Anonymous 1
Anonymous Author
April 6, 2011
Professor Williams
English 106-001
Thesis Statement: Parkland College students, who have children at home, found that attending
Parkland was a very enjoyable experience. Parkland allowed them to save money, provided them
many more resources than a four year university could, and has given them a quality education
Revised Research Questions
1. Are you a Parkland student?
2. How long have you been attending Parkland?
3. Do you have any children living with you?
4. Do you believe the work at a four university will be harder or easier?
5. If yes, how many do you have and how old are they?
6. Do you live with a spouse/partner?
7. If so is your spouse/partner supportive of you being in school? How? (ex. watching kids
while your in class or while your doing homework, helping you pay for school, etc...)
8. When do you generally do your homework?
9. Who takes care of your kids while you are doing your homework?
10. Do you feel you are doing well in school? What would help you to do better? (Ex
additional support services at Parkland, more supportive family etc..)
11. Who takes care of your children while you are in class?
Anonymous 2
Outline
I.
Main Research Question: Do Parkland students who have children feel they have
benefited from attending Parkland or do they feel they should have attended a four
year university? Why?
II.
Thesis Statement: Parkland College students, who have children at home, found that
attending Parkland was a very enjoyable experience. Parkland allowed them to save
money, provided them many more resources than a four year university could, and
has given them a quality education
III.
Introduction: Through taking a survey of all the students in all of my classes who
have children, I have found that a vast majority of these students are happy to be
attending Parkland College. They feel they are saving money and time, they have
good access not only to the college but also too many resources that not only help
them with their education, but also aid with their children, and feel they are getting a
good quality education. They believe that the overall experience of Parkland is a
positive one and are happy they are starting at Parkland as opposed to a four year
university.
IV.
Background: Needs to be written
V.
Parkland college students save money.
A. Parkland’s tuition vs. University of Illinois’s tuition
B. Parkland provides many more financial aid opportunities than the U of I
C. Parking is free at Parkland
VI.
Parkland provides many more resources
A. Online and hybrid classes at Parkland
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B. Center for Academic Success
C. Parkland is a teaching/ learning college
i. U of I is a research institute
D. Smaller class sizes
E. Daycare Services Parkland vs. U of I
i. Cost and Location
VII.
Differences in education Parkland vs, U of I
VIII.
Conclusion:
Anonymous 4
Anonymous
Professor Williams
English 106-001
April 6, 2011
Success at Parkland College for Students with Children
Through taking a survey of all the students in all of my classes who have children, I have
found that a vast majority of these students are happy to be attending Parkland College. They
feel they are saving money and time, they have good access not only to the college but also too
many resources that help them with their education, and also aid with their children, and feel
they are getting a good quality education. They believe that the overall experience of Parkland is
a positive one and are happy they are starting at Parkland as opposed to a four year university.
One of the most important reasons student parents are so happy to be attending Parkland
College is the amount of money they are able to save each semester. Even though Parkland’s
tuition has recently gone up, it is still less than half of that of the local four year university,
University of Illinois. An in-district student can expect to pay around $3,000 for tuition for 30
credit hours at Parkland College. (College Costs) On the other hand, an in state student can
expect to pay approximately $15,000 at the University of Illinois for the same number of credit
hours (“Freshman Tuition and Fees”). While observing a discussion that took place in an English
106 class that took place at Parkland College, a student who used to attend the University of
Illinois in the fall of 2010 but transferred to Parkland the following spring, recalled that his
tuition was over $20,000 because he was a nursing major which requires a lot of hands on labs.
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He also stated that his tuition included a student activity fee that all students were required to
pay. This fee seems to be a waste of money for a busy student parent who doesn’t have time to
attend sporting events and other school functions. Finally, he added that his books at the
University of Illinois were approximately $2,000; about twice as much as they would have been
at Parkland College. If your keeping track that’s $22,000 in tuition, fees, and books at the
University of Illinois, and $4,000 in tuition, fees, and books at the Parkland College, an $18,000
difference. This is a difference that cannot be over looked for student parents who have many
other bills to pay. The greatest being daycare. The average parent pays $11,353 a year for an
infant to attend a daycare center fulltime (5 days a week for 5 or more hours a day) (2010
Childcare) and with a student working and going to school having your child in daycare full-time
is simply a necessity.
