College Education

Skyrocketing college costs are forcing Howard County students and their parents to trim their search for schools, and take a second look at state and regional institutions.Yesterday, dozens of students and their parents shopped for colleges at the Howard County College Fair at Atholton High School. The fair featured 183 colleges as diverse as the Baltimore International Culinary College, Rutgers University and York College of Pennsylvania.According to a recent national College Board report, the average cost of attending public colleges and universities increased 10 percent this fall to $2,315 a year.

Between 1990 and 2005, 19.8 million college graduates will enter the labor force. What does their future look like?Although education is essential in a workplace with rapidly changing technology, a government study has reached the alarming conclusion that 30 percent of those graduates may have to settle for jobs that do not require a college degree.The leader of the study, Kristina J. Shelley, emphasizes that 70 percent of college graduates will find jobs in which they can apply their educational backgrounds.

National Guard recruiters say they used a mailing list provided by Anne Arundel Community College to contact 22,000 students and alumni at the school, although AACC officials say they never provided such a list.The recruiting notices sent to students offer money and a career path as inducements to sign on, but make virtually no mention ofthe required eight-year commitment with the Maryland Air National Guard 175th Tactical Fighter Group.College officials said they do not sell student lists or provide information to military branches.

To encourage more blacks to attend and stay in college, elementary and secondary schools need to make college-preparatory courses available to more youngsters and expose them to experiences that will prepare them for college, says the director of a national conference in Baltimore this week."

Some Anne Arundel students soon may be able to take part in a college scholarship program that offers a buffer against homesickness and other trials they could face on campus. For 15 years, the New York-based Posse Foundation has given full scholarships to more than 900 public high school seniors so they can attend college along with a group of peers from their community. Anne Arundel administrators say they will nominate 10 students for the program, hoping that, like other county-based efforts to prepare children for college, it helps them make it to graduation day. Next month, Posse will begin selecting about 20 students from around the Washington area to join the freshman classes at Iowa's Grinnell College or Bucknell University in central Pennsylvania.

Editor: Harford County residents need to make their voices heard regarding a very important project that appears to be stalled for no apparent reason. Harford Community College and Towson University have reached agreement to build a TU classroom building at HCC and have the funding in place. After more than five years in the making, the only thing holding up this project now is the necessary approval from the state. Among HCC students who transfer to a four-year institution, TU is far and away the institution of choice.

I recently read in The Sun that some of our state legislators voted to give illegal immigrants the right to pay in-state tuition to state colleges and universities ("Senate approves in-state tuition for illegal immigrants 27-20," March 15). I thought that "illegal" meant that they aren't supposed to be here. I'm sure there are other privileges that these "New Americans," as our governor refers to them, can enjoy in our fine state, considering the generous view many of our politicians take toward them.

Following are excerpts from the valedictory speech to be delivered Sunday at commencement exercises at the Maryland State Penitentiary.WELCOME to the 1993 combined commencement ceremonies for Coppin State College and Baltimore City Community College. As class valedictorian, I am honored to address you and share our collective joy with everyone present. This proud day for all of the graduates celebrates the accomplishments of men who were intelligent enough to take advantage of the only successful rehabilitative program offered to prisoners at the Maryland Penitentiary.

WASHINGTON -- Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates thinks he can buy my admiration by pledging a billion dollars to minority scholarships, he's right -- not just because it is generous, but also because it is clever.Figure it out: The more college-educated Americans we have, the more computers are likely to be sold, which means more money for Microsoft, the world's biggest maker of computer software.And by targeting minorities, particularly blacks, Hispanics and American Indians, Mr. Gates helps expand the slowest-growing racial market for computer use.All of which illustrates something I have been arguing for years, that wise investments in the poor -- investments that help the needy to become self-sufficient -- pay back huge dividends for everybody.

In the fall of 1976, a branch of what was then Catonsville Community College opened in an old elementary school building on South Center Street in Westminster with a handful of professors who taught a few general education classes. The group was the beginning of Carroll County's own community college, now considered a core educational institution for the county and surrounding area. Situated on an 80-acre campus off Washington Road in Westminster, Carroll Community College offers students state-of-the art facilities, including a Nursing and Allied Health Building that opened last fall.