Harassment Still Happens

Bullying doesn’t stop after high school, university students are still dealing with the affects of harassment and the lack of channels to report it.

by: Briana Rivera

SPRINGFIELD, MO-Name calling, physical harassment, and intimidation sounds like things happening in a teen movie set in the 90’s, but these behavioral problems don’t stop after students outgrow recess or once they cross the stage at their high school graduation.

In 2013, the National Center for Education reported that 15% of college students reported that they experienced some form of bullying. That 15% may be even higher taking into account the behavior that is going unreported due to stigmas or lack of a reporting process.

Although Evangel has clear standards on expected behavior, misconduct is happening behind the walls of residence halls.

“I would have told my RA, because it had just gone too far. But.. my RA was never around, I had no choice but to just deal with it myself,” said Evangel alumni Caleb Sholley as he recalled an incident that happened on his floor in Lewis Hall during his final semester at Evangel. 

Evangel’s largely residential campus fosters a unique community relationship between students. However, according to Sholley, the “brotherhood” amongst the North side, third floor neighbors grew tense after Sholley started dating a girl.

Two weeks before graduation, Sholley came back to his room to find an “official” notice on his door from public safety stating that he was being evicted for sexual misconduct, all of his belongings tossed into the hallway and study room.

Sholley went on to discover that the notice and the removal of his possessions were part of an elaborate prank that his neighbors had conducted in retaliation for his frequent absences from the hall while on dates. When Sholley tried to speak with both his RA and RD immediately following the event, he gave up shortly after being unable to contact them in a timely manner.

“It was so close to graduation,” said Sholley. “I guess I just didn’t want to rock the boat any further. But now that I look back on it they should have known better, especially knowing what I struggle with.”

Sholley is diagnosed with Asperger’s, a form of high functioning autism, which Sholley says put him at a disadvantage socially or make him an easy target.

“They knew I’d think it was real and they loved watching me freak out”

While Sholley never reported his case, another student did, and got discouraging results. Steven-Mark Andrew Maine, a junior at Evangel, reported an incident his freshman year and says that his case was mishandled by the community life office and his bully, protected by bias.

“My bully was a devotional leader” Maine said. “but he was very aggressive and had a temper. He shoved me into a brick wall and hit me in the head. I went to the RD in Scott Hall at the time, but I was blamed for “bothering” my bully, causing him to act out. When I went above his head to the faculty member in charge of community life, she told me I was being too emotional to plead my case to her.” 

Maine was placed on “Alert Level 1,” with no chance to appeal, while his bully was given a verbal warning.

While the university handbook does state a policy against bullying that addresses property related offenses like Sholley’s case, or physical harassment like Maine’s, there is only a thorough reporting procedure stated for instances of sexual offenses.

“There could be better checks and balances,” said Maine of what the school could do to ensure that it’s living up to it’s expectations of Christ-like behavior. “It’s really one-sided, there’s only one person making those kind of judgement calls, and that person has a history of picking favorites. We need more diverse opinions and more people looking over cases to ensure that bias isn’t happening and to ensure that students feel safe speaking up.”

Evaluating Sexual Assault and Harassment at Evangel University

JonChristopher Collins

SPRINGFIELD, Mo – On Jan. 30, 2019 graduating senior Megan Patty published a blog post to the website Odyssey; the post voiced concern over Evangel University’s handling of sexual offenses. How is it handled on campus?

Sexual assault and harassment has reached the news cycle again; this time there are concerns about former Vice President Joe Biden’s behavior. Another EU student wants to tell her story as a sexual assault victim on campus; this source is not connected to the previously mentioned blog post. She wanted her identity revealed in this story, but for her safety her name will not be revealed. For the purpose of avoiding poor taste, certain details of the assaults will also not be revealed.

This student is a senior set to graduate in May of 2019. During her junior year, she said she joined a friend group; she said it was in this friend group that she met the student who eventually assaulted her. “Eventually, the whole group wouldn’t hang out all at once because people were busy,” she said. She said it was not until about a month into the fall semester of her junior year that the assaults began. She said that it first happened to a friend of hers in the group. She described multiple times where the accused touched her and her friends’ legs while in his car on the way to an activity for the friend group. “No one thought anything of it until it happened routinely. I got a weird feeling after it happened to her a few times. When I was in the front seat, he would put his hand on my leg and move up my leg,” she said.

She said incidents like that happened a couple handfuls of times before it was reported. “It [the assaults] started in the fall of 2017 and it recently ended last fall of 2018.” She added that it was reported around October and November of 2018. Prior to that, this student and her friends had met with him in a public place and asked him to stop.

She said she was not going to report his attacks on her until another friend of hers was being assaulted. None of the three male witnesses were called in; according to the victim, they each witnessed at least one assault. The accused is still on campus. “All he had to do was sign a contract admitting he did it so he could move dorms and have a no contact directive with the girls he assaulted,” she said. She said Gina Rentschler, Director of Community Life, told her everything he had to do including: pay a fine, move halls, and not enter Lewis Hall. Despite this, the assaulted student said he entered Lewis, stood outside the EU radio studio window while she was doing her show, and continually broke the no contact directive. She confirmed this by presenting her archived communications with Rentschler and Sheri Phillips, Vice President for Student Development.

This student said it took over a month for the accused to be punished. “We reported him on a Monday and Sheri Phillips told us that his picture was going to be sent to Public Safety, they were going to have a report done, and an investigation done, and the soonest we would hear from them was that Friday. So we reported him on a Monday and they said we should know something by that Friday on the process of the investigation. We did not hear anything for over a month. We went to Public Safety and asked about the situation; Public Safety had no idea who he [the accused] was,” she said. She said no updates were given by EU administration about the investigation for a month. “They [administration] said sorry to us and that it should have been handled better,” she added.

The student said the university handled it well in the since that she was listened to, but she also said she would not feel comfortable having Evangel handle something like this again but will go to the police. She said this is because of a lack of communication on the school’s part. “I just kind of feel defeated,” she said. The student said she feels it was handled this way to avoid possibly tainting the university’s name. She said she feels students are more afraid to report sexual assault than to miss curfew and that it needs to change; on the other hand, she said EU is making good effort to change things via student efforts.

Sidebar One: Three Students Speak Regarding Sexual Offenses

Patty, who wrote the previously mentioned blog post, is a social work major. She organized the recent discussion panel on sexual assault sometime after publishing her blog post. Patty said that her panel was well received. Regarding her blog post, Patty said former and current students reached out to her and thanked her for her blog post.

Jon Spence is an EU senior preparing to graduate in May of 2019. Speaking about the blog post he said, “Though it was released through Odyssey Online and is really not legitimate journalism, the piece was given validity by the overwhelming student response saying that sexual violence is a serious issue even at Evangel.”

Patty said she would like to see a student Title IX advisory committee at EU like some universities have; however, she said she is not sure how it would work logistically. Patty said that she has heard that counseling services do well when dealing with the victims.

Briana Rivera is a junior at EU; she knows the student who was assaulted as discussed in the beginning of the story. Rivera was sexually harassed in 2014 during her time at Ozarks Technical College by a student she described as barely an acquaintance. It happened for close to two weeks and was getting aggressive before she reported it. “As soon as I went to my professor literally within less than 48 hours the Title IX officer of all of OTC came and talked to me.” Rivera said while she cannot speak for Evangel, private institutions need to be held accountable. “After going to a very heavily funded state college to now coming to this college everything seems so secretive. We need to be held accountable if people are getting hurt on our campus.” Rivera added that those who lie about being assaulted need to be held accountable too.

She said that in regards to Missouri Senate Bill 259, she sees both sides of those who support it and those who do not. Rivera said EU does a good job of protecting students from outside harm but not from students themselves. She said she does not believe EU would be proactive in helping her the way OTC was. Rivera said the ball is also dropped when it comes to dealing with bullying in the dorms; she said she has witnessed it. “We don’t want to admit anything happens on our good, Christian, campus.” She does not blame this entirely on the university; she said students should be doing better. “I don’t think the school’s purposely trying to oppress us, but I think they’re scared that if something happens and it’s uncovered that this school is going to be in trouble. There’s fear, if we get bad press there’s fear,” she said. She added that she understands the fear even though it is inexcusable.

