it with my family. 

The lights dimmed and an extreme, mid-western voice rolled through the air.  The narrator was giving us some directions and then right at the end he said, "This is not a concert, it's a worship service; please do not applaud.  We worship for the glory of God."

My jaw dropped.  They never said that when I was there.  The music began; like ghosts the choirs surrounded and moved in between the audience and a mystical Christmas carol began to evolve and float through the room.  The music grew and I looked over at Christine who was already crying because of this Christmas season and the worship of the one born 2,000 years ago and born again in our hearts on that night.  I couldn't even sing...

But the guy three rows behind me could - or at least he thought he could sing. 

Doesn't matter.  When they finished the song, it was all I could do to keep from clapping, shouting; - as an adherent, I wanted to ask the blessing of the benevolent God of the universe to bring peace and goodwill to earth again.  It was true worship.

And then I thought to myself at the end of the service, Wartburg, you are awesome!  I'm willing to mortgage my existence to send my daughters here for their post high school education.  $42,000 for one year of education?  No problem.  It's only money, right?

 Wartburg is a fantastic school.  It has a variety of opportunities and services; the students were friendly and enthusiastic; the sports and music programs are accomplished.  My last question was:

Where is the hall of fame for the musicians and those that receive academic awards?  Is there a night when the crowds rise in unison to scream and shout their joy at their marvelous achievements?  I'd really like the world to begin to recognize on a grander scale the incredible achievements of the arts and academics rather than just the athletics. 

But that could cost even more money. 

This isn't supposed to be a scathing diatribe against Wartburg - it's meant to be an introspective of all college and universities understanding of the rising costs of education.  How can we change this?  How can we make it affordable again?  How can we help to make sure that I don't have to pay off my daughter's college bills when I am in the nursing home?

Donate now if you would like to help out with Elsa's scholarship fund which will begin in two years.