Over the past few decades, "higher education" (college/university/"trade" schools/etc.) has generally been seen as the road to success, particularly in either higher demand sectors (engineering/scientific/etc.), or higher frequency, for lack of a better word, sectors (anything business-related/education/etc.); that generally leaves stuff like the fine and "liberal" arts (usually inclusive of history/law/literature & writing/philosophy/psychology/sociology/etc.) clumped underneath those sectors in terms of post-graduation career prospects... Well, that might vary for each & every individual person out there, wherein somebody in engineering might end having to jump through 2 or 3 different jobs during/after undergrad/grad, while somebody in, say, law might immediately end up commanding, for instance, $80 or $90K/year, perhaps even during their studies (in rare, yet certainly possible, scenarios)! Obviously, none of said predicting is broad enough to consider where the country as a whole was, is, & will be in terms of "higher education" in the past/present/future...
"Living on a Budget in Tokyo
The past was mostly about institutions putting forth just enough financial aid to offset students'/families' burdens, according to Laura T. Hamilton, of the University of California - Merced, as published in American Sociological Review back in January 2013:
"During the past three decades, the federal government has increasingly transferred a greater proportion of aid from grants to loans that are often carried in part by parents (Baum and Steele 2007; Paulsen and St. John 2002). At the same time, the proportion of revenue coming from state and local funding has gradually declined (Fain 2009; McPherson and Schapiro 1998).1 At most schools, tuition has risen to make up the difference. In the past decade alone, average tuition and fees at private four-year colleges and universities increased at an annual rate of 3 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars; public schools saw an even steeper annual increase of 5.6 percent (Baum and Ma 2010).
These trends reflect a gradual shift in the responsibility for U.S. higher education funding—from state and federal subsidies to individual families (Lucas 1996; Price 2004)."
That doesn't include endowments, donated over the course of years or even decades, as listed by the Commonfund Institute in June 2013:
when measured against common Wall Street-type data, or, in other words, screw the S&P 500 & Russell 3000 indices:
(Harvard alone has over $36 billion left lying around in its own endowment fund, just for the record...)
As for the changes in said funds since then:
Keeping the whole scenario closer to home, however, here was the estimated cost on my current campus this academic year:
...&, since we're talking endowments & whatnot, its typical financial aid contributions:
Take away, say, "room & board", as that's almost always called, for some strange reason, as in my case, & that knocks the $20,420 down to $16,094, & the books, for that matter (I'd like to think I've figured out that whole racket by now), since who ever uses them now, right?... & that takes the $16,094 down even further to $14,760, so that means 62% of the costs are covered there for somebody like myself, still living at home, & not falling for the sham that is the "college experience" B.S. that they all keep pushing - heck, I'd prefer to think last semester, in particular, was almost due to that shift in our thinking about this whole time...
...well, that, & my decision to spend 2 weeks exploring parts of Japan giving me (at least in my mind, & literally nobody else's) this incentive to get back there, but that's a whole other story, which I'll get to after I make mention of Rutgers, to stay in N.J. for just a moment longer here:
N.Y. Times, 11/1/09, on Rutgers' adjustments to "the gradual trend toward privatization":
"Currently, only 10 percent of students at Rutgers’s New Brunswick campus come from outside New Jersey. The university could easily increase that number by tapping nearby New York and Pennsylvania.
“The temptation for us to recruit more out-of-state students is very, very strong,” says Douglas S. Greenberg, executive dean of the university’s School of Arts and Sciences. State residents pay about $12,000 in tuition and fees, which is high for a public university. Out-of-state students pay almost twice that.
Each nonresident means one less slot for a New Jersey resident. Mr. Greenberg says that leaves Rutgers with two options: get bigger or increase tuition even more. Neither would be easy. Enrollment has topped 37,000 at the main campus in New Brunswick, a record. For the second consecutive year, the university has placed undergraduates in a Crowne Plaza hotel because of a lack of on-campus housing. This year, there are 500. They ride shuttle buses for the five-mile trip to campus and were asked to pack light and leave posters at home. The upside: Housekeeping cleans rooms once a week, there’s a television in every room and students can use the fitness center and swimming pools.
Mr. Greenberg says Rutgers, like most flagships, is wrestling with the gradual trend toward privatization. “Every time tuition goes up, we increase the possibility that we become more like a private university,” he says. This year, the State Legislature allowed Rutgers to increase tuition by only 3 percent, and the state is spending less on academic scholarships — though financial aid applications are up 27 percent. University officials say they have filled gaps by raising money from private sources."