However, Rivera said EU is headed in the right direction with the panel and the approved posters promoting Denim Day. “A clear chain of command needs to be established. Sheri Phillips has a lot of other things on her plate, I’m sure, and so does Gina.” She said she feels many, especially new students, are not informed about who to go to and how the process works; although, she said she thinks things like that panel help.

Sidebar Two: Dr. Sheri Phillips Shares

As Vice President for Student Development Phillips represents students and oversees student services including: spiritual life, community life, health, counseling, Public Safety, student activities and housing. An attempt was made to get her confirmation that the student who was assaulted received an apology for the lack of communication as the student herself said and confirmed it with screen shots of their communication. Phillips said she could not comment on an individual case due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). She said FERPA covers “anything about students.” See Sidebar Three for an explanation of how FERPA is misused.

Phillips said sexual offenses have different levels under Title IX. “Once a student comes to us with a complaint, we look at that complaint and talk to the student. Was there violence involved? Sometimes a student doesn’t want anything done, they just need some protective measures put in place,” she said. Phillips said based on what the student brings to them and when the offense occurred makes a difference in how they respond to it. There are two methods used to handle these cases, informal and formal resolutions. “If we go the informal resolution route, essentially both students are talked to and if there’s relative agreement on what happened and we’re not looking at a violent situation, we can take action according to our policy.” If the students’ stories are inconsistent or if the situation is violent, a formal resolution process will take place allowing for a full investigation.

When it comes to offenses between students and faculty or staff members, the process is slightly different. “The one caveat is if we have a tenured faculty member, there are different provisions in the faculty handbook that after an investigation is done then it would also go before a faculty board to hear the case,” she said. After that happens, the faculty board will make a decision. Phillips said those kinds of offenses are reported no more than a handful of times within any given year.

She said that according to current Title IX legislation disciplinary action needs to happen within 90 days; however, she said they try to do it in a month or less. Phillips said new federal guidelines are expected at some point by summer or the end of August. If the current federal legislation becomes law, they would require live hearings for students; this would be like Missouri Senate Bill 259. “We have not done [live hearings] to protect student privacy but we would be required to do that.”

Phillips said perceived lesser offenses like drinking alcohol or missing curfew could be handled faster than sexual offenses because they are black and white. “Either you did it or you didn’t. That’s certainly possible. If the camera’s showing you came in late that’s an easy one to follow up with.” She said it is all about our own perceptions. Talking about how EU tries to find out what happened during a sexual offense she said, “We try to really get at what happened. Sometimes that is always clouded by our experience, that is always a factor of our perception.” She said reporting and responding parties can have two different perceptions of the same event; Phillips said it does not mean one of them is lying, it is just their perceptions. “We try to be very careful and try to be very caring in the process.” In response to stating that some students feel the so called petty crimes are taken more seriously, she said that it is not accurate and that complex cases take longer to resolve.

Phillips said in these situations the outcome is rarely what students on either side want. She said it is challenging to handle these situations and that they want to care well for all students. She said they work hard to make sure the consequences fit the actions. For instance, a rape or other violent crime will result in dismissal; EU code of conduct violations result in suspension. It is on a whole spectrum of assault and harassment possibilities. Despite complaints, that is why the categories are so broad; Evangel cannot do anything about it because it is law. EU cannot act on anything other than a first hand allegation. Phillips said if students feel something was not handled properly in their case they have freedom to appeal the decision within a week of receiving their resolution letter.

In response to students who do not feel heard she said, “I would encourage them to talk to us about how we could have helped them. Come and talk to me and we’ll see how we can do it better.” Phillips said a lot of care is taken to be consistent while at the same time recognizing the complexity of human behavior and situations. While some may worry that offenses are not punished equally, Phillips said if they are dealing with one situation this year and an exact same situation next year, there would be equal consequences.

Phillips said if she could say anything to everyone about this topic, she would say the following:

I think the main thing is just to remind students we care deeply about their experiences, we want to keep them safe, when we learn of reports of misbehavior we will do everything that we can to stop the behavior and do what we can to keep them safe, that’s our responsibility.

Sidebar Three: FERPA: Does FERPA Really Cover That?

