"Cruise ship" higher education

Ryan Craig makes the analogy that some institutions have become "cruise ships" with luxury accommodations, entertainment, and attentive service staff to tend to cruisers' needs. Much like cruise corporations, many colleges have an off-putting sticker price that is often heavily discounted through special promotions. Specific to the ancillary provision of student housing, 10 flagship institutions raised fees by 25% over the last 10 years with some campuses offering "economy" accommodations as low as $9,000 but up to "luxury" levels at almost $25,000 for 30 weeks of the year (these prices are before food). The discounting strategy of cruiselines relies on one important item to make up the difference - alcohol is always full price!

The cruise ship analogy applies to elite higher education to an even greater degree. Mintz describes these institutions as including many students who bring an expectation of privilege that causes them to make unreasonable demands. Specific to causes privileged students advocate, they may not do enough analysis to understand the complexity of the problems about which they complain.

Citing David Foster Wallace's A supposedly fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Craig references some of the most annoying aspects of cruise travel being "'large, fleshy, red, loud, coarse, condescending, self-absorbed, spoiled, appearance-conscious, greedy' American tourists 'waddling into poverty-stricken ports in expensive sandals.'" From an educator's view, the cruise ship experience described here, or any travel for that matter, is even more exasperating when the privilege of travel and/or education is undertaken without a critical learning point of view.

"So let's have colleges offer student serial semesters at sea and begin housing students on cruise ships. Although it won't work as well in Austin or Lawrence, Kan., it's fine with me as long as the new college cruise dorms restrain themselves from trying to make money off students one alcohol at a time," Craig closes in cryptic hyperbole.

Getting a good start - Orientation

I started my career in the Preview CSU program - first as an orientation leader, then student coordinator, and graduate student director. This immersion in helping new students get a good start resulted in my first professional position as Assistant Director of Orientation at the University of Maryland, an incredible decision that led so many other good things in my worklife.

A recent survey of Student Voice of 2,802 students found that students were mostly positive about their orientation to college. Enthusiasm differed based on in-person versus alternative modality and a one size fits all approach does not respond to the variety of interests students express. Feeling connected as a result of orientation, accessing resources, feeling more prepared for college, and making friends were some of the outcomes new students experienced.

Some campuses pared down and focused their approach to orientation, focusing on the essentials in a shorter period of time and following up with ongoing opportunities. The current generation of students entering higher education directly out of high school may have needs that are different than their predecessors. "Gen P" (referring to pandemic-experienced) students may be "'under-socialized,' academically underprepared and more concerned about not being 'mentally ready' for college."

Research on how students adjust to college from 22 campuses and 29,611 students differentiated students by experience rather than presumed identity. Students were encouraged to read other students' stories of finding a "belonging place" and compare those experiences to their own.  The authors of the study indicated that "sharing a hopeful way to think about belonging (planting a 'high-quality seed') will make a difference" only if it falls on fertile soil - meaning that the comparative experience is honest and truly possible.

But if the soil is inhospitable for a given groupHaving implemented an exhaustive evaluation of Maryland's orientation each year when I led the program, I know how difficult it is to respond to the nuance of student experience. However, the research indicates that orienting new students is central to all students' experience, regardless of type of institution or student background. Experience from the international campuses of Education City in Qatar indicates that the importance of orientation is no less important in settings outside of the U.S.A.