Back to UC Merced's Hamilton:
"Most scholarship has focused on the link between aid and access and has not adequately addressed the effects of aid on college achievement and completion. Some recent research has begun to move beyond access. For example, scholars have shown that in some cases merit-based aid can boost achievement (Henry and Rubenstein 2002; Stater 2009), and other researchers have begun to trace the receipt of grants and scholarships to degree completion (DesJardins, Ahlburg, and McCall 2002; Dynarski 2003). Similarly, Paulsen and St. John (2002) indicate that unmet need is a barrier to persistence."
"For example, GPA can fundamentally shape students’ movement into advanced degree programs and boost earning power (Jones and Jackson 1990; Loury and Garman 1995; Mullen, Goyette, and Soares 2003). Degree completion is associated with greater access to higher paying and more privileged occupations, a higher probability of marriage, better health, greater civic participation, and intellectual development (for a review, see Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008)."
on "moral hazard":
"Such concerns tap into an alternative theoretical framework for understanding parental financial aid in college, where more may actually be less. Moral hazard theory, like prior sociological research on parental investment, is derived from a rational choice perspective on human interactions (Heimer 1988). The assumptions, however, are much different. Moral hazard arises in situations of information asymmetry: individuals insulated from risk behave in ways not compatible with their investors’ goals. This may occur because they are not fully accountable for potential consequences and may pursue different interests."
debunking a commonly held myth about employment <=> achievement:
"Although working part-time during the academic year has no adverse effects on GPA, full-time employment does."
"Increases in first-year GPA also raise the likelihood of persisting to graduation.26Students with parents married to each other are significantly more likely to graduate. Most majors are at least as likely, or more likely, to obtain a BA than engineering majors. The only exception is students who are undecided as of year one. Students enrolled full-year and full-time are also more likely to graduate. Notably, student employment, at any level, does not influence the odds of graduating. Finally, being at a private institution—only when selectivity and institution cost are accounted for—is associated with a decrease in the likelihood of graduating."
effects of various sociological factors on educational achievement, 1993-94:
(FULL DISCLOSURE: I barely survived my (post-secondary) stats class with my dignity intact...)
There isn't just the academic side to consider, however; how about the social side?
"Institutional context also matters. Colleges have long offered an alternative, primarily social, pathway to which students may devote their attentions (Armstrong and Hamilton 2013; Horowitz 1987). Higher education scholars have recently noted ways that student involvement in the social side of college life may shape academic achievement (Armstrong and Hamilton 2013; Arum and Roksa 2011; Stevens et al. 2008). Social integration has positive effects on persistence (Pascarella and Terenzini 2005), but being too involved in campus social life may have potential negative effects on student performance. As Arum and Roksa (2011) argue, many of today’s college students are “academically adrift”—that is, in college but focused on recreational rather than academic pursuits. Time-use studies support this conclusion. Today’s college students spend an average of 28 hours a week on classes and homework combined—less time than an average high school student spends in school alone—but devote a full 41 hours a week to social and recreational purposes (Brint et al. 2010)."
Now, where do Temple University's main (Philly) & international (Tokyo, Japan) campuses fit into this?
...let's start with their main campus:
...this was the most relevant part of my acceptance by them back in the fall of '13 - their business school:
...now, on to their international campus:
...which, according to XE.com, comes out to:
...I see the health insurance requirement, though, & I ask "why can't I just bring U.S. insurance along?"
& then there's this advice:
"Living on a Budget in Tokyo
Tokyo has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most expensive cities in the world, but it is not really that different from London, New York, Paris or any other major city in developed countries. Along with the cost comes unparalleled service, quality control, and the privilege of being in one of the world's greatest cities. For those on a limited budget, it can be a challenge to constrain spending, but it certainly is possible and many students do live on a tight budget while studying at TUJ.
While in Japan, Do as the Japanese Do
Much of the spending done by non-Japanese comes from a tendency for newcomers to live a kind of extended tourist life -- overspending on entertainment, eating out, or shopping.
A positive aspect of Japan's highly developed economy is a wide range of options, with prices to match. You can get just about anything in Japan, but you often have to pay a premium to get imported items that are not the daily fare of a typical Japanese family.
The daily shopping for food and routine items are best done in local supermarkets, street markets (商店街-shotengai) or at discount chains like Hanamasa, Okay, Olympic, Don Quixote or any number of 100 yen stores (dollar stores).
