Issue 11, Fall 2016 - The Quadrangle

THE Volume 94, Issue 11

Q

UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924

November 8, 2016

www.mcquad.org

Patrick Estanbouli/The Quadrangle

Stephen Zubrycky/The Quadrangle

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The

Notes from

Opinions & Editorials

Quadrangle www.mcquad.org

The Editor

Vol. 94 Issue 11 Nov. 8, 2016

Ally Hutzler Editor-in-Chief Sean Sonnemann Managing Editor Anthony Capote News Editor Kyleigh Panetta Jack Melanson Asst. News Editors Kieran Rock Features Editor/Managing Editor Tara Marin Asst. Features Editor Lindsey Burns Arts & Entertainment Editor Victoria Hernández Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor Daniel Ynfante Sports Editor RikkiLynn Shields Asst. Sports Editor Kristie Killen Social Media Editor Taylor Brethauer Asst. Social Media Editor Vanessa Sanchez Photography Editor Leony Anne McKeown Asst. Photography Editor Kelly Burns Abbi Kirollos Production Editors Daniel Molina Stephen Zubrycky Web Editors Tom Callahan Faculty Adviser

A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news organization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accuracy, relevancy and professionalism.

The staff of The Quadrangle meets every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in room 412 of the Student Commons.

Contact The Quadrangle at thequad@manhattan.edu The opinions expressed in The Quadrangle are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the College or the student body.

Nov. 8, 2016

To The Manhattan College Community, This special edition of The Quadrangle is dedicated to the issue of money on our campus. Our staff has been working extremely hard to provide twelve pages of thought-provoking content that we hope will spark discussion and reflection.

The national rise in the cost of higher education has placed a financial burden on students and families. Manhattan College cost of attendance alone has increased about $11,000 in only four years, from 2012 to 2016. According to a report from the Institute for College Access and Success, the class of 2015 is the most indebted ever, with the average graduate owing $30,100 in student loans.

In this issue we analyze how Manhattan College’s tuition has increased over the last decade. We also compare Manhattan to other private colleges in New York City, to the schools in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and to other Lasallian institutions in the U.S. We also tackled the problem of hunger among college students, as Hunger For America estimated in 2014 that more than two million of its clients happened to be full-time college students. With the demanding price of a college education, how much is there left to spend on food or clothing?

Our center spread examines wage gaps between male and female faculty members at our college and across America. Not only are there still inequalities when it comes to equal pay between men and women, but there are also inequalities between females who have children and those who do not. The “motherhood penalty” is a setback in the workforce, and in the past two decades there has been no legislation passed to accomodate working women who have children.

Our sports section examines the total expenses of our varsity programs as well as looking at how the men’s basketball appearances in the NCAA tournament affects revenues and expenses within the athletic department.

Our objective in creating this special issue is to highlight and examine the topic of money in higher education and specifically on our campus. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Sincerely,

Ally Hutzler Editor-in-Chief

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Rising Cost of Manhattan Education Mirrors National Trends

Stephen Zubrycky/The Quadrangle

Rose Brennan, Megan Dreher & Stephen Zubrycky Staff Writers & Editor

Manhattan College’s tuition has been ascending at a brisk pace over the past decade.

For the 2006-2007 school year, a full time Manhattan undergraduate would have shelled out $20,350 in tuition and $9,000 in room in and board for a total of $29,350 annually.

That price–what The Quadrangle is dubbing “the sticker price”–has increased 77-percent over the past ten years to $51,910 for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The cost of college has increased 50 percent in the past 30 years, according to Natalia Boliari, assistant professor of economics, and not all of this increase is being met by increases in financial aid.

This trend--a uniquely American one-has been driven by new forces acting on the higher education market from within and without, and few signs indicate that it will slow down anytime soon.

Tuition’s Long, Uphill Climb Barring a change in the strategic plan of Manhattan College, the annual rise in cost of attendance is fairly predictable.

Since 2014, costs have risen by about 3- or 4-percent annually. But between 2010 and 2013, the cost to attend Manhattan rose 8.4

percent, on average.

This period represents a strategic turning point for the college, according to Matthew McManness, vice president for finance.

“During Fiscal Year 2012, the College made a strategic decision to adjust its tuition and fees rates to make the college more competitive in the current environment,” McManness said in an email, though he did not comment on when students could expect another such event.

But a large chunk of the college’s tuition price remains beyond its direct control, and is under outside influence–like the rising cost of goods and services.

“The cost of goods and services that are associated with the higher education industry has major impact on the operating costs of the college. These are items external to our environment that we do not have control over such as food cost, etc.,” McManness said.

Rising tuition is not something happening only at Manhattan College. Astronomical costs are a new paradigm across American higher education–both in private and public institutions.

Since the 2006-2007 academic year, the average cost of attending a private, nonprofit four year institution as a resident student has increased 49 percent, and now sits at $45,365, according to College Board, the non-profit corporation which administers the S.A.T. exam.

The cost of college would not have reached these heights if not for demand–

and demand for higher education has kept pace with its cost.

According to Boliari, demand is high, and evolving. Students today demand different things from students a few decades ago–whether they be fancier, more spacious residence halls, newer facilities or more academic support outlets like tutoring and counseling centers.

“Parents look at where the kids are going to sleep and where they are going to eat. These are things that are demanded by students and their parents in the first place,” Boliari said.

Students and parents are not the only ones putting demand on colleges–employers looking for skilled workers are too.

“Back in the early eighties, the difference between what you would make as somebody with no college education and somebody with a college education was $4,000 per year. Now, the same difference between the salaries of somebody who is not attending college and somebody who is attending college is $12,000,” Boliari said. “Demand for skilled labor increases the price of skilled labor.”

The Road to $51,910 The final number arrived at by the college for the cost of tuition and room and board is years-in-the-making, starting at the end of each academic year in July, when the college’s initial cost assumptions for the academic year are evaluated.

“Once we have made that determination we begin to create the new budget for the next three years,” McManness said. The

new budget works in tandem with the college’s strategic plan, which includes bigpicture components such as enrollment, facilities and other areas of development.

The process is long and broad, incorporating the entire college’s entire leadership and the board of trustees, utilizing 32 different categories of assumptions.

“Revenue and expense assumptions include counts and projections for every major budget line in the college’s core budget.

Once those projections and calculations are made and finalized the college’s entire operating and capital budget is projected,” McManness said.

Still another component factors into the calculations. Manhattan College additionally considers the costs of its competitors when developing its market position.

“Market rates are critical in determining our position related to our tuition rate,” McManness said.

McManness provided The Quadrangle with a list of 23 colleges and universities that Manhattan uses as benchmarks. The benchmark schools include a wide range of institutions, including smaller public institutions like the City University of New York and large, polytechnic universities like Northeastern University in Boston.

For the college’s 2,013 resident students, room and board charges are also a consideration. While $15,010 (the 20162017 rate) may seem like a high price for this, it also accounts for aspects of student Continued on page 4

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News

Student Debt Crisis:

Nov. 8, 2016

Millennials are Paying the Price Alyssa Velazquez Staff Writer

Student debt is at an all time high throughout the nation, and Manhattan College students are paying the price.

College tuition has been gradually increasing since the 1980s. It has risen to a point where college graduates are now struggling to be financially stable.

Based on the Consumer Price Index, which “measures inflation as experienced by consumers in their day-to-day living expenses,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of college tuition has greatly surpassed the price of U.S. homes and the general C.P.I. This increase in tuition has resulted in the student debt crisis that is commonly known by students.

Within the past few decades, the cost of living has increased, which directly affects the cost of attending a higher level education institution. However, the rate at which college tuition has increased, far exceeds the rate of the cost of living. According to a report in 2011 from Demos, “The Economic State of Young America,” the “average tuition at private 4-year colleges nearly tripled in a generation, increasing from $9,500 in the 1980 academic year to $27,300 in 2010.”

With college tuition nearly tripling the amount since the 1980s, students are now faced with the question of how they will cover these costs that are essentially inevitable. The option to not attend college is rarely available, in most cases students have to attend in order to enter the job mar-

ket.

Sociology professor Cory Blad often questions his students in class as to why they are in college.

“I end up asking my students all the time, you know, how many of you really chose to go to college, or was that a concluded choice that was already done and made for you,” he said.

With most entry-level jobs requiring employees to have some sort of college degree, people need to go to college.

a local private high school and a former Manhattan College student, states that this is one of the major obstacles college students face.

“Will I actually be able to get a job after spending x-amount of money to earn a degree for a job in what I study has been the dilemma since the age of industrialization,” Fava said.

With the constant reminders of filling out FAFSA, applying for scholarships, and finding work-study, students are aware

possibility of being in debt after college despite this idea being four years away, for some students this may soon become a reality.

Jhosped Dufflart, a senior at the College, said that although he is aware of the student debt crisis, his concern for it is minimal.

“I’m not concerned about it because I chose a major that will provide me an ample working environment that earns me a good living,” Dufflart said. “Work in a field

“How do you manage affordability concerns, while also realizing that your ability to do things as simple as keeping the lights on, is tied to the amount of revenue you have coming in as a non-profit institution,” Blad said.

“When people sit down and think about it, they’re like yeah no it really wasn’t, you know, not going [to college] wasn’t really an option,” Blad said.

This idea that students don’t really have an option other than college, tends to be problematic due to the fact that attending college will mean possibly taking out loans to supplement the costs.

With all of this in mind, it’s important to remember that when students graduate from college, they are not always guaranteed a job because of the rise of unemployment in the nation.

Mario Fava, the director of finance of

of this crisis and understand that they are part of the generation who will be affected the most by it. Therefore, many also understand the importance of planning ahead and being prepared for what the future could hold.

Sonia Ethakkan, a freshman at the MC, states that her concern for the possibility of being in debt when she graduates is minor, however this does not stop her from having a backup plan just in case.

“If I need more financial support, I would look for scholarships and good loan borrowing programs,” Ethakkan said.

