Is College Worth It? Local Grads Say Yes

Is college worth it? Local grads say yes BY PAT FLYNN , UNION-TRIBUNE SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011 AT 6 P.M.

Anna Gasaway, who has earned a nursing degree from San Diego City College, wants to work with stroke patients.

Anna Gasaway already had a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious East Coast college and had held a variety of jobs when a personal tragedy brought a renewed focus to her life.

After suffering a stillbirth in 2004, she decided to return to school and enroll in the nursing program at San Diego City College. Gasaway was inspired by a nurse who was especially comforting and helpful.

“The nurse was so caring and supportive,” Gasaway said. She has also had experience with nurses who were “not so good” and she is determined to be “one of the good nurses.”

Gasaway, 36, grew up in Indiana and received a scholarship to attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She majored in religious studies and never considered a career in nursing, mostly because her mother was a nurse, she admitted with a wry smile. At the age of 21, Gasaway suffered a major stroke and was in a coma for three days. She credits her full recovery to her age at the time and the help and encouragement of nurses.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke, her jobs ranged from travel agent to child care worker with AmeriCorps. After the stillbirth, she couldn’t face working with children and did volunteer work at a local Jewish Family Services senior center. She decided that if Holocaust survivors could overcome their hardships, she could deal with her circumstance and “be OK.”

Gasaway said she feels blessed and hopeful for the future. She and her husband, a civil engineer, have a four-year- old son. Although the classes, labs and intensive studying of the last couple of years have meant time away from her family, she believes it’s been good for her son to see her working hard toward a goal.

She is confident she could work well with stroke patients. “I’ve been in their shoes,” said Gasaway, who hopes to eventually continue her education and return to City College and teach.

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Is college worth it? Local grads say yes BY PAT FLYNN , UNION-TRIBUNE SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011 AT 6 P.M.

Photos

San Diego State graduation gallery

Is college worth it? It's a provocative question for the thousands of students who have graduated from local colleges and universities this spring, and those who will receive their diplomas in coming days, are leaving school as a provocative question is being asked: Is college worth it?

That’s the title of a just-released study by the Pew Research Center and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The survey found that 57 percent of Americans believe the nation’s higher education system does not provide students good value for the money they and their parents spend, and that 75 percent think college is too expensive for most families.

By contrast, an overwhelming majority (86 percent) of those who have earned a college degree said their investment in higher education was well worth it.

Shaun Biggs, 32, was among about 1,750 California State University San Marcos students who participated in one of three graduation ceremonies held Friday and Saturday on campus. He has no doubt that his diploma will have value.

“I had a million dollar resume and no college degree,” said Biggs, an Army veteran who said he did very well in the mortgage business until the real estate collapse. As he looked for a new career, he said, he was a finalist three times for jobs that paid more than $100,000 annually.

“Every time, the person who beat me out had a college degree,” Biggs said. “They actually wanted me over the other person, but I didn’t have a degree. It definitely gave me a message.”

Biggs used the GI Bill to help pay for his schooling at Palomar College and CSUSM, but he still leaves college about $40,000 in debt.

The Pew study found that a record number of students are leaving college with substantial debt. Citing 2007 figures, the study found that 15 percent of the nation’s households have student debt, up from 9 percent in 1989. The average balance was $21,500, up from $8,700 in 1989 (figures are in 2007 dollars).

About half of those who have student debt told researchers that it made it made it harder for them to pay other bills. One quarter of those with debt said it made it harder to buy a home and a quarter said the debt affected their career choices.

But unlike their predecessors in the past three years, graduates in 2011 may face brighter job prospects as the economy rebounds. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported in an April study that employers plan to hire 19 percent more new college graduates this year than they did last year.

Other reports show salaries for graduates have been shrinking. But data cited in the Pew study and elsewhere show that over a lifetime, college graduates earn a great deal more than high school graduates. Biggs said that without his degree he could not pursue his planned career as a financial services professional, a career he believes will allow him to comfortably pay off his loans. He said he expects to be making more than $100,000 annually by his second year in business and well more than that as his career progresses.

“I couldn’t have the life I’m going to live without going to college,” he said.