Mike Hiestand is the Senior Legal Counsel at the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). Hiestand agreed to be quoted for the purposes of this report. He said the following about FERPA, what it cannot do and what it can do:

FERPA is routinely abused by school officials. It was intended to protect education records, docs related to a student’s academic life: transcripts, test scores, etc. It’s now, often with the blessing of the US Dept. of Ed, regularly used as something of a catch-all to refuse to disclose school records school officials would rather not release.

First, FERPA rights can be waived by the student. So if the student victim in your case waives her FERPA rights that’s no longer an excuse. That doesn’t mean the official must talk about the policy, and at a private school there’s little you can do to make them talk/release docs, but it does take away the FERPA excuse.

As far as the public safety investigation docs, after we sued the DOE in the early 90’s for taking the stand that campus police records which includes records compiled by a public safety office were “education records” covered by FERPA, the law was specifically amended to make clear they are not. So their claim that records compiled by PS are FERPA protected is not correct. Again, however, getting past the FERPA excuse is just the first hurdle. At a private school there’s little you can do to make them talk/release their police investigatory docs since the state open records law, which is the normal vehicle for compelling access to docs beyond the daily campus police log which the federal Clery Act requires be public, doesn’t apply.

FERPA is supposed to just relate to info about a student’s academic life; schools frequently expand that to include much more than transcripts and test scores.

View the Evangel University Student Handbook for more information about EU’s discipline policy.

---

The Price We Pay to Use Social Media

              Taylor Bergquist

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Sound familiar?  That is the sound of someone’s phone going off. A sound that for most people is all too familiar.  That sound can be heard going off in restaurants, in theaters, and even Lord forgive us during church. That sound has the ability to make everyone reach for their pockets to check if they are the chosen ones. College students in particular seem to be especially attached to their phones.  They can be found on their phone during class, while at dinner with friends, and even while at work. All that time spent on their phone while on social media ends up creating an impact on their grades, on their self-esteem, and it could cost them jobs.

The Impact on Grades

       Research done by Miriam hospital who surveyed 500 freshman women at northeastern colleges found that there was a correlation between high social media usage, and lower grades. The same results can be said for the average student here at Evangel University. After surveying 150 students at Evangel the data suggests that those with higher GPAs spent less time on social media. Take Chloe Lairmore a sophomore here at Evangel University who said, “Since coming to college I have found that I am on social media more than ever, and my grades are the worst they have ever been.”  This problem is a common one among Evangel University students with 75% of the students surveyed admitting they believe their increase of social media usage has played a factor in them having a lower GPA than normal.

One possibility of how social media has caused a negative impact on college student’s grades is being on the phone during class. Nathan Nelson an English professor at Evangel believes this is a problem that is worse than ever, “Student’s using their phones during class has become a huge issue, and for me it feels as if the students are being disrespectful.” Students on their phone during class have reported not being able to fully absorb information, inability to focus on what the teacher is saying, and decreasing levels of care for their grades in the class. That being said social media can be a great networking opportunity for students, and when used correctly a good learning tool. The impact social media creates on a college student is not just on their grades though. It can also affect a college student’s self-esteem.

The Impact on Self-Esteem

In fact, research shows that people who use Facebook frequently report higher depression rates and decreased well-being. 100% of the female students at Evangel University surveyed said that they have at one point felt insecure because of looking at social media. Alison Newport a senior at Evangel University said, “Looking at Instagram always makes me feel insecure, and sometimes it causes me to begin spiraling into a very negative headspace.” A young person’s self-esteem is already in a vulnerable place, and constantly having airbrushed, and photoshopped images shove down their throats by looking at their social media feeds certainly does not help.  Approximately 80% of US women do not like how they look according to studies. A 2011 study from the University of Haifa found that the more time girls spent on Facebook, the more they suffered conditions of poor body image, negative approach to eating and more urges to be on a weight loss diet. Does a decrease in self-esteem, and higher rate of depression seem like a price you are willing to pay in order to be on social media?

The Impact on Getting Jobs

  Darla Waldner hires people at her social worker company, and she has decided not to hire someone based on their social media. “I once interviewed a woman who spent the whole interview talking about how this was her dream job. She was well educated, talented, but when I checked her social media, she had several offensive, and irresponsible posts up,” Waldner said. Those posts lost the candidate her dream job. Do not make the same mistakes. A survey done by careerbuilder.com found that 54% of employers have found content on social media that have caused them not to hire a candidate. Emily Dean a recent graduate from University of Denver almost lost her dream because of social media posts. “I went in for an interview at an Advertising agency, and they had searched my social media where they found unprofessional videos of me drinking. Luckily, I was able to use that as an opportunity to show how good I am at spinning negative press, but it almost cost me my dream job,” Dean said. Social media could cause someone to lose their job, but there are some upsides to college students being on social media.