Ethakkan is already preparing for the

that will provide me an income where I can afford to pay loans that I have taken out.”

Manhattan College, like most private higher level of education institutions, is also a business. Blad said one of the concerns private institutions have is to keep school affordability while also making enough money to stay afloat.

“How do you manage affordability concerns, while also realizing that your ability to do things as simple as keeping the lights on, is tied to the amount of revenue you have coming in as a non-profit institution,” Blad said.

Rising Cost of Manhattan Education Mirrors National Trends Rose Brennan, Megan Dreher & Stephen Zubrycky Staff Writers & Editor

Continued from page 3 life beyond just housing and dining.

“It is important to remember that the cost of room and board includes your meal plan, laundry, utilities including cable and Internet, housekeeping, security and support from your RAs; plus the full line of programming and activities that they plan,” said Andrew Weingarten, the college’s director of residence life.

The $15,010 figure is not universal for all residents, however.

Softening the Financial Burden For many students, financial aid, in its many forms, has become a necessity when paying for college. In fact, there is only a handful of students attending Manhattan College without financial aid.

According to Denise Scalzo, the college’s new director of financial aid, “About 94% of students here are on financial aid,

and that includes everything.” The “everything” to which Scalzo refers includes a broad spectrum of resources, such as scholarships, loans, grants and need-based awards, all with varying sources, including state and federal governments, other private organizations and the college itself.

One of the most popular forms of financial aid is the PELL grant, which 25 percent of Manhattan College students receive.

“The maximum PELL award for this year is $5,815 here for 2016-17, and that will increase around $100 for 17-18” Scalzo said.

Students are also awarded the TAP award (a New York State program), the SCOG, and the MC grant. These awards are mainly based off of financial need. The amount a student can receive varies based on how needy the student is.

Students are also eligible to take out loans, and the financial aid office can help students through the process of applying.

Federal loans, according to Scalzo, benefit students beyond assisting the cost of tuition.

“We package federal loans, which gives students an opportunity to develop a credit rate,” Scalzo said.

The loan market has evolved in the past decade, and the federal government

has become the exclusive creditor of college students.

“Years ago, prior to this administration in office, loans used to go through the banks. Now they go through the federal government. The government assigns a servicer, and then you pay a servicer back for your loans. So there’s really no opportunity for you to shop around. It’s one place now that you can go to to apply for a loan,” Scalzo states.

The financial aid office also oversees the disbursement of work study funds. This is an on-campus employment opportunity, where eligible students can work to earn a paycheck.

“It doesn’t come off your bill, it just gives you an opportunity to develop skills, like answering phones, that you’re gonna need later on when you get a job,” Scalzo said.

Financial aid takes a significant chunk out of the cost of a Manhattan College education.

According to the federal government’s College Scorecard program, the average annual cost for a federal aid recipient attending Manhattan College is $28,117, which is 46 percent less than the college’s $51,910 sticker price.

According to Boliari, economists tend

to disagree on whether or not the financial aid model is the best option for higher education.

“Some economists would say giving financial aid is bad news, others will say ‘no, it is good.’ The debate is those that argue that financial aid can attract too many people and kind of erodes the value of education. Some people who wouldn’t go to college without financial aid end up there,” she said.

But ultimately, Boliari thinks that the benefits of financial aid outweigh the costs, making college more accessible to a greater slice of the population.

In the Financial Aid office, the staff is well aware of the increase in tuition and how challenging it could be for those trying to attend school. But as tuition increases, so does the amount of financial aid available. “We budget financial aid, there’s no set dollar amount,” Scalzo added.

“We try, when students come in who have problems with tuition increase, we look for other options for them to pay,” Scalzo said, “We try to counsel students with their stresses of how to pay.”

“If you do well here, we’re going to help you,” Scalzo said.

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College Creates Choice Between Food and Books Jack Melanson Asst. Editor

In 2014, Hunger For America estimated that more than two million of their clients were full-time college students. Roughly 30.5-percent of these students also added they sometimes have to choose between food and educational costs.

When students live on campus at Manhattan College they have the luxury of an unlimited meal plan, and while MC implemented an optional commuter meal plan this semester, it is yet unclear how many students have signed up for the plan.

Manhattan College’s room and board is currently set at $15,010, a cost that commuting students choose to not pay, and while College Board suggests that the average annual cost for students living off of campus in apartments is $10,138, upperclassmen who move off campus often still have to budget and make decisions regarding food.

Devin Prant studies exercise science at Manhattan College and lived on campus freshman and sophomore year. By the time that Prant’s junior year came around she decided to get an apartment with her friends for the remaining years to save money.

“Living off campus has definitely changed the way I eat because of money,” said Prant. “It was easy to run to the dining hall and grab something but living off campus you don’t have that option.”

With that said, Manhattan College has a policy that not only takes away meal plans from students who move off of campus, but

in some cases, also portions of their merit scholarships are taken away.

“Awards are subject to change if your residency status changes while attending Manhattan College,” according to the College’s website.

Another student, sophomore Michael Clark commutes to campus from his home just north of Manhattan College.