Biggs and others also noted that there is more than monetary value in a college education.

“I think it’s shortsighted to put it strictly in financial terms,” said Natalie Fowler, 22, one of about 6,000 undergraduates at the University of California San Diego who will get diplomas in six ceremonies June 11 and 12. “There is so much more that is valuable – a better understanding of your surroundings and the world.”

Fowler, who has a Fulbright grant to do postgraduate research on refugee children in the Middle East, said she probably will eventually go to graduate school and end up working for a nongovernmental organization on immigration and refugee issues. Such a career is not likely to be especially financially rewarding, she said.

But, she said, she has friends who are recent graduates working in labs or traveling overseas on “skimpy” research grants or working in low-paying journalism jobs.

“There’s not a great amount of money, but they’re happy,” she said. “Education exposes you to a lot of things you can be passionate about.

“I would say it’s absolutely worthwhile,” continued Fowler, who acknowledged that her perspective might be skewed because she received substantial financial aid based on need and merit. “I think it’s worth it for everyone.”

Stephen Weber, the soon-to-retire president of San Diego State University, said that when considering the worth of higher education there is more to the equation than just the substantial added earnings individuals will collect over their working lives.

“They’re valuable to us, to the positioning of San Diego’s economy long term,” said Weber, who presided over his final SDSU graduation ceremonies at Sunday at Viejas Arena. More than 10,250 SDSU graduates participated in one of seven commencement ceremonies over the weekend.

The University of San Diego celebrated commencement Sunday for a total of 1,200 undergraduates in ceremonies in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on campus.

“The biggest gains we need in the San Diego regional workforce are in the knowledge areas these students represent ... wireless, biotech, software engineering,” Weber said. “The baccalaureate degree is valuable both to the graduate and to society.”

Deaf student says he's proof that disability is not inability Isidore Niyongabo • SDSU

We found Isidore Niyongabo personal story of challenge and triumph so compelling, we asked him to tell us in his own words. His educational journey is no less remarkable; he is deaf yet knows how to speak and sign in several languages. Following graduation, the 29-yer-old plans to attend graduate school and study clinical psychology. He was chosen as SDSU’s 2010 Homecoming King.

PHOTO BY EARNIE GRAFTON Isidore Niyongabo, who was born in Burundi, plans to go to graduate school after graduating from San Diego State University. "I was born and raised in Gasorwe, in the northeastern part of Burundi. I grew up in a loving and caring family, farmers but not poor. Although my parents did not attend high school, they led a lifestyle of educated people. During my childhood, I had maternal rubella and then kwashiorkor; both illnesses attacking me from age one through five. I started elementary school at the same time with my younger brother at age 7. Through that time, I would attend school half day and take care of our family goats and sheep in the afternoon, which I enjoyed the most.

My life was almost perfect until age 10 when I lost my hearing to spinal meningitis. This illness left me deaf but not dead, and changed my life forever. When I lost my hearing, I had no idea that I was going to become who I am today and be where I am. Everything happens for a reason. My family struggled to find a way for me to continue my education. When they found a school for the deaf in Gitega, central province of Burundi, my father took me there on his bicycle, riding together for 13 hours on a hot summer day.

This journey once again is unforgettable. While I was struggling to transition from hearing to deafness, the October 21, 1993, Burundi Genocide added tragedy by taking away my father’s life, leaving my mother and siblings in a displaced camp for years. Thanks to the generosity of many people, I was able to continue my education, attended mainstream high school as the only deaf student, and I eventually moved to the U.S. in 2005. I earned an Associate of Art Degree from Ohlone College in 2008 and was able to transfer to San Diego State University. Being able to succeed at this level with my deafness makes me living proof that obstacles are not an excuse to not succeed, and “disability” is not “inability.” The world needs to shift their mentality in regard to people with disabilities and look at what we are capable of doing.

If I could compare deaf people and hearing people on a scale of 1 to 10, deaf people cannot do only one thing: hear; but, alas, we have sign language; if the hearing world would be willing to learn sign language as a second or third language, there wouldn’t be any disability in between.

Last but not least, it means a dream realized. I have not failed all the people who supported me emotionally, materially and financially. I will be able to get my family out from the misery that human hatred has left them."

