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I believe I can safely say that one of the first things students think about is how to pay for their education, no matter what their age. Students in the College of Liberal Studies are certainly no exception. Finances might be even more of a question for you with your many responsibilities as an adult student.
Good news! Here are some scholarship opportunities for you to consider.
1. The Undergraduate or Graduate Start-up Scholarship.
As the name implies, this scholarship is for students who are beginning their first semester in our bachelor’s or master’s program. The amount available is $500.
2. The Osher Reentry Scholarship.
The Bernard Osher Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, provides scholarship funds to colleges and universities across the country intended especially for students who are returning to school. Specifically, these funds are available by application for:
a. Students who have been out of school and are returning to complete their first undergraduate degree, or;
b. Students who are enrolled or were previously enrolled in on-site/hybrid classes at any University of Oklahoma site such as Oklahoma City Community College, Rose State College, OU-Tulsa, OU-Norman, Ponca City, and Lawton/Ft. Sill.
Up to $1400 is available via tuition waiver.
The deadline for summer is soon – June 4 –and for the fall the deadline is Aug. 3.
In the fall two other scholarship opportunities are available:
The Undergraduate or Graduate Alumni Scholarship and the Ruth Coble Scholarship.
I encourage you to apply. You can contact our scholarship coordinator Christine Yeo at christineyeo@ou.edu.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Are you ready for graduate school?
Congratulations. You’ve got your bachelor’s degree in hand along with a sudden bonanza of free time. Perhaps, though, since you are still in the zone, you are considering a graduate degree. You want to keep going along the higher education trail. Great idea and I am all for it. But before you dive in, there are some questions you should probably ask of yourself. This is a bigger decision than you may realize.
Much like your first year of college is not like the 13th grade of high school graduate study is not two more years of undergraduate work. It’s entirely different. As a graduate student, you learn to become a scholar, a deep thinker and a researcher.
Not to be discouraging in any way, I just want you to have clear eyes about what will be required of you if decide to go higher. So, here is a short, completely unscientific quiz to see if you have the right mindset to continue. Ready?
1. Are you prepared to be an independent scholar and figure things out on your own?
2. Do you have a clear sense of the area of concentration you would like to study?
3. If so, do you absolutely love it enough to spend two years dedicated to it?
4. How about: Do you have as much, if not more, time to devote to your studies as you did for undergraduate work?)
5. This implies the undergrad didn’t do this. How about “Are you ready to challenge your personal thought paradigms even further than you did in undergraduate studies?”)
6. Are you prepared to justify your work to your professors?
7. Is your writing sound, free of grammatical errors and flawed arguments?
8. Are you familiar with, and able to use, the standard citation systems of the American Psychological Association and the Multiple Language Association?
9. Are you going to graduate school as a refuge from real life or to elevate yourself to the next level of personal development or in your career?
10. Is there a plan in place to pay for it?
Scoring: I’ll make this easy. If you answered “no” to at least two of these questions, you should give serious thought to whether you are ready. A little time away from higher education is not always a bad thing. If you miss it, that is a good sign. Either way, call me. I am happy to help you decide.
Much like your first year of college is not like the 13th grade of high school graduate study is not two more years of undergraduate work. It’s entirely different. As a graduate student, you learn to become a scholar, a deep thinker and a researcher.
Not to be discouraging in any way, I just want you to have clear eyes about what will be required of you if decide to go higher. So, here is a short, completely unscientific quiz to see if you have the right mindset to continue. Ready?
1. Are you prepared to be an independent scholar and figure things out on your own?
2. Do you have a clear sense of the area of concentration you would like to study?
3. If so, do you absolutely love it enough to spend two years dedicated to it?
4. How about: Do you have as much, if not more, time to devote to your studies as you did for undergraduate work?)
5. This implies the undergrad didn’t do this. How about “Are you ready to challenge your personal thought paradigms even further than you did in undergraduate studies?”)
6. Are you prepared to justify your work to your professors?
7. Is your writing sound, free of grammatical errors and flawed arguments?
8. Are you familiar with, and able to use, the standard citation systems of the American Psychological Association and the Multiple Language Association?
9. Are you going to graduate school as a refuge from real life or to elevate yourself to the next level of personal development or in your career?
10. Is there a plan in place to pay for it?
Scoring: I’ll make this easy. If you answered “no” to at least two of these questions, you should give serious thought to whether you are ready. A little time away from higher education is not always a bad thing. If you miss it, that is a good sign. Either way, call me. I am happy to help you decide.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Interdisciplinary education
Inter: between
Disciplinary: study of an academic field.
Interdisciplinary: study between two or more academic fields.
I am often asked what it means to be a “liberal studies” student. I generally respond that it means to be broadly read, widely knowledgeable, and classically educated. But when I start talking about interdisciplinary study, that’s where I lose them.
Sometimes we use words without giving them much thought. I know what interdisciplinary means. Use it several times a day. What I forget is that while this word is a part of my work life, it probably doesn’t roll off the tongues of most people. (Try saying interdisciplinary three times fast.)
At colleges and universities, we have disciplines, areas where faculty members and students concentrate their time and effort. The word discipline has meaning. It indicates the mental discipline necessary to think in a particular, scholarly way. A novice student must discipline their thinking to the most current knowledge in their elected area of study. That includes becoming familiar with the vocabulary, the discoveries and the particular research methods within the discipline. And most students spend most of their time focusing on one specific disciplinary area. It could be electrical engineering, or meteorology or elementary education. These are single, focused disciplines with a specific outcome. Graduates become engineers, meteorologists or teachers.
Interdisciplinary study implies a broader range of focus, if you will. It is a generalist education where students take a wide variety of courses that may at first seem unrelated but in reality are teaching critical thinking skills. By studying across disciplines, students become knowledgeable in the research methods, the vocabularies and the current knowledge in a variety of academic areas. Students with an interdisciplinary background are able to access and evaluate information from a wider range of intellectual perspectives.
In the College of Liberal Studies, we recognize three broad areas of academic knowledge: humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. Courses in our programs generally fall within one of the three broad areas, and then draw upon knowledge available from several disciplines within the knowledge area. For example, looking at the course list for the College of Liberal Studies, you will see topics such as Evil Acts, Religious Reasons, Humanities of the Ancient World and Mathematics in Liberal Studies. The first course straddles the humanities and social science areas of knowledge. The word “humanities” in the second course is self explanatory. And mathematics is, of course, a foundation for many endeavors within the natural sciences. Although the courses fall in different knowledge areas, they are all woven together by the thread of critical thinking informed by learning across disciplines. This is the foundation for interdisciplinary studies and for the type of degrees that are conferred on our graduates.
By learning to read closely and attentively, as a student you become a more reflective writer. By learning how to gain knowledge from broad academic perspectives, you become a better thinker and scholar. You learn to form solid arguments and then support your position with sound reasoning. Plus, you discover many things about yourself along the way.
How does this help you in the “real” world? That is a topic for another day.
Disciplinary: study of an academic field.
Interdisciplinary: study between two or more academic fields.
I am often asked what it means to be a “liberal studies” student. I generally respond that it means to be broadly read, widely knowledgeable, and classically educated. But when I start talking about interdisciplinary study, that’s where I lose them.
Sometimes we use words without giving them much thought. I know what interdisciplinary means. Use it several times a day. What I forget is that while this word is a part of my work life, it probably doesn’t roll off the tongues of most people. (Try saying interdisciplinary three times fast.)
At colleges and universities, we have disciplines, areas where faculty members and students concentrate their time and effort. The word discipline has meaning. It indicates the mental discipline necessary to think in a particular, scholarly way. A novice student must discipline their thinking to the most current knowledge in their elected area of study. That includes becoming familiar with the vocabulary, the discoveries and the particular research methods within the discipline. And most students spend most of their time focusing on one specific disciplinary area. It could be electrical engineering, or meteorology or elementary education. These are single, focused disciplines with a specific outcome. Graduates become engineers, meteorologists or teachers.
Interdisciplinary study implies a broader range of focus, if you will. It is a generalist education where students take a wide variety of courses that may at first seem unrelated but in reality are teaching critical thinking skills. By studying across disciplines, students become knowledgeable in the research methods, the vocabularies and the current knowledge in a variety of academic areas. Students with an interdisciplinary background are able to access and evaluate information from a wider range of intellectual perspectives.
In the College of Liberal Studies, we recognize three broad areas of academic knowledge: humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. Courses in our programs generally fall within one of the three broad areas, and then draw upon knowledge available from several disciplines within the knowledge area. For example, looking at the course list for the College of Liberal Studies, you will see topics such as Evil Acts, Religious Reasons, Humanities of the Ancient World and Mathematics in Liberal Studies. The first course straddles the humanities and social science areas of knowledge. The word “humanities” in the second course is self explanatory. And mathematics is, of course, a foundation for many endeavors within the natural sciences. Although the courses fall in different knowledge areas, they are all woven together by the thread of critical thinking informed by learning across disciplines. This is the foundation for interdisciplinary studies and for the type of degrees that are conferred on our graduates.
By learning to read closely and attentively, as a student you become a more reflective writer. By learning how to gain knowledge from broad academic perspectives, you become a better thinker and scholar. You learn to form solid arguments and then support your position with sound reasoning. Plus, you discover many things about yourself along the way.
How does this help you in the “real” world? That is a topic for another day.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The contradiction of for-profit education
I recently saw an episode of Frontline on PBS called “College, Inc.”, that truly alarmed me. Frontline, in case you are not familiar, is an excellent weekly program that features good, solid reporting on timely subjects. And yes, I know as students, TV watching is not high on the list of things you have time to do right now.
However, you might find this interesting as a student at the University of Oklahoma, a nonprofit, state institution because “College, Inc.” delves into the, for lack of a better word, underbelly of for-profit colleges and universities.
There is a huge difference between nonprofits and for-profits, as their very names imply. Traditional brick and mortar institutions such as OU are funded partly by the state legislature, through tuition and fees and raise money from donations by wealthy donors and alumni.
Conversely, for-profit institutions, like the University of Phoenix, sell shares to investors. That’s right. These colleges and universities are commodities, part of Wall Street. They are in the business of selling education and make millions, no, make that billions, of dollars.
What was particularly disturbing to me were comments made by former employees of the for-profit institutions. It seems like, from what was said, that many students who least can afford it are sold on earning a degree from one of these colleges. The loans they take out to pay for their educations are huge and often they cannot get the kinds of high paying jobs when they graduate that will help them pay back their loans.
One young woman earned a doctorate in psychology but cannot practice because the degree is not accredited. In other words, she now has more than $100,000 in loans with compounding interest that she cannot pay back because she cannot practice. Technically, she is not a psychologist at all. But she has a very expensive piece of paper with her name on it. Heartbreaking.
Of course, of the thousands of students that attend these schools, there are success stories.
The reality is career-oriented students are coming to school in droves, particularly due to the slow economy. A college education is fundamental and there is a huge demand that traditional two and four-year colleges and universities are trying to meet. As a business, for-profits are rising to the occasion and filling this need.
If a degree plan sounds too good to be true, or too easy, it most likely is. For-profit tuition costs up to seven times that of tuition at nonprofit institutions. All I can say is, buyer beware. Earning a quality degree from a traditional institution takes time and effort. You are becoming educated. I am not sure the same can be said of some of our business-based competitors.
However, you might find this interesting as a student at the University of Oklahoma, a nonprofit, state institution because “College, Inc.” delves into the, for lack of a better word, underbelly of for-profit colleges and universities.
There is a huge difference between nonprofits and for-profits, as their very names imply. Traditional brick and mortar institutions such as OU are funded partly by the state legislature, through tuition and fees and raise money from donations by wealthy donors and alumni.
Conversely, for-profit institutions, like the University of Phoenix, sell shares to investors. That’s right. These colleges and universities are commodities, part of Wall Street. They are in the business of selling education and make millions, no, make that billions, of dollars.
What was particularly disturbing to me were comments made by former employees of the for-profit institutions. It seems like, from what was said, that many students who least can afford it are sold on earning a degree from one of these colleges. The loans they take out to pay for their educations are huge and often they cannot get the kinds of high paying jobs when they graduate that will help them pay back their loans.
One young woman earned a doctorate in psychology but cannot practice because the degree is not accredited. In other words, she now has more than $100,000 in loans with compounding interest that she cannot pay back because she cannot practice. Technically, she is not a psychologist at all. But she has a very expensive piece of paper with her name on it. Heartbreaking.
Of course, of the thousands of students that attend these schools, there are success stories.
The reality is career-oriented students are coming to school in droves, particularly due to the slow economy. A college education is fundamental and there is a huge demand that traditional two and four-year colleges and universities are trying to meet. As a business, for-profits are rising to the occasion and filling this need.
If a degree plan sounds too good to be true, or too easy, it most likely is. For-profit tuition costs up to seven times that of tuition at nonprofit institutions. All I can say is, buyer beware. Earning a quality degree from a traditional institution takes time and effort. You are becoming educated. I am not sure the same can be said of some of our business-based competitors.
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