The Upsides of Social Media

That is not to say there are not upsides to social media. Some of those upsides include money making opportunities, networking opportunities, connections to cultures someone might not interact with otherwise. Students at Evangel University themselves have Instagram accounts for businesses take Grace Myers, a junior at Evangel University who has her own photography Facebook page. That kind of business opportunity might not be available to college students if social media did not exist. With LinkedIn college students have the ability to quickly, and easily connect to fellow Evangel University alumni, and network with them.[ Melissa Beiswenger a junior at Missouri State University found her roommate through Instagram. “I went through the MSU hashtag on Instagram, and started following people. I followed her then she direct messaged me, and we just hit it off,” Beiswenger said.

There is plenty of positive reasons to use social media like the opportunity to make friends, and make money. People just have to be willing to check their mental health, put the phone down to study, and to clear offensive posts off their social media so they do not lose their dream jobs. Stay safe on social media Evangel University students.

Homeschool Athletes Living the Dream 

Garrett Bills

SPRINGFIELD MO- What if the only thing that you were known for was being some homeschooler that could never amount to any level of athletic ability, but your only dream in life is to play college football. This is the case for thousands of homeschooled students across the nation. A student can be extremely talented, but because they are homeschooled they often get overlooked by most colleges. Evangel University and its football program(https://www.evangelathletics.com/landing/index) has a completely different outlook on this problem. 

            Thousands of young men who play on homeschooled teams around the country feel like they are at a disadvantage when it comes to having the opportunity to be recruited and play college football. Homeschool students often feel this way because they are overlooked by a lot of universities because of where they go to school. Universities are often looking for athletes from big name high schools, however, Evangel University has. Their head coach Chuck Hepola views things a bit differently. “I don’t care if a kid is homeschooled, public schooled, or private schooled, talent is talent and I want it on my team. I have had a hand full of homeschool players come through the program in my years of coaching and have noticed that they often have some of the greatest attitudes and work ethic one the team.” Hepola said.  

Haaken Friend who is the starting tight-end for the Evangel Crusaders says that his homeschool recruitment journey, “Was one of the hardest thing that I had ever done. I had to put together all my film and constantly call coaches to see if I could come on a visit. Evangel was totally different though and focused on me as a person and what I could bring to the team instead of just what school I came from.” Evangel football coaches spend countless weekends during the fall football season, going around to high school football games in search of both public and home schooled athletes. 

             In the Crusaders 2018 season, two homeschooled athletes(https://www.evangelathletics.com/sports/fball/2018-19/roster) were voted to be captains. This has not been the first time that a homeschool player was in a leadership position on the Evangel football team said starting running back Ben Friend, “I have never once felt like I have been viewed as less of an athlete because I grew up in a homeschooled setting. When you get to college it is such a business that nobody cares where you came from as long as you better the team.” Friend said.

            The Evangel Crusaders will be heading into this next season stronger than ever after a nine and two record last season. The Crusaders have around 35 recruits coming in for this upcoming(https://www.evangelathletics.com/sports/fball/2019-20/schedule) fall and three of which are from a homeschooled organization who are ready to show everyone what they bring to the table.

Evangel Student-Athletes Fear for Families in Venezuela

By: Andrew Edwards

SPRINGFIELD, MO – Turmoil continues throughout the country of Venezuela where power, food, and energy are slim, and three Evangel students are feeling the heartache of the situation. Jose Vargas, Rafael Rodriguez, and Harold Alvarez are three Venezuelan natives who also attend Evangel and play on the baseball team. Their families also currently reside in Venezuela and are often unavailable to talk to.

“We have to get on different social media sites or use different apps just to talk to our families” said Alvarez, Evangels starting first baseman, “days will go by, and I will not hear from them. It’s scary.”

The issues that have prolonged in Venezuela have become humanitarian issues. President Donald Trump has pulled support away from the government of Venezuela which resulted in the Venezuelan government closing their embassies on U.S. soil.