MBA recipient says he couldn't have done it without his mother's support: 'She's like my guiding light.' Minas Be-Emnet • Ashford University

When Minas Be-Emnet graduated from Ashford University three weeks ago his mother stood by with pride.

The newly minted Master of Business Administration would have it no other way.

“Everything I do is a reflection on her,” said Be-Emnet, 28. “What kept me going on my B.A. and what kept me going on my M.B.A. is a reflection of the values she instilled in me. She’s like my guiding light.”

His widowed mother, Aster Selassie, raised him and his sister in National City. When it was time for him to attend middle school, the family moved to Poway, he said, because of the schools.

“Education is one of those important and sacred things in my family,” Be-Emnet said.

That’s why there was no question he would go on to earn a graduate degree after finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of California Santa Cruz in molecular, cellular, developmental biology.

With a bachelor’s degree like that he considered medical school before settling on business.

The choice was made after he got a job at Ashford in the admissions office and was able to check out the programs firsthand. The two-year online program allowed him the flexibility to work and to coach basketball at his old high school, he said.

“Ashford brought all of the things about going to school into one,” he said.

Asked if it was worth it, Be-Emnet did not hesitate. “I’m investing in myself. What better investment is there?” he said about being a college graduate with a masters degree. “It might be bad times now but you just stepped over 60 percent of the world. You get so much knowledge and you are able to venture out into any idea you have.”

Elizabeth Aguilera • U-T

Ex-Marine who served in Iraq plans to put education to work in Mideast Kevin Staight • UCSD

PHOTO BY EARNIE GRAFTON Kevin Staight will be graduating UCSD with degrees in linguistics and management science. The former Marine is fluent in Arabic and attended school in Egypt and Syria. As a Marine, Kevin Staight twice deployed to Iraq with an infantry battalion where he saw how destructive war could be. Now his goal is to help rebuild things in the Middle East.

Staight, 28, graduates from the University of California San Diego in June with degrees in management science and linguistics.

He hopes to work in international business, particularly with companies involved in technology or infrastructure projects in the Middle East. In the fall, he’ll begin a MBA program at New York University.

While attending UCSD, Staight studied in Egypt and Syria for two years. He was named one of two winners of the 2011 Joel Dean Award, an honor given to the university’s outstanding management science student.

That’s a far cry from the high school kid from Orange County with the 2.9 GPA who enlisted in the Marines after he was rejected by every school he applied to.

During his four-year military stint, Staight spent time in Fallujah and Ramadi, experiences that fostered a deep interest in the Middle East. He decided to learn Arabic in part because of an incident in Fallujah, when his squad’s Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device, suffering side impact damage.

After checking out the area, the Marines went into a nearby house where they found two men, a woman and some children. No one could communicate with the family, so the Marines had to take the men back to their base to be interrogated about the IED.

The woman began to cry. Staight felt helpless.

“We can’t tell her we are just taking them for questioning,” he said. “If we could tell her, maybe it would make her feel better. It would make me feel better.”

He began learning Arabic before his second tour. Now that he can speak Arabic fluently, he’s looking forward to using those skills in his future career.

Karen Kucher • U-T

Hurricane Katrina couldn't keep SDSU student from realizing college dreams DeAna Thomas • SDSU

PHOTO BY EARNIE GRAFTON DeAna Thomas is graduating from SDSU with a degree in public heath. Thomas and her mother were forced to flee their Mississippi home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When Hurricane Katrina chased DeAna Thomas out of Mississippi nearly six years ago, she arrived at San Diego High School feeling like a scared child and an outsider.

Today, Thomas is a college graduate — the first one in her family. With a brand new bachelor’s degree in public health from San Diego State University, Thomas feels like “a proud young woman.”

She also feels like a San Diegan, something she never could have predicted during that 2 1/2 day bus ride out of flooded Gulfport with her mother in September of 2005. “I look back and I think, ‘How did I do it? How did I actually get through that situation the way I did?’” said Thomas, 23.

As it turns out, the same storm that devastated the south also turned out to be the harbinger of change — for the better — for the Thomas women.

Katrina forced them to leave a relative’s apartment in their hometown for another relative’s apartment in San Diego.

