Perennial issues for General Studies students—finding housing, getting financial aid, and fitting into the undergraduate community—were given a fresh look on Wednesday night.
At the General Studies Student Council’s first town hall of the school year, held in the GS student lounge in Lewisohn Hall, Dean Peter Awn and other GS deans fielded questions from about 20 students, putting the focus on some new solutions to long-term problems.
Students asked about the difficulty of securing housing through the University, and how GS students could be centralized to live together on specific blocks. One student used the example of someone who was offered housing—but only well into the semester, after already signing a lease somewhere else.
“The reason that this problem emerges, and it really is a frustrating one, is that frequently we get an allocation for the incoming class but that allocation’s a floating number,” Awn said. “It doesn’t go down as we get closer to the beginning of the semester—it frequently goes up a little or a lot—so we scramble to [accommodate] incoming students and/or continuing students.”
Dean for Enrollment Management Curtis Rodgers said that GS has been working with local landlords and realtors to develop solutions through the open market. He said that GS has negotiated apartment leases that are now administered through University Housing.
Awn said that administrators are always looking at examples outside of Columbia, citing students at Teachers College and the Union Theological Seminary.
“We’re not just sitting around and waiting for Columbia to solve our problems,” he said, though the deans still encouraged students to consider other housing options.
Students also brought up the differences in how GS students experience the Core. Currently, Contemporary Civilization and Literature Humanities are voluntary for GS students, with two sections for each class composed exclusively of GS students.
“It is absolutely presumed that we will make Contemporary Civilization and Lit Hum a requirement for GS students,” Awn said. The main issue was the cost, he said, calling it a “wildly expensive program.”
Awn also acknowledged that finding professors to teach the number of core classes already in existence is a struggle.
“The issue isn’t approving it as a requirement, but coming up with the funds in the Arts and Sciences to be able to fund a sufficient number of preceptors to teach the additional sections of CC and Lit Hum,” he said.
Awn also discussed the benefits of GS’ financial aid model—a hybrid model, instituted in 2008, that considers both need and merit—in comparison to the full need-based model used by Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
“All full-need models are based on scrutinizing and excruciating details on your parents, not you,” he said. “You play one small part.”
Citing the example of a student whose parents are rich but has not spoken with them for four years, Awn said that the hybrid model at GS takes into account the different factors that influence an individual’s ability to pay tuition.
“The model we are trying to develop is a combination of merit, which we think is very important, and need awareness to the extent possible only dealing with you as an individual,” he said.
“We are doing really well, but does it keep with the need? The answer is, only marginally,” he added.
The question of the role of GS students in the undergraduate community came up as well. Nick Hesselgrave, first-year class president, speaking only for himself, said that GS students feel slightly alienated from the undergraduate community.
Hesselgrave proposed the idea that they focus their efforts on integrating GS students with older students—at graduate schools, for example.
Awn suggested joining clubs but acknowledged the social challenges that GS students face.
“There has been a real effort, symbolically, to have this integration with the other college students but the social events don’t resonate,” Awn said. “To me, it’s just an age and experience issue, it’s not a conscious effort to marginalize.”
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy