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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2019)
4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • MARCH 20, 2019 O PINION The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg- ing the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition their Government for a redress of greivences. Letters to the Editor Policy The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received. 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As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. Are rising costs, scandals devaluing college degrees? W hile reading about the college scandal involv- ing payments by dozens of wealthy parents to William Rick Singer to assure their children’s acceptance into the upper echelons of high- er education, I had to shake my head once again at the need to overhaul our college educational system and its dependency on rising tuition and high profile athletics. As parents, my wife and I have been very honest with kids about the level of finan- cial support they can expect from us for college. To do this, I used my annual do- nation to our local public broadcasting station as an example. “You know how they have different levels of supporters? And how the more money you contribute, the nicer the gift they send you as a show of their appreciation for your support — like a T-shirt or really nice backpack, or if you’re a gold-level member an entire season of your fa- vorite PBS show in a special limited-edition boxed set on Blu-Ray?” Our kids nodded. “As a gift, we received a re- frigerator magnet for a show that was canceled three years ago.” Blank stares from our kids. I explained that the only free-ride scholarship we could provide will have al- ready been spent on food, shelter and their unlimited texting and data plans. My wife and I have attend- ed very helpful scholarship fairs where local community organizations provided in- formation about the many scholarships available. In ad- dition, we’ve attended work- ter much consideration and analysis, including a math- ematical formula involving median income combined with cost projections, annual inflation predictions and an old abacus I found at a garage sale, I was able to determine what I believe is the biggest financial challenge facing students and their families when it comes to continuing their education beyond high school: Colleges cost too much. In fact, if I didn’t know From the Managing Editor’s Desk Ned Hickson shops discussing everything from how to apply for federal education grants, to tips on interviewing and properly filling out scholarship appli- cations. What we discovered about the scholarship application process is that there is a lot of money out there, available from local organizations and clubs as well as county, state and federal funds specifically earmarked for college educa- tion. It’s essentially our tax dol- lars at work. And since I’ve been paying taxes nonstop since I was 17, I have no problem getting a return on my investment to help our kids and others receive a col- lege education. Here’s the problem: Af- better, I’d say colleges are be- ing run by pharmaceutical companies — which would make sense since, coinciden- tally, most of the side effects found on drug labels are the same symptoms I felt while researching annual tuition costs: headache, chest pain, shortness of breath, insom- nia, vision loss, vomiting, loss of appetite… According to the American College Board, the average annual cost of tuition at a pri- vate college is $32,405. Or if you’re looking for a real bar- gain, $23,893 a year to attend a public college from out of state. However, your best bet is to enroll in a community col- lege as an in-state resident, where the average tuition is $9,410. Which, by the way, is still $9,310 more than we’ll have saved up for our youngest daughter’s college fund. I should probably point out that I did not attend college and never aquired a degree. That said, it’s not that I’m advocating against receiving a college education; I’m just saying that ultimately, with or without a degree, what matters most is a drive to succeed and willingness to work hard for it. No degree can guarantee success over an individual’s desire to be successful. Do I want my doctor to have a medical degree? You bet. Should a lawyer be re- quired to have a law degree? Certainly. Would I be ok with a doc- tor without a medical degree operating on the average law- yer? Most likely. The question is whether the rising cost of higher ed- ucation — coupled with the revelation that those wealthy enough to do so can buy their child’s way into a prestigious college through acts of fraud — are devaluing those de- grees and our system of high- er education as a whole? Especially when compared to what can be achieved with a high degree of dedication and hard work instead — And the freedom to pursue your life’s passions debt free. Send letters to: nhickson@cgsentinel.com or cmay@cgsentinel.com HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS Oregon state representatives Oregon federal representatives • Sen. Floyd Prozanski District 4 State Senator PO Box 11511 Eugene, Ore. 97440 Phone: 541-342-2447 Email : sen.floydprozanski@ state.or.us • Rep. Cedric Hayden Republican District 7 State Representative 900 Court St. NE Salem, Ore. 97301 Phone: 503-986-1407 Website: www.leg.state.or. us/hayden Email: rep.cedrichayden@ state.or.us • Rep. Peter DeFazio (House of Representatives) 405 East 8th Ave. #2030 Eugene, Ore. 97401 Email: defazio.house.gov/ contact/email-peter Phone: 541-465-6732 • Sen. Ron Wyden 405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020 Eugene, Ore. 97401 Email: wyden.senate.gov Phone: (541) 431-0229 • Sen. 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