High school graduation is supposed to mark the ending of one phase of life and the beginning of another. Some students will leave school days behind, but the majority will continue in studies for a few more years before they’re ready to settle into a more or less permanent, full-time job. Many of them, however, are not spending a final summer at home before “going off to college.”
Of 117 May graduates of Pratt High and Skyline School, nearly 60 plan to enroll next fall at Pratt Community College. Half of that number have expressed plans for transferring to a four-year college after that.
“It’s economically responsible — it makes sense,” said Jillian Aramowicz, who will live at home and enroll at PCC this fall as a sophomore, having already earned her first year’s credits during her junior and senior years at Pratt High. The emphasis during the next year will be to “get classes out of the way,” she said, having made sure everything she takes at PCC will transfer to Kansas State University, where she expects to major in photojournalism. Once at K-State, the plan is to share an off-campus apartment with a friend and get involved in campus life.
She’s counting on scholarships, two summer jobs, and employment during the college term to hold off the need for a student loan as long as possible.
“College is just incredibly expensive,” said Cynthia Aramowicz, Jillian’s mother. “We did encourage her to go to PCC for a year, but we’ve tried to leave that up to her. If we can save this year and help more next year when she needs to go somewhere else to get the classes she needs, that will be to her advantage.”
While she is saving money by attending PCC, tuition is increasing by 5 to 6 percent at Kansas Board of Regents universities, hiking a student’s bill by as much as $200 per semester.
Tuition enhancements were necessary to maintain the quality of education Kansans deserve and demand, and were kept near inflation levels, according to Donna Shank, the newly-elected chair of the Board of Regents.
A Regents survey demonstrates that state universities in Kansas “remain a great buy,” according to a June 12 news release. Students at the state’s three research institutions, Kansas State University, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University, pay $822 or 14 percent less than residents in neighboring states to attend similar institutions. Tuition at the three regional institutions, Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University and Pittsburg State University, is $722 or 20 percent less than at similar schools in surrounding states.
