The Scene staff
By Coffee Clark
The Scene staff
Students have to leave St. Louis Community College every day because of finances, mental-health issues and other barriers to education.
Officials have attempted to bridge some gaps with services, such as those offered by the Student Advocacy & Resource Center. However, that’s only fixing a symptom of a bigger problem: The school is structured in an uncompassionate way, resulting in its embarrassingly low graduation rates.
Only 17% of students who enroll go on to earn associate degrees within eight years, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard database. That’s compared to an average 32% for two[1]year colleges nationwide.
STLCC’s motto is “Expanding Minds. Changing Lives.” I believe that we truly can Chronically Coffee Letter to the Editor make improvements by addressing issues that prevent students from expanding their minds and stop the school from changing lives.
I propose what I am calling a Compassionate Learning Framework. The goal is for the school to acknowledge and adapt to address both external and internal issues that students face daily.
First, let’s examine external issues. The first and most obvious is the cost of tuition. Luckily, through Federal Student Aid, many students are getting help with this. However, there are still gaps.
I come from a background that would normally qualify me for aid, but I couldn’t fill out the FAFSA because my parents didn’t file their taxes. Students in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program aren’t eligible for financial aid. And some students aren’t in contact with their families because they might be toxic.
Despite some exceptions, obtaining Federal Student Aid requires extensive documentation, and this affects the people with the least amount of time to jump through hoops set up by the government.
My solution is diverting $100,000 of STLCC Chancellor Jeff Pitman’s lofty $295,000 annual salary to grants and scholarships to fill gaps in financial aid. If he truly cares about us as students, then he should be willing to earn less than $200,000 for that cause; $195,000 is plenty for any sane person to live on.
I am open to other suggestions on how to generate the funds to fill financial-aid gaps, but that would require the administration to make the first step of reaching out to students like me who believe that this school can change for the better.
The next external issue I will be tackling is transportation to school. While Metro passes can be very helpful, the main issue is that getting a pass is contingent on students paying for part of their semester’s tuition.
As most students who receive financial aid are aware, the money only gets applied after the fifth week of each semester. That leaves many students struggling to find ways to get to school for several weeks. The gap in services could very easily be filled by eliminating the barrier to getting a pass earlier.
Now let’s get into the internal issues. Mental health is something I’ve struggled with all my life. While writing this column, I experienced an intense manic episode that made functioning as a student and as a community member very difficult.
Despite this, I wasn’t allowed a moment to breathe, and I do think that made it worse. There is a lack of compassion towards people like me who may not be able to perform all the time as a student.
So, what can we do about this?
First, I think students should be able to take breaks for mental-health purposes without barriers to re-entry, such as doctor’s notes. Give them a moment to recuperate without their grades going down.
The STLCC administration needs to implement policies that allow for students going through personal hardship to get the care or treatment they need without having to give up school entirely.
Second, teachers should be given the same considerations. I recently talked to a former teacher who got burned out by the top-down management approach of the administration.
Teachers are trying their best to teach students while budgets are getting cut, and they’re often forced into classrooms that don’t function well for their classes. In the past, budget cuts also have led to layoffs and other reductions in resources.
Administrators need to hear employee voices and work with them rather than constantly being at odds.
Third, students and faculty need to talk, organize and protest if the administration doesn’t make necessary changes. Showing solidarity can help get their needs met. If faculty members strike during the next contract negotiations, the students should join them. That would keep the school from being able to operate.
Faculty members create and maintain the value of the institution through their labor. We as students pay to access the value that they create. If faculty members strike, there is no labor and therefore no value.
Can the administrators teach all the classes themselves? No, of course not! Students are the source of the school’s money. If we cut off that supply, we can force administrators to meet our demands.
Students and faculty hold all the power.
We’ve just been convinced that administrators have it and that there’s nothing we can do. We need to become aware of the power we already have and wield it to fight for change. Then could come a day when all our needs are being met at STLCC.