In the latest instance of colleges providing hand-holding incentives to students, Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) has begun paying some students to meet with career counselors. Through grant funding, students are eligible to receive $50 a month so long as they meet with a counselor at least once during that span. The pilot program is an effort to increase student retention and graduation rates.
Funded by Expanding Success, the grant in question has awarded $125,000 each to two other community colleges in the area in addition to BCCC: Prince George’s Community College and Wor-Wic Community College. For the time being, a lucky few eligible students (250 in all) will be able to cash in on monthly visits to the academic advisor’s office for one-on-one support.
Such actions further the “campy”-ness of college and leave students in a not-a-child-but-not-an-adult limbo.Whether students and counselors realize it or not, this is a form of infantilizing—treating adults as children by denying their maturity and agency. This can be seen elsewhere, in colleges’ and universities’ attempts to prioritize “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings,” and general student comfort on campus. All of these actions further the “campy”-ness of college and leave students in a not-a-child-but-not-an-adult limbo.
A recent New York Times article by Rita Koganzon of UNC’s School of Civic Life and Leadership gives a fictional example of how an underage college student, versus a full-time waiter of the same age, might be reprimanded for drunkenness. Only the latter would be treated as an adult and receive adult consequences. Koganzon puts it bluntly: “Universities don’t openly describe students as children, but that is how they treat them.” Indeed, students and parents, too, frequently view college as an in-between place where students are legally adults but are still treated (and act) in many ways like children. Koganzon shares that “the majority of college students—84 percent, according to one study—don’t view themselves as full adults, nor do their parents. It is tempting to allow [oneself] to be managed this way because the price of the security and comfort [provided by colleges] seems so low. It’s not brutal repression, only the loss of self-government.”
In the case of Baltimore, the community colleges in question clearly believe that students will put in the effort to succeed only if they are enticed with an allowance. The Baltimore Sun’s coverage quotes Debra McCurdy, president of BCCC, who says that the $50 perk, while not a large sum, is a “way to maintain enrollment.” But McCurdy also acknowledges that students are “getting the dollars for doing what [they’re] supposed to” be doing. What a concept, getting a perk for looking after one’s own future. What’s next? Paying students to show up to class and do their homework?
Students entering the world of higher education should be aware of the commitment they are making. The only way for them to truly have success is to take personal responsibility for their education. If a student is expected to meet with a career advisor, then he or she should be held responsible for doing so and should likewise be held responsible for the consequences. Once they enter the workforce, students will presumably not be paid extra to show up to staff meetings or given an allowance for getting to work on time. There are certain expectations one is held to as an employee, and it would be beneficial to students and employers if colleges would return to holding students to similarly high standards.
At the end of the day, if students do not take college seriously enough to meet with freely provided career counselors, then maybe they should not be in school. Better to learn early on that they are not cut out for the demands of higher education than to be helped along for multiple years, only to find themselves unable to navigate the real world.
Ashlynn Warta is the state reporter for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.