“Food definitely comes into play every day for me,” said Clark. “I work and get a paycheck every week so I have to balance how much I spend on lunch and breakfast that week.”

Prant agreed that budgeting is an important part of her weekly expenses, adding that healthy eating makes food shopping especially expensive.

“I make sure I create a list before I go [grocery shopping] so I can be on a budget.

The grocery store is very costly and things add up quickly,” she said. “I definitely shop healthy so that makes my shopping even more costly. I find myself eating lesser because of money and trying to save food for as long as I can.”

Clark emphasized that food costs can interfere with other purchases that he would like to make and that he is always aware of how much money he spends on food.

“If I want to save money and spend it on something else, sometimes I just have to eat less,” said Clark.

Prant added a similar idea.

“I find it tough when grocery shopping and what to choose because I find myself looking at prices and looking for the cheaper items so I can save as much money as possible,” Prant said.

Prant said the cost of food does not

interfere with the cost of books and other educational costs.

“I don’t find that food money interferes with book money because books come first and usually I pay for them in the beginning of the year,” said Prant.

Clark, though, said he has had to decide between food and textbooks, on multiple occasions.

“Food money totally interferes with book money because books are really expensive so you have to save up and plan out how you are going buy your books, breakfast and lunch everyday,” said Clark. “It adds up and food is an everyday thing.”

College Board estimates the annual cost of books and materials at $1,168 for undergraduate students. Manhattan College has an official estimate which is posted on their website at $1,200 per year for Jaspers.

The College stands by their founding principles and Lasallian values and shares on the Manhattan College website that all students economic needs are accommodated to the fullest degree, although Student Financial Services failed to respond to requests for comment.

“One of the most important parts of our Lasallian mission is to provide education for all, regardless of background or economic class. This ideal dates back to the work of our founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle, who opened schools for the poor and underprivileged in France,” the site reads.

Head of the Commuter Student Association, Micaela Bishop developed a program to help bridge the gap for commuter students, ensuring that their nutritional needs were met for a cheaper cost at Man-

hattan College.

Assistant General Manager of Gourmet Dining, Brian Conway addressed the concerns of Student Government almost immediately.

“In response to the efforts of Student Government we have added commuter meal plans to help accommodate these students and make their days easier, ” said Conway.

Commuter affairs and quality of life on campus was a large emphasis Student Body President, Dorian Persaud campaigned for last spring.

Michael Clark chimed in on this topic, adding how he feels these meal plans could be more effective and better for the commuter students in terms of saving as much money as possible.

“They should have more discounts for commuters like kind of what they do now at Kelly. Five dollars for a sandwich, chips and drink is very reasonable, but they should do this for breakfast too,” said Clark.

These changes are still in the beginning stages, but it is notable that work is being done to meet these needs for commuter students.

The National Center for Education Statistics shared that a staggering 60-percent of all college students receive no financial help from their parents.

As the cost of food, tuition, books and everything else for a college student continue to increase, it becomes more important that college institutions continue to take steps such as these and aim towards making everyday life cheaper and more enjoyable for both residents and commuters.

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News

News

Nov. 8, 2016

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Understanding the Wage Gap in Academia and America

Tara Marin & Daniel Molina Editors

It has been almost 100 years since the 19th Amendment was passed, allowing women to vote, and almost 50 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was passed, stating that civil rights may not be denied on the basis of one’s sex.

America has progressed in many ways, yet wages are still unequal; one of the most commonly cited facts on this issue is that for every dollar a man makes, a woman only makes 77 cents.

At Manhattan College, faculty and administration have been consistently working to terminate this issue, where wage issues go beyond sex.

Shawn Ladda, Ph.D., is a professor of the Kinesiology and in charge of the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC), a subdivision of the Faculty Welfare Committee (FWC).

According to Ladda, the faculty salary system should be composed of three components, the first being a method of determining competitive entry-level salaries for new faculty.

Following this, a method should be in place for overcoming disparities in entrylevel salaries as continuing faculty advance in rank.

Ladda explains this from her own experience: “This is my 22nd year here, so when we hire a new faculty member in

education, it’s a lot higher today than it was 22 years ago - so you end up with some compression issues.”

Essentially, someone who is hired today as a new faculty member can be making more in five years than someone who has been working at Manhattan College for over 20 years.

The third component, Ladda continues, is a method for determining annual increments that would also tend, over time, “to lessen disparities in entry-level salaries and increase average salaries by rank” while also “awarding uniform dollar amount increments to faculty below the average salary at each rank.”

Last year, MC hired a consultant to alleviate these disparities. For comparison, administration and the FWC have also been creating a benchmark list of other colleges that are relatively similar to MC.

This process is difficult, however, as the college is very heterogenous: different schools of different sizes and accreditation should technically provide the same, or at least a somewhat similar base salary for faculty.

“There hasn’t been a total conclusion, it’s still in the process,” Ladda said. “The next step is to run data analysis on gender, ethnicity, discipline - all those different factors - and come up with conclusions that, going forward, the administration as well as the faculty feel good about goals being set and actions matching these goals.”