The two now share an apartment in Golden Hill. They never expected to stay this long.

After buckling down at San Diego High’s business academy, Thomas got into San Diego State with a partial scholarship and worked her way through college — sometimes holding down two jobs and a full load of courses.

Thomas is convinced that Katrina, along with her family’s long history of struggles, has driven her to succeed.

“Katrina did change me,” she said. “San Diego feels like home, it does. But I don’t feel obligated to stay in any one place any more. I see opportunities and the positive aspects in life everywhere, even in negative circumstances.”

Thomas hopes to attend graduate school and perhaps work to help the disadvantaged secure quality health care. In the meantime, she plans to earn a certificate in accounting. Her mother is working to become a truck driver.

Maureen Magee • U-T

Treatment by supportive nurse inspires woman to return to school for nursing degree Anna Gasaway • San Diego City College

PHOTO BY EARNIE GRAFTON Anna Gasaway, who has earned a nursing degree from San Diego City College, wants to work with stroke patients. Anna Gasaway already had a bachelor’s degree from a prestigious East Coast college and had held a variety of jobs when a personal tragedy brought a renewed focus to her life.

After suffering a stillbirth in 2004, she decided to return to school and enroll in the nursing program at San Diego City College. Gasaway was inspired by a nurse who was especially comforting and helpful.

“The nurse was so caring and supportive,” Gasaway said. She has also had experience with nurses who were “not so good” and she is determined to be “one of the good nurses.”

Gasaway, 36, grew up in Indiana and received a scholarship to attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She majored in religious studies and never considered a career in nursing, mostly because her mother was a nurse, she admitted with a wry smile. At the age of 21, Gasaway suffered a major stroke and was in a coma for three days. She credits her full recovery to her age at the time and the help and encouragement of nurses.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke, her jobs ranged from travel agent to child care worker with AmeriCorps. After the stillbirth, she couldn’t face working with children and did volunteer work at a local Jewish Family Services senior center. She decided that if Holocaust survivors could overcome their hardships, she could deal with her circumstance and “be OK.”

Gasaway said she feels blessed and hopeful for the future. She and her husband, a civil engineer, have a four-year-old son. Although the classes, labs and intensive studying of the last couple of years have meant time away from her family, she believes it’s been good for her son to see her working hard toward a goal.

She is confident she could work well with stroke patients. “I’ve been in their shoes,” said Gasaway, who hopes to eventually continue her education and return to City College and teach.

Blanca Gonzalez • U-T

First person in family to attend college now has bachelor's, master's, MBA and Ph.D. Lorena Meza • USD PHOTO BY CHARLIE NEUMAN Lorena Meza, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs at Cal State San Marcos, has earned a Ph.D in leadership studies from U.S.D. Lorena Meza was expecting 67, maybe 68 members of her extended family to attend her graduation ceremonies at the University of San Diego Saturday.

She was the first ever in her family to go to college and now the first to earn a Ph.D. She is also an inspiration to many in her extended clan to pursue higher education for themselves.

Meza, 46, was born in Mexico and came to the United States with her parents and seven siblings at the age of 8. Her parents had little education but “decided to come to the land of opportunity.”

She grew up in Pomona, married her high school sweetheart at the age of 16, and had two children. At the age of 29 she decided to go to college.

Since then, Meza has earned a bachelor’s degree in Literature and Writing Studies from California State University San Marcos; a Master’s degree in Education/Multicultural Counseling from San Diego State University; an M.B.A. from CSUSM; and now a doctoral degree in Leadership Studies, Higher Education Administration from the University of San Diego.

She clearly believes in the value of education and she loves to learn.

“I think education is not just about upward mobility, it’s about learning how to appreciate life and how to give back to your community,” she said. “And it’s about self-growth.”

For the past four years, while she completed her 5-year Ph.D. program in four years, Meza has worked as an Associate Vice President for Student Academic Support Services at CSUSM where she oversees 10 departments.

“I try to get students to understand that (education) is an investment,” she said. “Students want instant results. But I tell them you have to work and you have to continue to build on your experience in order to reap the rewards. And at some point you do.” J. Harry Jones • U-T