Running Head: MADE ME THINK ESSAY

Made Me Think Essay

Shane Young
Kent State University

MADE ME THINK ESSAY

At Hiram College there is what is called a Student Activities Fund

which is a sum of money that is taken from a student activities fee which is
a portion of the Comprehensive Fee that all traditional students pay. This
fund is then disseminated to student organizations and student planned
events through a student run organization, the Funding You Board. The
Funding You Board, on a monthly basis, hears request from students on what
they would like to utilize funding for and they are either granted funding or
denied.

There are different policies for how the funds can be used- but

certain classifications of student organizations can utilize their funding to pay

for trips to conferences or to events that are for members only. However,
Kamenetzs (2010) concept that higher education is unbundling places this
system that I am familiar with in peril and has larger implications for higher
education.
Kamenetz (2010) points that institutions of higher education have
historically been considered a one-stop shopping experience for students in
which they were able to pick up multiple benefits, but the concept of
unbundling of higher education is pushing against this experience (p. xi).
To continue the shopping example unbundling is a rebuttal against shopping
for produce (an accredited degree) at Walmart and Target and instead going
to a store that sells only produce. Customers (or students) are pushing
against traditionally offered benefits of the full-time, on campus university
experience in exchange for the degree. They are seeking only classroom
experience in exchange for the degree and nothing more.

MADE ME THINK ESSAY

Before the Kamenetz (2010), reading Dr. Curtis Good summarized the
unbundling of higher education for our History of Higher Education class from
the perspective of the student as I dont utilize it, why should I pay for it?
This reminds me of a time in which a member of the Funding You Board
brought up a similar point. She proposed the idea of letting each and every
student decide to which organization their portion of the student activity fee
goes.. How many student organizations would disappear because they would
not have funding? How many meaningful, possibly traditional events would
disappear because too few students wanted to donate a portion of their fee
to the sponsoring organization? What would happen to the student
organizations that represented different identity or cultural groups? I could
not comprehend such a scenario in which the general fund was unbundled.
Further consideration of the unbundling of higher education caused me
to have concerns for my future in addition to my past. How would the
unbundling affect my future careers? If students are calling for, as Kemenetz
(2010) puts it stripped downed institutions that focus on instruction or
assessment only how will this affect my future? A part of me wants to
pursue a career in student engagement or campus activities, but what might
this career path look like in a decade? Will there still be a need for those
types of functional areas if this trend continues? Will students want their
tuition dollars to be spent elsewhere than on activities because they do not
see the point in wasting money on activities when it can be used for an
academic purpose that will assist them in their pursuit of a degree?

MADE ME THINK ESSAY

I simultaneously experience concern and nonchalance in these

considerations of whether my future is at stake. My experiences have shown
that the students generally support these extras to the process in
obtaining their degrees. However, the students I have the most experience
with are students ages 18-22 who live on campus. These are the students
who complain vehemently about there being a lack of engagement for them
on campus and would prefer the college put more money towards keeping
the students occupied after class time. However the demographic of
students is changing and has been changing for quite some time. Evelyn
(2002) points to the fact that nearly 75% of the undergraduate students over
a decade ago were considered non-traditional, highlighting over half were
financially independent and just under half were attending part time.
These non-traditional students are the norm across the United States
and they are, in part, responsible for the unbundling of higher education.
These particular groups of students are increasingly attending class and
them promptly leaving campus or are taking online courses due to
occupational or familial obligations. They have no need for residence halls,
night or weekend events, and to some extent a dining hall. Their different
needs combined with the national attention on college graduates job
placement has led some of these students to critique why their money
should go to services that they do not use or do not need. It makes sense;
this population is growing and their needs are very different from the needs
of students, who are full time, are ages 18-22, and live on campus, and they
want their money to go towards what they need and what they use.
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MADE ME THINK ESSAY

However, I believe that the issue is compounded by another factor. I do

not believe that most students who fit into this non-traditional category see
the benefit of being engaged in more ways than by attending class and doing
its requisite work. Much of their focus is on obtaining the 8 by 11 inch
sheet of cardstock to demonstrate they have done the necessary work to be
qualified for positions beginning with x degree required. However, many of
these students miss the non-traditional approach to gaining career related
skills from their lack of engagement outside of their academic obligations. In
fact many traditional students miss out on these opportunities as well. I
speak predominantly of involvement in student organizations. I work a
collateral assignment in Career Services and have seen many students who
have had meaningful experiences in their student organizations not list them
and claim they did not know that these items could be included in a resume
at all.
There is a broader issue occurring as well which I believe may
contribute to the causes of the unbundling of higher education. This is pure
speculation, but I feel that people outside of higher education do not
completely understand student affairs as a profession and the benefits that it
provides to the students. Instead it is seen as something extra to the
purpose of universities and this extra is being financed more than
education which in turn causes animosity of some stakeholders, mainly those
who feel that the funds of the institution should be geared more toward
academics. I found that I needed to thoroughly explain what student affairs
was to my family after I was accepted to Kent State University and many of
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MADE ME THINK ESSAY

my peers have expressed similar struggles. Those unfamiliar with the field of
student affairs do not completely understand that it is a legitimate field of
study with dedication to the development of students complementary to the
scope of academia and occupationally relevant activities. These persons who
do not know the work that we do attempt and the potential impact that it can
have on students instead attempt to return to the core of the university,
inadvertently hoping that all the learning that occurs outside the classroom
magically occurs inside the classroom.
The unbundling of higher education is a topic that is new to me and is
ongoing. It is possible that many of my fears and alarming thoughts of the
potential effects on my possible functional area may be too extreme.
Through the lens of the Kamenetz (2010) article I am, however, thinking. Will
my future hold an occupational surprise as a symptom of the unbundling of
higher education? I do not know, however, I do know what I will do in the
meantime. I will continue my progression as a student affairs professional. I
will continue gaining skills with new experiences. I will be an educator. The
students, the job description, skills needed, and the technology might
change over time, but my dedication to helping students succeed in
whatever they may be working towards does not.
References
Evelyn, Jamilah. (2012, June 14) Nontraditional Students Dominate Undergraduate Enrollments,
Study Finds. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/Nontraditional-Students/27329/
Kamenetz, A. (2010) DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation
of Higher Education White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing
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MADE ME THINK ESSAY