In addition, Parkland offers many more financial aid opportunities than the University of
Illinois. Parkland College has over 56 scholarships available just for the summer semester of
2011 (Scholarships Parkland). While the University of Illinois does offer scholarships they are in
specific subject areas not allowing for the flexibility of changing majors or switching classes
(Scholarships U of I). There is also much more competition for University of Illinois
scholarships because of the vast number of students, 31,209 undergraduates and 10,709 graduate
students are attending the University of Illinois this year (Admissions). The previously
mentioned astronomical price of admission to the U of I also drives a greater competition for
these scholarships. This makes the odds of receiving a scholarship very slim. Finally, the Pell
Grant, the biggest grant provided for the government for low income families to attend college,
tops out at $5,550 a semester per person (Federal Pell Grant). This would easily cover all books,
tuition, and fees for Parkland. However, it would only cover 25% of books, fees, and tuition for
Anonymous 6
the University of Illinois. Student parents are expected to come up with the 75% remainder.
When you add this to the before mentioned bills this price becomes even less practical for a
parent.
Another thing student parents are able to save money on at Parkland is parking. At
Parkland College there are multiple parking lots that are all free. However, at the University of
Illinois you either have to park on the side of the street at a meter, in a garage, or in the bus lot if
you plan to take the bus to all of your classes. During the observation of the discussion held in
the English 106 class the professor stated that when she attended the University of Illinois she
paid over $200 a year to park in the garage. The before mentioned student who attended the
University of Illinois added they he took the bus when he was there but many busses were not
reliable. They would sometimes already be full when they arrived at his stop and he would have
to wait for the next one. This sometimes caused him to miss class or to be late returning home.
Obviously this would cause problems for student parents who need to be at daycare or to their
children’s school to get them by a certain time. Many daycares charge a fee for every five
minutes a parent is late picking up their child. Precious Possessions (a daycare in Mahomet, IL)
charges a $5 dollar late fee for every five minutes a parent is late. This may seem minimal but if
a parent is 5 minutes late 3 times a week that is an extra $15 a week; $60 a month. Saving on
parking may seem like a small savings but the small things add up fast.
Parkland College offers many academic resources for students. One of the most
important being online and hybrid classes. Parkland offers hybrid classes (classes that only
require you to come to class once in a while and do the rest online). There are currently 64
hybrid classes being taught during the 2011 spring semester alone (Online and Hybrid). Parkland
also offers over 160 online classes (classes that do not meet at all and are done completely on the
Anonymous 7
internet). (Online and Hybrid) Parkland also offers 19 associates’ degrees that can be done
completely online without ever having to step foot into the building (Online and Hybrid).
Parkland also encourages students with jobs and children to attend Parkland part-time or to take
semesters off if the need be. On the other hand four year universities generally do not encourage
part time enrollment and they highly discourage taking semesters off. The option to take so
many classes without having to be in the building or to be here very little and the option to only
be enrolled part time makes it possible for student parents to finish their degrees faster and spend
more time with their children.
Furthermore, Parkland offers many support services such as CAS (center for academic
success), which offers peer tutoring, math, speech, science, and English labs. It also offers
academic advising that helps with class selection (Center for Academic Success). In 2009 over
42,000 visits were made to CAS. (Lau 13) The students who made these visits on average did
10% better than their classmates who did not visit the center. (Lau 22) This helps student parents
to have access to someone they can ask academic questions too and someone who can help them
to plan their route through college to their new career all in one convenient place.
Another advantage of CAS is its hours. It is open daily from 8:30 am to 5 pm. It also is
sporadically open for some evening hours, occasionally as late as 9pm (Center for Academic
Success). With the notorious busy schedule of parents this allows them to fit tutoring into their
schedule instead of having to work their schedule and their children’s schedule around a tutor.
During my observation of the discussion in the English 106 class the student who previously
attended the University of Illinois also explained that in order to get assistance at the University
you first had to go to the main library from there they could refer you to the correct library for
assistance. In addition to this another participant in the conversation added that there were
Anonymous 8
writing workshops but they were at sporadic times in multiple locations. It is obvious how big of
a challenge this would be for a student parent as it would take much longer to find the help
needed. As these students have class in the day this would have to be done in the evening hours
which means these students would have to find someone else to watch their children while doing
this all or would have to haul their children from library to library.
