Hancock wrong on Towson U.
I take strong exception to a number of statements made by Jay Hancock in his recent column, "Tuition freeze leaves Md. students out in the cold" (Sept. 25). I question the statement that the freeze leads to "rationing Maryland education," but I will not comment on whether holding tuition levels is good or bad. Mr. Hancock seems to have made that decision.
I will question his view of Towson University. To say that Towson and its sister schools "were supposed to educate the kids who didn't get into the University of Maryland, College Park" is ridiculous. We are not here to serve College Park. We are here to serve the citizens of Maryland, and we do that very well. It is also not valid to compare Towson University to Goucher College. Goucher is a small, private school with a student body that is a fraction of Towson's student body.
Towson University has been designated as Maryland's growth institution, a responsibility that we stepped up to and accepted. To serve the citizens of Maryland, we have grown by 4,000 students over the past five years, nearly twice the number of Goucher's total enrollment.
The growth is not because students couldn't go to College Park, Goucher or elsewhere - it is because the students want to come to Towson. Another misstatement is that we are "attracting more kids from New York and New Jersey." We may be attracting more, but we are not admitting more. In our strategic plan, prepared in 2003-04, we committed to accepting only 20 percent of our students from out of state. "Out-of-state" includes the entire world, not only New York and New Jersey.
So when Mr. Hancock says, "Give credit to Towson's excellent education and affordable tuition," please do that with sincerity. We are proud of Towson. We have grown to benefit our state's citizens. During the rapid growth, we have held our SATs and GPAs steady. We are an institution without an achievement gap between minority students and the rest of the student body. Few can say that, and many institutions record double-digit disparities.
Towson is not the place you choose when you can't go to College Park. We are a place you choose because of a great student-to-faculty ratio of 18-1, a large Honors College, a wide range of excellent programs, or because we offer large-school amenities with a small-school feel.
In short, Towson University stands proudly on its considerable merits and its long tradition of providing quality education to Marylanders. Mr. Hancock needs to reexamine his view of who we are and what we do.
