So, I was reading the Wall Street Journal. (OK. I also read the New York Times, the LA Times, the Detroit Free Press, the Jerusalem Post, and the Washington Post every single day. Plus a few weekly newspapers. But, that’s not the point. )

There was an interesting op-ed. (I should admit that I do not generally read the editorial pages of the WSJ. I already know what they are going to say and find them of little educational value.) The title got to me- Silent Cal’s Merit Scholarships. In my mind, putting Calvin Coolidge in that sentence is intriguing. After all, he became president because Harding died while Coolidge was Vice President- and Coolidge gave us the recession. But, again, I digress.

The article had some very important facts. They resonated in my soul. Let me list them before I discuss them…

• Paying for college is the first big financial event of most young people’s lives
• If their parents are well off, tuition is considered a birthright for these kids
• College should be treated as something earned, not owed

I understand the cost of college. The one I chose (I was lucky to have a plethora of choices with which I could matriculate) was truly special. One of the finest attributes of this institution was that they educated students whose family income was about the same as the annual tuition.

Let that sink in for a while.

It means, as is true today, that tuition at my institution was a suggestion point. One which most students did not pay- except in my school’s case, it was one the entering students could not pay. The students worked- some full time, some part time. The students sought out scholarships. (Many of my fellow students also had US Merit Scholarships and/or NY Regents’ Scholarships.) Not many had that birthright that would make it possible for them to attend college without loans, scholarships. or jobs. I was lucky enough to have these, plus the help of the inventor of the dry cell battery (Samuel Ruben, who named me as the Samuel Ruben Scholar of Chemical Engineering) to provide the means for my undergraduate education.

My fellow students were often first generation college entrants. My school afforded these folks the ability to transform their lives from that of the lower class or the lower middle class to the middle and upper middle class. These students were being educated and taught how to live completely new lives.

To be honest, it’s why I worked for years on its alumni committee. Because we called every single graduate in our region, asking (ok, often demanding) they send in $ 18, $ 25, $ 50 or more for the scholarships afforded the kids that came after them. This is how my college maintained its mission and vision.

(I will digress and bring you up to date. One of my Chem E professors, Dr. Donald Othmer, made a name for himself by writing the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, among other things.  He also managed to husband his resources for years. When he and his wife passed away in 1995, they donated the bulk of their fortune to public insittutions. The University of Nebraska got $ 133 million, Planned Parenthood (yes!) got $ 65 million, the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philly (to build the Othmer library of Chemical Engineering) got $ 100 million, plus some $ 165 million split among the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (Brooklyn), the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and the Long Island College Hospital (which had an affiliation with my school).

Oh, and my school, Brooklyn Poly got $ 175 million. All this money came from Dr. Othmer’s investment in his fellow Omaha residents’ firm- the Berkshire Hathaway Company. And, Othmer’s bequethal was more money that Poly’s endowment had accumulated over its 125 year history- in total. Money that was coveted by New York University, which convinced Governor Cuomo to change the NY law barring NYU from having an engineering program- because it went belly up in the 70’s when its law school and med school wouldn’t share funds with the rest of the university. This (terrible) move by Cuomo let NYU swallow up Brooklyn Poly- and its newly found money. I am no longer active in the alumni group, since tuition is now ridiculously expensive.)

It’s time we treat college as something earned and not owed. It’s time we help our teenagers (that’s what they are) attend 2 year schools for free. And, these community colleges need to become excellent, not just adequate. To let the students learn how to think and act. To let the students be ready and able to finish their four year degrees- in four years!

(Only 40% of students graduate within the 4 year program; the rest- almost 60%- take SIX years!!!!  Which clearly makes college costs much higher than you think.)

This is critical for our civilization can continue to grow and thrive- and make it possible for our next generations to see that there is an American Dream. Not an American Chimera, where tuition debt renders them paupers for the rest of their lives.

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