Ladda believes that in general, faculty wages at MC are average in most areas compared to other schools, and maybe in other areas below average, given that we are located in NYC. To pinpoint these imbalances is the entire point of this study, and ultimately to

come up with solutions.

“Going forward, we will try to come out with a system that is as fair as possible, and being reflective and open to various solutions,” Ladda said.

Ladda also addresses the absurdity of the gender wage gap.

“If we looked at the world at large, there are gender gaps. We can’t even pass a law: equal pay for equal work, which to me is ridiculous,” she said.

“I think we need to respect our Lasallian tradition, which ties in with fairness and social justice. And I think that faculty, administration, staff… we need to work together.”

Roksana Badruddoja, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology and Chair of the Women and Gender studies department. Of the many factors that perpetuate the wage gap, she focuses on the “motherhood penalty.”

“It is absurd that there has to be legislation about this to make it happen. As human beings, why do we need federal or state legislation to do what is right?” Gencarelli said.

“In the past two decades, we have not passed any major federal policies to help any human being accommodate family and work responsibilities. Stephanie Coontz, spokesperson of Council on Contemporary Families finds that we Americans express the highest level of work-family conflicts compared to our European counterparts,” Badruddoja said.

She argues that companies can step up by providing working parents a way to balance home and work life - which is something that impacts women far more than men - in ways a variety of ways: livable wage, affordable childcare, flexible work hours, robust maternity and paternity leave, unemployment insurance, and uncovering implicit biases/discrimination of women.

“Here, we must focus on the structural inequalities that are embedded in our culture. We simply do not have social policies and working conditions in place that fully support women’s employment at large in any field.”

“We are not only grappling with the glass ceiling but we are also dealing with a crumbling bottom as low-income women face a myriad of obstacles at home and work,” Badruddoja said.

She explains that female progress in the workforce has gone to women who don’t have children.

“Sociologist Dr. Joya Misra finds that motherhood is a more potent predictor of wage inequality compared to gender. What we need is robust maternity leave and

childcare policies,” she said.

While it may appear that gender-neutral work practices and policies are impartial, Badruddoja also argues that gender-neutral models are informed by masculinity, suggesting the issue here is not gender equality, it is gender equity.

“Gender equity serves the interest of both women and men. If we paid women the same wage as men for comparable work, then we would cut the poverty rate in our families by half,” she said.

Thom Gencarelli, Ph.D, Chair of the Communication Department, feels similarly to Badruddoja about the motherhood penalty, and explains this from a historical lens.

“The wage gap exists from a time when men were breadwinners and women stayed home and brought up their children and kept their house.”

“In the second half of the twentieth century, we moved into an age where women started going for higher education for reasons other than a ‘Mrs. Degree’ to meet a guy who was going to be successful and marry him,” Gencarelli said.

“Women students these days don’t have an appreciation of this history and how short a history this is - we’re talking the second half of the twentieth century - women started getting an education and started having careers.”

“And isn’t it interesting that at the same time, the cost of living became such that a double income family was necessary to a basic middle class life, that a single bread-

winner, in the metropolitan area at least, is hardpressed to provide for his family in the traditional motive, unless he’s making upwards of 150 to 200k a year,” he continued.

He compares the women’s rights movement to the civil rights movement; both are a work in progress.

“We’re nowhere near done. But in this short history, in this short period of time, there’s still the idea that ‘Oh well women are gonna wanna have a family and so they’re gonna leave the workforce anyway, so why are we making an investment into these people who are not career minded like us guys have always been?’

And then there is, atop that, institutionalized sexism,”Gencarelli said.

He brings up the current presidential election and the rampant sexism that has exposed itself in American culture.

“How much of the vituperation against Hillary Clinton is not that she’s untrustworthy or part of a political system that keeps on perpetuating itself and not necessarily representing we the people.”

“What people are hiding is that they don’t want to come out and say ‘Well, she’s a woman’. And they do in ways: ‘she’s not capable of doing the job for the reasons that a woman can’t do the job’ that kind of sexist talk and the words we use reflect our beliefs,” he said.

Gencarelli speculates that we are still living this history, this shift away from male breadwinner, to the world of

a double income family, and in his words, “to the justice of women being seen and treated and paid fairly.”

Like all other department heads, Gencarelli has nothing to do with setting wages for faculty in his department.

“As far as I have always understood, no matter who we hire, the offer made-with the exception of certain issues of prior experience--the offer made to an incoming tenure track assistant professor is the same regardless of whether it’s a man or a woman,” he said.

He is also temporarily a member of the Faculty Welfare Committee.

“I’m learning about the larger state of things here at the college, and there is, in that conversation, a very serious concern and set of considerations about the fact that there is not equal pay. And I hope to learn more about that, but I would love to learn more about how it’s rearing it’s head. Because it makes no sense,” he said.

In 2014, Senate Democrats could not get a single vote from their Republican counterparts in their third attempt to pass wage equality legislation. It fell six votes short.

While laws are necessary for ending issues like the wage gap, Gencarelli believes it is a humane endeavor as well.

“It is absurd that there has to be legislation about this to make it happen. As human beings, why do we need federal or state legislation to do what is right?”

Daniel Molina/The Quadrangle

Features

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Nov. 8, 2016

The Cost of the ‘Experience the Uncommon’ Marketing Campaign Haley Burnside & August Kissel Staff Writers

All the prospective students visiting campus this fall have heard the latest tagline of Manhattan College: Experience the Uncommon. The Uncommon campaign, launched just over a year ago, is the foundational message behind a new wave of advertisements that will soon grace the Manhattan College website.

Lydia Gray, the executive director of the marketing and communication department, the success of the Uncommon campaign.

“On all executions, the Uncommon campaign is one of the strongest and most well received” Gray said. Gray attributed the success to the work done with a focus group.

“The basic cycle for an admissions marketing campaign at the College is every three years. At that time a series of focus groups are scheduled with all of our internal and external constituencies to evaluate our core pillars.” She went on outlining the process. “Once these pillars are confirmed, the task is to develop a compelling campaign.”

The result of the focus groups is the tagline included on all the recruitment pamphlets and advertisements, as well as on the fence along Manhattan College Parkway.

The slogan will be used for the next few years to sell the “Manhattan College Experience” to high school juniors and seniors, their families and their guidance counselors.

Dr. Carolyn Predmore, a marketing professor at the college, praises the strategic reasoning behind the tagline.

“What we’re trying to do is make Manhattan College stand out. Let’s face it, as a high school junior and senior you’re inundated with information and there’s hundreds of schools you could attend. How do

“Experience the Uncommon” has been Manhattan College’s newest marketing campaign.

Kieran Rock/The Quadrangle you stand out among the crowd? So we’re working at trying to find a niche that will make the world look at us.”

Predmore says that the buzzword “Uncommon” is useful in depicting the value of Manhattan College.

“Look around, this is a college in New York City that has a quad with grass on its campus. That is uncommon. We have small class sizes so students can create connections with their professors. That is uncommon.”

Aside from just being used in print, this tagline has appeared in radio and online ads, including the recruitment videos that were filmed on campus in September.

These videos featured a mix of student

volunteers and paid actors.

The funding for these videos and for marketing in general comes from “one unified advertising/marketing budget that is funded through the College’s operating budget,” according to Gray.

“There is a wide range of spending for marketing in higher education and I would say we are on the more conservative end,” she said. The exact amount of money being spent on the marketing of the college is not made public by the department.

The current freshman class was the first to be presented with the Uncommon campaign during their college selection process.

Many freshmen do not even know the

tagline, and those who have heard of it claim that it was not influential in their college selection.

“I’ve heard the ads on Spotify, but I could not tell you what they said” Katharine Scheid said. “I never heard any ads until I was already here. I don’t need them to advertise to me, I already go here.”

Others did hear the slogan during their college search, but only in person.

“I heard the ‘Experience the Uncommon’ thing, it’s all they talked about at accepted students day and orientation. I don’t think it influenced my choice to come here, but I’m here so maybe it did,” Andrew Gauzza said.

management responsibility living in the city requires.

“At times it can be hard living in the city with so much to do, try, and see and not spend money. Also thinking about loans that are just adding up. It’s the little things that really add up,” Grech said.

For college students balancing their money or simply getting through the week are constant battles.

“I try to see if something is cost effective, if I’m getting my money’s worth.

I usually look for sales or promotions.

However, when going out it really depends on my mood and varies each week” Grech said.

Paula Espitia, a freshman marketing major, and Maryanne MacIsaac, a freshman English and French double major, have similar ways to evaluate if their pur-

chases are worth it.

“For clothes, I think if I can make three outfits out of one piece, I buy it. If not, then no. For food, I think if it’s worth the money I’m spending on. I don’t buy a five-dollar coffee, there’s free coffee at Locke’s” MacIsaac said.

“For clothes, I try to compare the item in different websites, there’s always something cheaper, I also look at the quality and the brand but if it’s a necessity, I just buy it” Espitia said.

For Salinas, his biggest expense is food.

Ranging from $12-$15 while other students agreed on spending more than $30 on going out every week. Other key money expenses are clothing and transportation, those interviewed agreed on spending more than $20 on a weekly basis going downtown.

This can ultimately become a hassle for

those who currently don’t have a job.

“I worked 4 jobs over the summer and through the past three school years, my money has been on my savings accounts and I’m slowly putting it into my checking account. I pay part of my tuition” MacIsaac said.

This often leads her to consider her expenses even more as her parents don’t buy her anything while in school. “If I want something, I have to buy it myself” MacIsaac said.

A lack of a steady income, the constant rising price of transportation in NYC, college loans, and paying for college are some of the factors students across Manhattan College struggle with. While college prepares students for the real world, surviving without money is almost a life test in itself as a college student.

Student Spending on Non-Essentials

Victoria Hernandez Asst. Editor

College students are often depicted as “broke” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t spending money.

A research study from ecampus.com found that college students spend more than $60 billion each year on every day needs. The study didn’t just include standard school supplies, it also accounted for “non-essential items” like clothes, alcohol and entertainment.

