By Harry Pearse
Staff Writer
Although our beautiful and picturesque school is located in one of the wealthiest towns on Long Island, it does not mean that the students who attend Post are as wealthy as those who reside in Brookville. I wonder how everyone pays such a high sum of money for his or her education? Is it the students themselves paying for their education? Is it their parents? Scholarships? Loans?
On the men’s soccer team, who are playing extremely well at the moment by the way, well over half of the players come from another country. The majority of those international students are making the trip over the pond from Europe. I am one of these weird-looking Europeans, who wear the tight skinny jeans and have an odd accent. I am able to pay the high tuition through scholarship, which I earned through my ability to play a sport.
I am lucky to be able to experience something so great such as college, through financial aid, as well as funding from myself. Many of you may ask the question, do all athletes receive scholarships, and are they the same? The answer to this commonly asked question is no. Many athletes still have to fund some, if not all, of their education. Only about eight or nine full scholarships are given to the men’s soccer team, which has at least 14 overseas players, who made the journey over to America, and over 25 players in total on the team.
Although many Scandinavian players used to receive discounts to come to Post because the university had a ‘Scandinavian relationship’ with certain schools and companies, in the past two years this discount has been terminated. Any financial aid that a student from Sweden or Norway would have received in the past has now been halted, which means they have to find a vast amount of money for their tuition. Post offers many opportunities to get financial aid, through good grades, athletics, or excellence. This aid is where most students receive help when it comes to paying for their college education.
A lot of students at Post receive tremendous help from their parents, which is completely understandable. Who at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 or even 23, is going to be able to play $50,000 a year for four years? Unless he or she is the Prince of England, (I do only share the same name as Prince Harry of Great Britain…), surely this is the only way to pay for such an outrageous amount.
In England, the tuition is £12,000, which is a ridiculous amount, and it’s rising. But compared to the outrageous sum that universities in the United States charge, it seems very little. I am very sympathetic with American college students who don’t receive any financial aid, and therefore have to shell out ridiculous amounts of money to further their education. However, maybe some students could work harder to just contribute to their time at college, and their party animal lifestyles?
I’m not saying you have to get a job as the CEO of Apple and earn millions a year, but maybe work at a café in your free time, maybe a job on campus, or a paid internship? Anything that pays just a small amount, so that instead of your parents paying your tuition, books, petrol, car, drinks, food and everything else that they pay for, maybe you could get it yourself. Instead of putting the tequila shots on your daddy’s American Express card, you pay for them with the cash you worked so hard for?
Try and think about how you pay for your tuition…this is a lot of money that you or mainly your parents are shelling out. We need to be smart! If you feel like you are living off all of your parents’ money, then try and help out! Although you have sacrificed working full time to better yourself with academia, you still need to be motivated about paying your tuition!
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