“My family does not like to tell me about how things actually are in Venezuela because they do not want me to worry” said Vargas, Evangels starting shortstop, “they tell me how blessed I am because I am in the United States and not there.”

The situation in Venezuela is bad and it continues to grow worse. All three student-athletes fear for their families in Venezuela because of the dictatorship that is currently in power there. Nicolas Maduro, the current socialist president of Venezuela, has been in office since 2013. He has been accused of rigging the most recent election against Juan Guaido, his opposition. Guaido has been recognized by the United States as the interim president of Venezuela.

“President Guaido is great. We love Guaido, but he has no real power yet,” said Rodriguez, Evangels starting second baseman. “and that only angers Maduro, especially with the support for Guaido from the United States and other countries.”

The most recent issues the country of Venezuela and the families of Evangel’s Venezuelan student-athletes are facing are blackouts. These blackouts come because of a lack of power which is controlled by the government. These blackouts effect hospitals, water pipelines, transportation, and the internet.

“Sometimes my family doesn’t have power for most of the day. They just live in darkness sometimes,” said Vargas, “when there is water available, they fill up buckets to keep just in case they don’t have any for a long time.”

Unlike many college students, Vargas sends home money to his parents each month, so they are able to eat when they have nothing left. This money could also be used for medicine if his family needs it at the time.

“They don’t have food all of the time like most families in America do,” said Russell Brand, head coach of the Evangel baseball team, “they don’t have a month’s worth of food. They have to eat week to week or day to day. Sometimes those families don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Vargas, Alvarez, and Rodriguez pray for a solution to the issues in Venezuela every day because they know these issues are even bigger than themselves or their families. Their hope is to one day see all of their family’s step foot on United States soil.

Going to College: A Social Expectation?

By Breanna Berry

Social expectations determine how each individual person should be required to live their individual lives. Boys wear blue and girls wear pink. Always say “please” and “thank you”. Make sure to tip the waiter or waitress. The customer is always right. While these are not all of the scenarios that are considered social expectations, some are clearly just a moral standard to follow and others are nothing but stereotypes. However, when it comes to enhancing education, has college become a social expectation for the youth, or is it just a simple choice?

For some high school students, college is an opportunity to develop potential skills that will result in a high-paying job and great achievements. Other students may not have a choice in what is said or done, as their parents choose to live vicariously through their child with forced dreams. Some do not view college as an option and choose to go straight into the workforce. Mason Dunning, a junior at Aurora High School in Aurora, Missouri,, said he sees college as a great opportunity. “I’m definitely interested in going to college,” Dunning said. “But, I’m mainly looking for a technical college or anything that would have to do with engineering, or certain aspects of that.” Despite his desire to attend college, Dunning said he still feels the pressure surrounding the idea of college, making it feel as if the choice to attend truly is an expectation. “With increasing businesses requiring certain skills learned in college, it’s making it harder for other people to make it as opposed to people who’ve gone to college,” Dunning said.

Jill Garoutte, an English/Language Arts teacher at  Aurora High School said she too sees some of the pressure that is placed upon her students. “I know one student whose family is made up primarily of lawyers and was forced to go to law school so that the practice could be passed on to the next generation,” Garoutte said. “The person wanted to be a writer and has been able to do that on the side but isn’t living his dream.” Jared Evans, who graduated from Aurora and attended college at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, said he never felt forced to attend college, but it is evident that “without some kind of college education, it can be troublesome for people to find decent jobs.”

According to Sarah Leckrone, a sophomore at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri,, she had certain expectations that needed to be met before she decided on what college to attend. “While looking at colleges, I sought out traits such as personable staff, professors that cared about their students, a place that was more concerned with their students than money, a smaller campus, and had a program that related to my future career.” Leckrone had her connections to Evangel since her sister was attending the school at the time, but to keep her options open, she did her research on different potential colleges. As she was searching for the right school for her, she noticed that each campus appeared to being lacking in many of the traits she was looking for, and also lacked a welcoming, friendly environment. Leckrone said when she finally decided to tour Evangel, she automatically felt as if she was home. “The people here were full of love, kindness and compassion,” Leckrone said. “Evangel ended up being the only place I applied to because it felt like this was the place I was meant to be.”