Living like a Japanese person in practical terms would involve not just shopping locally, but also eating a genuinely Japanese diet. Meat in general is particularly expensive, thus the main staples are those that are readily available and cheaper – seafood, rice, and vegetables.
A positive aspect of Japan's highly developed economy is a wide range of options, with prices to match. You can get just about anything in Japan, but you often have to pay a premium to get imported items that are not the daily fare of a typical Japanese family.
The daily shopping for food and routine items are best done in local supermarkets, street markets (商店街-shotengai) or at discount chains like Hanamasa, Okay, Olympic, Don Quixote or any number of 100 yen stores (dollar stores).
Living like a Japanese person in practical terms would involve not just shopping locally, but also eating a genuinely Japanese diet. Meat in general is particularly expensive, thus the main staples are those that are readily available and cheaper – seafood, rice, and vegetables.
The Economies of Scale
A Japanese family eating together incurs a considerably less per person cost than a single person who makes each meal for him/herself. However, you can achieve similar economies of scale if you batch cook and store portions for future meals. Many students simply eat out rather than go to the trouble to pull together a meal. While 400-500 yen for a beef bowl doesn’t seem too expensive, over time, this can begin to add up, not to mention the health costs of eating fast food on a regular basis.
If you do eat out, look closely at the menu costs: often a drink will cost 1/3 to 1/2 of the food portion, and so you can save money simply by not ordering drinks. Note as well that except for family restaurants, it is rare for a typical Japanese restaurant to offer free beverage refills, so always check to confirm.
If you do eat out, look closely at the menu costs: often a drink will cost 1/3 to 1/2 of the food portion, and so you can save money simply by not ordering drinks. Note as well that except for family restaurants, it is rare for a typical Japanese restaurant to offer free beverage refills, so always check to confirm.
Choose Your Battles, Protect Your Money
One of the great things about being in Tokyo is all the wonderful food and consumer items that are available, but to "splurge" on a daily basis will undoubtedly affect your budget. While it may seem unduly restrictive, consider the possibility of eating out (and drinking) only on weekends or special occasions.
Often students end up spending a disproportionate percentage of their overall budget in the first few weeks after they arrive as they want to explore new places and go out with friends. This may affect your ability to budget money for TUJ activities or overnight trips and excursions and limit your choices later in the semester. If you intend on joining school-arranged outings, we suggest you register and pay at the beginning of the semester; otherwise, those funds will disappear incrementally and not be available later in the semester."
Often students end up spending a disproportionate percentage of their overall budget in the first few weeks after they arrive as they want to explore new places and go out with friends. This may affect your ability to budget money for TUJ activities or overnight trips and excursions and limit your choices later in the semester. If you intend on joining school-arranged outings, we suggest you register and pay at the beginning of the semester; otherwise, those funds will disappear incrementally and not be available later in the semester."
...why do that, though, when I'll be occupied with this?
"Internships
TUJ’s Career Development office coordinates a robust internship program, which provides students an invaluable opportunity to develop professional skills, gain international employment experience, network with field leaders and be immersed in Japanese culture. Many study abroad students take advantage of the internship program each semester.
- Internships are offered in the Tokyo area with Japanese multinational organizations, embassies, and NGOs.
- Interns work an average of 10-20 hours per week and earn three credits in one of the following departments: Asian studies, economics, international affairs, liberal arts, media studies & production, political science, or psychological studies.
- A faculty supervisor at TUJ oversees the internship, sets evaluation requirements, and meets with students throughout the semester.
- While some internships do require Japanese language ability, every semester, a number of study abroad students without bilingual skills are successfully placed in appropriate internships.
If you obtain an internship, you will continue regular coursework while participating in the internship and receive university course credit. The amount of time spent at the internship varies depending on the requirements of the organization, your availability and the restrictions of the course.
All students are provided detailed information about available internships after being accepted to the study abroad program. Interested students then apply for an internship prior to departure for Tokyo.
TUJ Internship Program participants"
More than 50 organizations and institutions are currently participating in the TUJ internship program. They include:"
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I promise you people that I'll get into the actual Japanese university system, & my strong personal interest in jumping into said system in the future, later on right here, but, until then, I leave you with my hopes RE: Temple Japan & its summer program, & also this:
...a little classic J-pop, if we can call 1994 "classic" just yet...
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