By Mari Taylor
Around here, college rivalry abounds. And not just in regard to the University of Washington site chase.
At our house we have our own college rivalry. One daughter attends Western Washington University, one daughter attends community college and one is a Cougar. I’m a UW alumnus — but I work for WWU. With this mix, you’d assume that our individual allegiances would fuel considerable friction at family dinners. Not so.
Just like students everywhere, each of our college choices was determined by specific need. One daughter lives at school, a traditional campus experience; one is completing her degree through a distance learning program, entirely online; and one is chipping away at undergraduate requirements through community colleges, both online and in face-to-face classrooms. Each student is getting what she needs from very different programs. This isn’t necessarily true for many students in Snohomish and Island Counties.
Any prospective college student has many factors to consider when it comes to college choice. For most students, choosing a college means navigating a maze elements from cost to reputation to location to mascot (Geoduck anyone?) Fortunately for us, many of these issues are now moot: University of Washington has an admirable reputation, science and technology programs are clearly in demand, and as mascots go, a Dawg is a pretty decent one.
Unfortunately, location and cost remain major considerations for most prospective students. As you may have guessed, these criteria are virtually inseparable. Though cost is closely linked to location for most students, for underprivileged students, location is often the insurmountable obstacle to access. The cost of attending a public university in Washington jumps from around $5,500 per year to as much as $18,000 per year when a student has to live away from home to attend.
Additionally, many non-traditional students face limited access to higher education due to family or work commitments, health issues or any number of other challenges. Ironically, very often the barriers that keep students place-bound, limiting their educational opportunities, are those that can be alleviated through access to higher education.
Locating a new university at any of the proposed sites will indisputably improve access to place-bound students in our area. Additionally, projections for population growth in Snohomish and Island Counties, combined with demand for workers in the technology sector indicate that we won’t have any trouble filling these classrooms.
We have a unique opportunity to build our university from the ground up; a blank slate to build the ideal institution based on decades of experience. Through accessibility, room for expansion, on-site housing for traditional students and application of existing education technologies such as web-based learning, we can accommodate students of the future as well as those of the present.
Wherever the UW North is ultimately placed, all of our communities will benefit from its presence. We need to make sure all of our students will benefit as well.
The question we really need to answer at this point is: Who are the people we are attempting to serve by locating a university here, and how can we best serve them?
Mari Taylor is the Program Coordinator for WWU Elementary Education in Seattle and is a member of the Lake Stevens School District Board of Directors.
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