For high school students who are deciding if college is the right choice for their future, there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration, such as programs that are offered and the environment of the school. However, there is no need to feel discouraged if college is not the correct path. For parents of children who are at the age to start making more adult decisions, it is important to help guide them onto the right path, but to not choose their path. A student’s mental and emotional health is crucial to the success of their career. When being forced into a career they did not want for themselves, it can take a toll on their health and possibly lead to depression. To be successful in all aspects of life, is to be happy and healthy, and this even applies to current college students and graduates. For those who are experiencing stress and depression regarding certain life decisions, it is encouraged to reach out to school counselors on both high school and college campuses. It is important to be open about discussing whatever problems they are encountering and seek advice.

Enterprise Story: College Student Debt

By Emily Groves

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. ─ Nearly 20 million people were enrolled in college in 2018. Out of those students, 70% of them borrowed money from student loans. Using those numbers, roughly 14,000,000 students contributed to the outstanding overall national student debt [https://www.evangel.edu/tuition-fees-and-billing/] of $1.52 trillion. In short, student debt is something that affects a significant number of people in the United States. On a smaller scale, the average student debt in the state of Missouri [https://www.gobankingrates.com/loans/student/average-student-loan-debt-by-state/#27] is $26,834 per person. The state is the 20th highest in student debt in the country with 52% of students reported to graduate with debt. With college tuition prices so expensive, these statistics are not a surprise.

The average tuition cost in Missouri is around $31,000. Evangel University [https://www.evangel.edu/tuition-fees-and-billing/] has an estimated tuition price of $32,849. Evangel’s Director of Financial Aid, Valerie Sharp, broke down the specifics of what the typical EU student is paying for. Tuition for a full load is $11,516. A room costs $2,152 and a 20-meal plan is $2,109. With added fees and expenses, a semester costs around $16,400. While tuition, meals and housing add up, there is some relief for students.

Evangel offers employment [https://www.evangel.edu/financial-aid-and-scholarships/student-employment/] to students who meet their specific requirements. The federal government helps the school fund work study and student employment opportunities on campus. These positions include teacher aids, cafeteria workers, mail carriers and a variety of other things. Shannon McClure, Evangel’s Career Services Director, said that 300-400 students are employed with the school each semester. A student must meet the financial requirements based off their FAFSA in order to work. They are allowed up to two jobs on campus and earn minimum wage. For some students, working on campus is an advantage. Work study Ana Blacksher is thankful for her paid work position: “I live on campus and being able to have a job that flexible with my academic schedule and that is close is a blessing.” However, students who do not meet the necessary financial requirements are simply out of luck. The program is need-based and if the student’s parents and personal income do not meet a certain number, they are unable to even apply for a campus position.

In addition to campus employment, students are eligible for scholarships and loans [https://www.evangel.edu/financial-aid-and-scholarships/]. Evangel offers a variety of student scholarships based off academics and merit. Freshman can receive a redeemable academic scholarship between $5,000 and $12,000. Incoming students are also given the opportunity to apply for the Founders Scholarship, an academic and merit scholarship worth between $13,000 and $25,000. While these are the main scholarships Evangel offers, there are smaller opportunities for athletics, fine arts and outside money to be brought in.

Student debt is daunting. It impacts a large number of college students and the national debt average continues to grow. There are, however, avenues students can take to decrease their total debt. Part-time jobs, whether on campus or off, and scholarships are great ways to lessen the damage of debt.

SOURCES

Blacksher, Ana – Work Study, Evangel University

Financial Aid and Scholarships. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.evangel.edu/financial-aid-and-scholarships/

Keenan, M. (2018, August 08). The Average Student Loan Debt in Every State. Retrieved from https://www.gobankingrates.com/loans/student/average-student-loan-debt-by-state/#27

McClure, Shannon – Career Services Director, Evangel University

Sharp, Valerie – Director of Financial Aid, Evangel University

Student Employment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.evangel.edu/financial-aid-and-scholarships/student-employment/

Student Loan Debt Statistics 2019. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://studentloans.net/student-loan-debt-statistics/

The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372

Tuition, Fees and Billing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.evangel.edu/tuition-fees-and-billing/