Local parents fight for child’s right to live off campus

Baldwin County parents refuse to take no for an answer–planning legal and legislative interventions against Georgia College & State University’s new residential freshman policy.

The policy requires all freshmen entering in fall of 2003 to live on campus. The only exceptions are those who are married, or the primary care takers of another, those transferring with 24 credit hours or more (not including joint enrollment), those taking only online courses, those taking less than seven semester hours or taking strictly joint enrollment, or those who have an unique hardship.

Milledgeville parent Nick Parker, whose daughter plans to attend GC&SU in the fall, said he would work to get an appropriations committee for state legislature to stand behind the community.

“I also hope a federal judge gets in there,” he said. “Is it legal to take tax dollars and make the decision they’ve made?”

Local residents disagree with the new policy and intend to show GC&SU
the impact they are making on the local community.

“As a parent, I’m opposed to it. I live in Milledgeville. We moved here for my son to attend a college like Georgia College,” said Ron Houck, resident of Milledgeville. “This new policy basically eliminates a considerable number of young men and women from surrounding counties. For example, when I live 7.3 miles away I don’t see the logic behind it.”

Houck isn’t the only resident annoyed with the new requirement. According to him, this topic is discussed even in the local barbershops.

“I was really furious that a state-supported school would make such a decision, because I feel like it is economical discrimination. It takes away the individual’s choice to live at home, or in an apartment,” said Parker. “What Georgia College is saying that we are turning our back on those counties that have supported them. They have enough enrollment from other areas that they don’t care if a local student enrolls or not.”

According to Executive Assistant to the President Max Allen, when University Council discussed the policy they did not want the local community to be denied the benefits of this experience. After their discussion, GC&SU adopted the policy, last spring.

“That, primarily, is why we decided not to exempt them. From the stand point of a financial issue, if there are people that have a financial hardship we want to know, and we want to be able to sit down with them and look at ways to help them,” said Allen. “If they are qualified, we don’t want the financial hardship to be stumbling block. We will work to try to find the necessary funds through scholarships, grants or additional financial aid.”

“I’m opposed to that because that means that somebody who is financially strapped receives more privileges than someone who has a decent job. I think that is a double standard,” said Houck. “I think it is a step in the right direction, but I don’t think finance should be the conditional consideration of living off-campus. It should be the parent’s and child’s decision; however, Georgia College is placing a dollar amount on whether or not a child should live on campus.”

According to Houck, this new policy is causing local students, including his son, to apply to other institutions besides GC&SU. His son is a senior at John Milledge Academy and attends joint enrollment classes at GC&SU. He planned on attending GC&SU for their “renowned” criminal justice program, but now is looking into other colleges.

“That percentage is going to make a negative impact, when the majority of that percentage will not attend Georgia College. I think Georgia College has an obligation to the local community,” he said. “But Ms. DePaolo doesn’t understand that the concern is not the academic qualifications, but we are opposed to this policy. I’m just asking for the compromise to give the parent and child an option. Some children are not ready to adapt to college, and by allowing that child one more year to be nurtured by a parent does it really impact his educational growth?”

According to Allen, GC&SU understands their feelings, but believes the local community will also benefit from living on campus.

“I understand their concerns of initially not wanting to accept what we are looking to implement. I don’t think they understand fully what we are trying to do. A lot of people in this area still think of us as being a good commuter school and a school of convenience,” said Allen. “We are no longer that. We now have a statewide mission as a liberal arts public university. The Board of Regents asked us to be focused on our mission and that is what we are trying to do. This whole idea of freshman living on campus for their first year is extremely important.”

According to Houck, GC&SU is the one of 32 colleges of the University System of Georgia to have a policy this strict.

“They are the only college that mandates this policy for all freshmen. All colleges that offer housing have an exception clause that allows freshman to live at home with a legal guardian or within a 30-mile radius,” said Houck. “So when you look at all of these factors and the economical fact that a parent has to pay approximately $5,400 per year to send their child to college, it’s just unfair.”