Moises Salinas, a sophomore computer science major, said one of his biggest financial struggles is paying for school. Rebecca Grech, sophomore civil engineering major, becomes stressed by the money

Features

MC’s Perspective: Trump, Clinton and the Student Debt Crisis

9

Tara Marin Asst. Editor

College affordability has become a major issue in our lives and in the current presidential election. Americans currently hold $1.3 trillion in student loans, and millennials are often characterized as a generation burdened with a mountain of debt.

One reason for this growth is, obviously, because many more people have been attending college. When the economy entered into a recession in 2008, many people couldn’t get jobs, so they went back to school. About 29 million people held student debt at the time, but by 2015 that number increased to 40 million people.

At the same time, the cost of college went up, while state funding for higher education went down. Despite this rise, experts say the crisis is overblown, the student debt is smaller than the mortgage debt, which is at 8 trillion. Still, this crisis has been addressed by both candidates.

Donald Trump has proposed an income-based cap on student loan payments and ambitious student loan forgiveness program. Called for a single student loan repayment plan capped at 12.5% of a borrower’s’ income and suggested borrowers would see their student debt forgiven after 15 years of making full payments, yet no estimates or figures were given on how this would be paid for.

Hillary Clinton has promised to invest $500 billion to eliminate tuition for millions of students at public colleges, and to ultimately eliminate tuition at in-state public colleges for families with annual incomes up to $125,000 or less, and free community college. The federal government would provide tuition grants to states that agree to put up some matching money.

However, this only applies to public university tuition, which excludes room and board, and does not pertain at all to private colleges.

Elizabeth O’Connor, a senior government major, reflects on these issues and policies.

“I understand why for so many free college is an ideal and desirable thing. I get why. But I don’t get how. Secretary Clinton’s plan is a guarantee in raising taxes, and as someone who will actually start paying real taxes very soon, I would not want that. I also don’t believe in government handouts that will ultimately hurt us, which her plan will,” O’Connor said.

She hypothesizes that if everyone goes to a two year school for affordability reasons, then everyone will be attending public institutions for the Bachelor’s degrees, and no one will stand out on the market.

“It will make attending a postgraduate institution or finding a job within six months of graduation near impossible.

There is already such an influx of graduates who cannot find jobs in their fields, why are we willing to add to that problem when you’re also going to be paying more for taxes to get that free education?

Because remember, nothing is ever free,” O’Connor said.

Graph from The U.S. Department of Educatoin However, O’Connor does not find Trump’s approach appealing at all either, because in her eyes he is offering no solid plan.

“There are already debt forgiveness plans, like working for the federal government for a certain number of years. I think this type of program does incentivize not only maintaining a job to pay the loan off for the 15 years and doesn’t give the government this giant lump sum at the end of the day, but it also puts money into the economy continuously which can help close the debt gap,” she said.

O’Connor herself is currently applying to law schools that offer scholarships, and is also planning on taking out loans in order to attend. She does intend, however, to work for the government so that her loans will one day be forgiven, but still worries for the millions of people that forgiveness programs do not encompass.

“I wish he [Trump] would give a more solid plan on how they will pay off everyone’s loans, not just federal employees, since that opens up the market to a whole new level,” she said.

Between her scholarships, grants, and the help of her parents, O’Connor will have no debt from her undergraduate education.

She argues that college--community, public, or private--should never be free.

“I believe that we have actually overvalued college in our society. I believe that there should be a greater emphasis on attending a two year institution and then transferring to a bachelor granting institution after. No, that is not the route I went down, but it is something that economically makes sense. [...] I wish we would

promote gap year programs or have more work study options to ultimately make college cheaper,” she said.

O’Connor mentions a lot of what experts have suggested when it comes to resolving the debt crises: increasing community college attendance as well as national awareness of college spending when it comes to four year colleges and universities.

Kaitlyn Clarke, a junior international studies major, also believes that this collective anxiety regarding student debt is valid.

“I split my tuition bills with my parents, but I think many students experience this stress, unless they are more privileged, but I don’t think that’s the case for most people here, nor do I think that’s the case for most people in America, sadly,” she said.

Clarke sides more with Clinton’s plan, supporting this with the fact that debt drastically affects a person’s life after they graduate.

“Students need their education in order to become successful in our society and in any society, and I think a lot of students experience debt, which puts up obstacles in their future. This doesn’t help with success rates and further diminishes their ability to move on with their lives,” she said.

What Clarke touches on here is true: according to a poll ran by TIME, students who graduate with excessive debt are more likely to say that it caused delays in major life events: buying a home, getting married, having children, etc. They are also more likely to say that their debt influenced their employment plans: they work outside of their field, work more than they desire,

or work more than one job.

Justin Peralta, a junior economics major, takes a look at the complexity of this issue and what resolving it really entails.

“The complication when talking about the college debt crisis in the short-term boils down to who will foot the bill. Many different narratives have been concocted to explain the mess we’re in today. The simplest explanation is probably this: the increased demand for a college diploma has applied pressure for colleges to differentiate themselves,” he said.

