Campus Chronicle

Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Expressions

In recent decades, college degrees have become an essential tool in attaining the "American Dream." In today's highly competitive job market, a post secondary degree or lack of makes thousands of dollars difference in one's annual income. With a failing economy and high cost of living, obtaining a college education is harder than ever, especially for nontraditional students. This category of students includes working adults whose incomes support families and students with young children at home. Many of these students hail from Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Fayette, Natchez and surrounding areas. Unable to live and attend classes on the Lorman campus like most students, they find ways to circumvent this obstacle.
With the help of Alcorn State University's administration, a turbulent degree path can be paved smooth for distance learners. Currently, the university offers a small number of online courses. Through a network called Elluminate Live, students receive audio visual instruction via the internet. This allows them to enjoy the benefits of an Alcorn education from the comfort of their own home. The office of Academic Technologies supports a program called Blackboard. Here students and faculty interact through message boards and virtual chat. Instructors can post assignments and quizzes for online courses or as aids for face-to-face ones.
Satellite campuses are another method used to help nontraditional students. In conjunctive efforts with Hinds Community College, the two schools share a small site in Vicksburg. Students have access to classrooms and laboratories where they receive face-to-face instruction. The same is true at the Natchez campus which coexists with Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
The previously mentioned systems help Alcornites avoid the tedious and costly commute to the main campus. Inevitable car trouble, traffic jams and bad weather are a few among many problems faced by commuters. One never knows when he or she will experience a dead car battery, construction detours or torrential rain and winds of a hurricane. These issues are minor stones in the path of a traditional student, but for those of us traveling an excess of thirty miles for the sake of earning a degree, they are boulders.
Ever increasing fuel prices weigh especially heavy on these students. A student commuting from Vicksburg may spend $50 a week on gas. This amounts to approximately $800 per semester for fuel. In addition to this, the time spent driving is another costly factor. The same driver spends around 7 hours and 30 minutes going back and forth from Vicksburg to Lorman a week, which totals 120 hours of driving in one semester. The old adage, "time is money" couldn't be more true. The time allocated for driving could have been spent working. The funds exhausted for gas and those which may have been earned at a job during the hours commuting are sacrificed by the student and their family in the name of the "American Dream."
Alcorn State University is continuing to expand its distance learning program. By offering more web-based instruction and adding courses into the satellite campus system, they hope to create additional degree opportunities to their nontraditional students. These changes are sure to increase enrollment number and expedite graduation time. The high level of commitment and strong efforts to accommodate students improve community relations by making the university more accessible to the surrounding population. The proverb "you can't eat your cake and have it too" doesn't apply here. Adults can manage a job and family while continuing their education. With the institution of such a program, the university is making it easier for local residents to earn a degree, get a well deserved job or promotion and begin building their "American Dream."

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