Do you have a college student in your family? I got a call from Emma the other day which is always a pleasant surprise since she is in college in Maine.

 We had a talk about her college classes as she progresses towards her desired field of study. Emma, much like a lot of college students across the country is fighting a desperate battle to achieve not only their personal and educational goals, but also figuring out a way to deal with an educational system that has completely failed them in many ways.

Emma and many other students across the country are faced with taking virtual classes, little or no guidance from advisors or professors, yet are still paying full tuition for their “college experience.” 

As a parent it pains me to know that these colleges have not only the gall, but the audacity to demand full tuition and not even return a third of the value. It has long been my thoughts that politics and education were two of the biggest scams going.

Before anyone gets riled up, I’m not talking about our teachers in the elementary and high schools across our country. I’m also really not talking about our teachers and professors at the university level either, although I feel many have taken advantage of the current national situation to “milk the system” and not deliver their full effort to the students. As far as politics go, I don’t think I need to elaborate.

I’m talking about our universities and colleges in general. While services and amenities seem to dwindle at many of the universities, tuition and rates have continued to rise. Somehow, someway, that doesn’t seem right. 

I think my daughter’s plight is not an isolated circumstance. She is seeking advance on classes and needs some type of guidance yet there is very little response to her needs or even holding classes on a regular basis because of the unavailability of the teachers and advisors. I’m sure this has become a problem across our country and possibly even here in the state of Georgia.

Have you had a situation like this with a college student in your family? My bet is that it’s frustrating at any level of the educational field, but it’s extremely frustrating when families continually face the rising costs of a college education.

Also, I’m sure more and more people are taking note of the online universities that are popping up all across the country and the ones calling foul and demeaning that type of education are the actual brick and mortar universities. Why? Because it is cutting into their, well, cut.

I think an on campus education has many values outside of classroom. There’s a certain amount of growing up that has to happen and there also should be a mixture of success and failure. I don’t know if you can get that with online learning. Emma works at a restaurant as a server for extra income and that has hit her as well during the past year.

As we talked she seemed a little frazzled about how things were going and I reminded her to stay the course and keep working hard and she would get where she needed to go. We talked about a plan and she sounded better as we hung up. She’ll make it and so will Sadie and Cameron who are also college students facing a system more intent on their profits than the welfare of the students who depend on them. It seemed to bother more as I thought about the conversation and I’m sure we aren’t the only family facing these types of difficulties.

We need to demand more from our colleges, not because of my family, but because I’m sure this is not isolated.

If you see me, say “Hey!”

Dee McLelland is Publisher of the Coastal Courier and the Bryan County News.