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Editorial
Remember the end goal: Graduate
Mt. Hood is a great community college, but there will come a time to drive off the campus and say "mission accomplished." There would be no more fighting for a parking spot or spending hours in line to pay for overpriced books. All this and more could all be yours when you graduate or earn your certificate.
Yes, graduate. It happens when people finish all their class requirements. Graduates put on long robes and sit through a long ceremony and then get to throw those funny flat hats into the air. Then graduates leave and move on to the next chapter of their life. Taking years and years to finish a degree is like sitting through a three and a half-hour foreign film that should have mercifully ended at 90 minutes.
Life is calling. We all have other stuff we want to do.
Higher education is expensive in many ways. First of all, there is the cost of tuition, fees, books and increased transportation needs. Consider what a three-credit class that you have unnecessarily taken has really cost you. Tuition and assorted student fees amount to around $100 a credit. Throw in a $100 book as well as the transportation costs of 12 weeks of driving to MHCC three times a week. That single three-credit class has actually cost you around $300.
There is also the cost of lost income; hours in school are hours away from a job. Perhaps more important, there are the personal costs. The time we spend in school is time away from our friends, family and other personal pursuits.
National statistics for completing a college education are disheartening.
Completing one's education is like running for an 80-yard touchdown. Life has a way of putting tacklers in the way of any worthwhile goal. Economic issues, illness, a death in the family, relationship issues, the need to move out of the area and a score of other problems can stop a run for the graduation goal line. The best way to make that touchdown is to run down the field as fast as you possibly can.
There is a simple step that will help you get the heck outta Dodge: Schedule a meeting with an academic adviser. Discuss the educational and career direction you want to pursue and then ask your adviser to run a D.A.R.S. (Degree Audit Reporting System) report. The D.A.R.S. will plot out the courses you need to complete your degree.
You can easily run a D.A.R.S. on your own to check your progress or to see how changing your major might affect you. Go to the mhcc.edu home page and click on the 'Check Degree Progress' link in the welcome section. Then click on the D.A.R.S. link and select the correct degree program in the scroll down menu. Within seconds you will see exactly what you need to take to successfully graduate.
Registering early each quarter will help you get the required and elective classes you want. But the most important thing is to carefully follow the requirements of the D.A.R.S. recommendations and to speak often with your adviser.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.