We’re glad you stopped by. If you’re in college now or thinking about going to school in the near future, you’re in the right place. Our mission is to help you get there, and get through. College is a serious investment – money, time, sweat, and brain cells. But it’s worth it all; even moreso if you make the most of your opportunities on campus. That’s that this website and the book, Higher Learning: Maximizing Your College Experience, are all about. We’re still adding some of the core web content through the rest of the summer, and will be delivering new blog posts and tidbits daily throughout the school year, so visit back often, follow us on Twitter, and tell a friend. Now’s the time to go higher.
While this site (The Root) and article (from United Negro College Fund president Michael Lomax) speak specifically to students of color, the underlying advice here is universal, and offers key insights into what I cover in Strategy 9 of Higher Learning, “Manage Your Money.”
The key line in the article for me is “too few students of color and their families prepare plans to pay for college.” And the key words in that line are FAMILIES and PLANS.
For many of this coming year’s freshman class, parents had a 529 account set up for them before they were holding their own milk bottles. Parents had a broad understanding of the college application and financial process, because they had gone through it themselves, along with most of their friends and social network. College wasn’t a mystery to them, but a part of who they were and what they did daily.
Many first generation college students do not have the luxury of spending 18 years preparing for college, with the collective support of parents, extended family members, and a network of family friends with undergraduate and professional degrees. That may be the reality, but that can’t be the end of the story. A lot of people get a late start on the things that they really want to do. What separates the ones who are successful from the ones who do not finish is a commitment to completion. Rather than convince yourself that maybe college isn’t for you because you got a late start, don’t think you can afford it, or don’t know much about how to go, do everything that you can do to get as much information as possible, make connections, and develop your own plan. Everything that you need is out there waiting for you. Start reading, ask questions (counselors, college access programs, teachers, employers, mentors, and others), then keep researching and reading some more. While it’s best to start seriously thinking about this stuff as a family as early as possible, it’s never too late, even if you’re already out of high school. If you want it, there’s always a way – put together your support network, get the information you need, then execute your game plan!
But it’s also just as easy to do in our copy-and-paste era, and thus often not fully understood by today’s students, as this New York Times article discusses (see how I gave credit to the origin of the article, rather than paste it in here and lay claim – directly, or indirectly – that the words are mine. Pretty much the same deal for your school papers. Just like when you retweet, you need to make sure that when you’re doing a research paper, you name your original sources and give credit where it is due.)
Stories like this always make me reflect on the many opportunities that we have today. It’s very easy for any of us to take even the basics for granted. But like so many other things in life, having the chance to go to college is a privilege that we must cherish and respect. There are still doors to open today. We must keep pushing forward, always.
Strategy 3 in Higher Learning (Sharpen Your Skills) takes a look at some of the key academic activities that you’ll be doing on campus, including writing. In the chapter I talk about style, voice, overcoming writer’s block, and how to shape a topic that will help you stay motivated about the assignment. My pointers are simply a starting point in your quest to become a greater writer. There’s much more information out there – some the may offer entirely different perspectives on writing, and other resources that will dive much deeper into specific things that you may need.
If you want to become a better writer (which, as a great bonus prize, will almost certainly improve your grades), you need to continually practice and study the craft. Spend some time with the links below and search for others. You may not agree with all of the tips and strategies. Read through them, try a few out, and see how they fit. If strict outlines don’t work for you, find a method that does. Don’t simply overlook the suggestion out of laziness, however. That’s not going to help you become a better student. The point is to push yourself. Spend some time doing that, and you will gain from the investment.