Valdosta State University requires freshmen to live on campus except for those who are married, 19 years of age by Sept. 30, live with a legal guardian or parent and commute, have earned 30 or more hours, or those who have medical problems.

North Georgia College & State University requires freshmen to live on campus except those who are married, live with a legal guardian or parent and commute, those over the age of 23, those who have been honorably discharged after two years of military, or have an associate’s degree.

Houck said he spoke to 22 faculty and staff employees of GC&SU, and each one was opposed to the new policy. Nine of those 22 have children that would have been attending GC&SU within the next two years.

“I think that Ms. DePaolo is a very progressive administor. She’s done wonderful things for the college. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want to send my son there,” said Houck. “This policy has taken away the ability and decision making process of a parent and is being mandated by an administor who has no personal involvement with the child. It’s not a financial burden on me, but it’s the right or wrong that the college is dictating where the student must live. Rather it should be a personal decision.”

GC&SU reviewed national data before establishing this policy.
According to the national data, “extensive national research on college outcomes confirms that students who participate in campus tend to experience a greater likelihood of college success, a greater personal growth and development, a greater satisfaction with college, a greater involvement in campus leadership opportunities and a greater likelihood of graduation.”

GC&SU performed its own study after seeing those results. Based on this research, “77 percent of current freshmen live in campus housing. This fall, faculty members were asked to identify new students whom they felt could be at risk academically based on attendance, performance or participation. About 60 percent of the 89 names submitted are students who live off-campus. A 1999 study shows residential freshmen outperformed commuting freshmen by an average of 0.5 (on scale of 4.0) in GPA. Students living on campus have the opportunity to attend interactive socials, community-building, academic and personal development programs. GC&SU also plans to add a Faculty Fellows program, where faculty members will serve as recourses to groups of 24 new students in residence halls. University Housing also intends to develop theme floors within the residence halls to reflect the three ‘cornerstone’ themes of Global Issues and Diversity, Service and Civic Engagement and the Fine Arts.”

“Those students that are not having that freshmen experience just by living on campus and getting involved with all the things happening in the residence halls are missing out. And 60 percent of those cases are having difficulty adjusting from high school to college life, so what we are trying to do is eliminate that frustration level or that kind of ‘culture shock’ from a high school environment to a college one,” said Allen. “We are trying to make that transition as easy as possible. We feel that a freshmen resident requirement with our type of mission would help our students to be more successful. We feel that the likelihood of that success is greater if the student lives on campus.”

Houck and Parker aren’t satisfied with this data.

“But there is not one mentioned about what a sophomore, junior or senior receives, and yet they are not required to live on campus,” said
Houck.

“I’m a taxpayer, and I just don’t think an institution that receives tax dollars should be telling them where to live. Many people can’t afford the $6,000 and shouldn’t have to,” said Parker. “J.C. Penny, doesn’t force you to buy a shirt, they put it on a rack and market to you, you either decide to buy or not. GC&SU has decided to cram it down a freshman’s throat, and they have to live in a dorm whether they like it or not.”

Houck likes the changes that President DePaolo has made to GC&SU.

“I personally would like to see a compromise and that is to allow the parents and the child from the local areas to decide to live on or off campus. And from that do a three-year study and compare those who live off campus and on campus. Then review the results and make a decision,” he said. “If it shows that the majority of the local freshmen living off campus have lower grades versus the ones that lived on campus for the first year, then I feel that this policy would have more validity. There is always a need to reexamine this progressiveness. In essence they are not concerned with the local town at all.”

Allen recommended if students have issues with the policy, please contact President DePaolo. All responses are welcome.

“We hope to educate more students to understand and appreciate the importance of this type of education and develop future leaders of this state and country. We want to make sure that we do our best job possible to provide a quality liberal arts education for all students,” he said. “We welcome students from every county in the state and beyond. We want the best and brightest students regardless of where they come from.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 18 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry