As the new student union building and freshman dorms near completion AASU seems to be taking its last few steps toward becoming a more traditional university.
There can still be great deal of debate as to whether or not a $16 million-plus construction project was the wisest idea in the midst of a recession and the near crippling cuts to the budget handed down by the Board of Regents, but what’s nearly done is done. I hope the student union will live up to everything the administration hopes it will be, and with some of the steps they are taking, it seems it just may.
With the new dorms, intended specifically for incoming freshman, I have a problem. The university apparently intends to institute a mandatory on-campus living assignment for new students. This presents a whole host of problems, not the least of which is that the university will now be forcing all incoming freshman to spend thousands of extra dollars on their education.
The administration—of both the previous president, Thomas Jones, and our current president, Linda Bleicken—wants to transform AASU into a large-scale, regional university. Most AASU students come from the area immediately surrounding Savannah, or the city itself, so with this new rule for freshmen, this is something it seems that the school wants to change.
Many students choose AASU because they can work, go to school and live cheaply—sometimes even at home. Does it make much sense to go to AASU and live on campus for above-market prices when your parents’ house, or a house shared by several friends, is only five minutes away?
A rule like this could potentially force many students without means to either work a great deal while going to school or forego a college education altogether. Some students rely on their HOPE grant to pay for tuition and have to scrape by through the steep reaming fees and extra book costs; several thousands of dollars in forced living expenses will be too much for some.
AASU has been built, in recent years, on the backs of a mix of traditional and non-traditional students. The university provides a highly valuable service in retraining people in a new economy. But the school is now focused on bringing in more “true freshman” and the average age of the student population continues to drop as enrollment increases.
Don’t get me wrong; it is a good thing to want to grow the reputation and quality of AASU, and becoming a more traditional four-year university is a path to doing just that. Under no circumstances, however, should it be done is such a way as to separate it from the very community for which it was built and to which it owes it success.
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