In addition, Parkland College, like most community colleges, is strictly a
teaching/learning college. Conversely, most four year universities are focused on research
development. Because Parkland is a teaching college professors are more available to take time
out of their day whether it be during office hours or through making an appointment to help
students with anything they may be struggling with. University professors, however, do not have
the time to provide this service to struggling students because of their extensive research work
which includes attending conferences, working to receive grants for the college and publishing
their research. Also, with the average class size being 107 students at the University of Illinois
makes it even more unattainable for students to get direct attention from their professors
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Parkland’s smaller class sizes not only make it possible for the professors to have time to
meet with their students but also make it possible for whole classes to be taught in computer labs.
This permits student’s time to work on research papers in the classroom and to ask any questions
that may arise while doing so. Doing this is highly beneficial to student parents because the more
schoolwork they can get done during class the more time they have to work or to spend times
with their kids. The opportunity to ask their questions during class also is a great advantage
because then the student doesn’t have to take even more time out of their day to get to the Center
for Academic Success.
Anonymous 9
They believe all of Parkland’s support services will also save them valuable time that
would be wasted at a four year university, simply because these services are not offered. All of
the responses to the survey had children under age 11 and said that they believed that it was more
important to spend time with their children now while they are still young and that in two years
after they transfer their children will be older and will be able to handle the change better. They
also expect that their children will have their own activities by then to take up some of their time
while the parents are at school (Ellis Parkland Student survey). Additionally, there are many
more community colleges than there are four year universities. This also helps to save student
parent’s valuable time as it gives them a much shorter drive to class and saves them money on
gas.
Although there is an abundance of evidence that points to the success of students at
Parkland College who have kids some people still believe that it would have been a better choice
for them to choose a four year college over Parkland. They believe that a four year university
will be able to offer them more support service and a better education than Parkland can because
of its overall bigger size and extra funding.
One of the most important support services students think would be better provided by
the University of Illinois is the daycare programs provided to students and staff. However, one of
the main problems with the University’s daycare is that it is not as conveniently located as
Parkland’s. Parkland provides its students and teachers daycare within the same parking lot as
the school. On the other hand, due to the fact that the University’s classes are spread throughout
town students and faculty will ultimately have to drive to the daycare center provided. The
location of the daycare is not the only problem with the University’s daycare service. The
University’s daycare is also substantially more expensive than Parkland’s daycare. Parkland
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offers daycare tuition rate by family size and income (Fees). The University of Illinois does not.
An average Parkland student can expect to pay $155 a week for a toddler to attend the daycare
full-time (Fees). At the University of Illinois’s daycare you can expect to pay $247 to send a
toddler full time to daycare (Tuition). There is an application to see if it is possible to receive
assistance with this but it is not an income based program and the help is not as substantial. As
previously mentioned students just can’t afford to pay more than they have too because of their
tuition and other living expenses.
Other than greater resources students thought they would get a better education if they
had a attended a four year university instead of Parkland because of the stigma created about
community colleges. This also proves to be false however. Parkland’s class sizes make the work
seem to be easier because there is more one on one interaction between the students and the
professors. Additionally as I formerly mentioned Parkland offers many more academic services
such as CAS that make the work appear to be easier.
Anonymous 11
Works Cited
"2010 Childcare in the State of Illinois." Naccrra. Mar. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
"Admissions." U of I: Office of Undergraduate Admissions. University of Illinois, 2011. Web. 29
Apr. 2011.
"College Costs." Parkland.edu. 2011. Web. 8 Apr. 2011.
"Center for Academic Success." Parkland College: College Resources. Parkland College. Web.
29 Apr. 2011.
"Federal Pell Grant." Get Ready For College. Minnesota Office for Higher Education. Web. 29
Apr. 2011.
"Fees." Parkland College Child Development Center. Web. 26 Apr. 2011
"Tuition and Fees." Admissions.Illinois.Edu. 2011. Web. 8 Apr. 2011.
Lau, Pamela. "The Center for Academic Success: A Summary of the Fourth Year." Parkland
Library. 30 June 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
"Online and Hybrid Classes." Parkland College 2011 Spring Schedule 2011: 14. Parkland
College. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
"Scholarships." Parkland College. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
"Scholarships." U of I; Office of Student Financial Aid. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
"Tuition Policies and Financial Support." Child Development Lab. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
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"University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign." Bloomberg Business. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.