Peralta does not see hope in either of the candidates’ approaches, and believes that this issue is going to get worse before it gets better. While colleges have always competed in the classroom, Peralta explains that they have also invested heavily in upgrading facilities, decor, and other functions that are inessential to the education itself. Peralta refers to this as an “educational arms race.”

“Any feasible solution must address the issue beyond the understably popular rhetoric of making college free. Generally speaking the reason millennials are reasonably upset by the rising costs of college tuition has more to do with gradual disappearance of the American Dream. The worth of a degree is diminished by the same social values that incentivize us to attend college, because as more people in the economy have the same qualifications the monetary value of the person is diminished. We need politicians to focus on lowering the barriers to entry of higher education for those financially most at need, while simultaneously providing the opportunities for careers instead of just ‘jobs’.”

Arts & Entertainment

10

Nov. 8, 2016

A Breakdown of the Office of Student Engagement’s Budget Ally Hutzler Editor-in-Chief

Each semester, full-time undergraduate students have to pay a student activities fee that is included in their tuition bill.

The amount this past year was $260, which goes directly to creating the budget for the Office of Student Engagement.

“Our budget is usually between $1 million to $1.1 million. It depends on the final number of students that are enrolled here,” John Bennett, director of student engagement, said.

This student activities fee is adjusted every few years in relation to tuition costs.

The previous amount was $250 per semester, but in 2015 the fee went up four percent. That four percent was raised to fund the operation budget for community service projects.

“That is why we always say that our events are really meant for full-time undergraduate students because those are the ones paying the fees,” Bennett said.

Discussions about how to use the student engagement budget to effectively meet students needs happen between the office and students, especially student government and their executive board.

“We know students want to go to broadway plays and sporting events. We’ve put out surveys in the past, and this is what students told us is important to them which is why we are doing it. It’s a combination

of student government and social life commission to make a wish list of shows and games, and then seeing what is available and realistic,” Bennett said.

For example, part of the reason that the office sells tickets to New York Jets football games as opposed to New York Giants games is because the latter franchise does not offer group tickets.

Once all of the on and off-campus events are decided, it is up to the students to decide what they want to attend.

“I would say that out of the majority of the student body there are three types of students: there is the student that doesn’t attend any events at all, there’s the student that attends every event and then there is the third student that attends Manhattan Madness in the fall and Spring Weekend and that’s it,” Bennett said.

Jackie Staino, a junior at Manhattan, believes that the student engagement fee is fair but because she is a commuter student she finds it hard to take advantage of the events they have to offer.

“Being a commuter is hard when events happen, especially when you live in New Jersey, because of traffic and tolls.

For example, say if an event is at night but you finish classes in the morning, where will you go the whole day? It just gets to be a hassle sometimes and I tend not to go to events.” Staino said.

Out of the overall $1 million budget, certain events automatically have money earmarked for them. These events are considered to be big ticket items and in-

clude Springfest, Manhattan Madness, Jasper Jingle, Senior Events and Spring Fling. These events take up a majority of the office’s overall budget, costing about $600,000.

Also that $600,000 includes money for Family Weekend and what student engagement calls the “first six weeks budget.”

This budget of about $100,000 accounts for events that occur during the first month and a half of the school year in the fall semester.

“That is why you typically see more events take place in the first few weeks because we are planning those over the summer to ensure when students come back they have opportunities to make new friends and meet people, to make sure they are involved on campus. That is why that budget is really important to us,” Bennett said.

Once all that money is taken there is approximately $200,000 remaining that is allocated to all of the clubs.

Each year clubs are required to submit detailed proposals of their ideal budget, what that budget is going to be used for and what club events are anticipated to cost.

Student engagement then sits down with members of student government to decide what the club budgets are going to be.

“If every club got every dollar of the budget they proposed there would be no Spring Weekend, there would be no Manhattan Madness, there would be no funding for Latino Fest or any of those kinds of events,” Bennett said. “That is why every-

body’s budgets get chopped down a little bit.”

Bennett said that is also why student government has a difficult time and a long process of accepting new clubs on campus.

The more clubs there are on campus, with the overall budget remaining the same, each club is going to have an exponentially smaller amount.

Over the winter intercession, student engagement and student government sit down and have a meeting analyzing where they are with all club budgets.

“For every club that is over their budget at the time there is one that is under and didn’t spend as much. We try to reallocate and not penalize the clubs for going over because also that is a positive, it shows their doing things,” Bennett said.

Bennett said that there are two items that almost all clubs use a large portion of their budget on: t-shirts and pizza.

“That seems to be the winning formula for attendance,” Bennett said. “For Manhattan Madness, we take unofficial attendance by handing out t-shirts at the door.”

Bennett said that students seem to be happy with how much they are involved with the decisions that are made in the student engagement office. Just a few weekends ago the student government executive board attended a conference in Chicago with other student leaders from across the country.

“Our students came back very happy with how involved they are and how much input they have,” Bennett said.

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sports

11

Student Athletes Find Time to Manage Work Study Jobs RikkiLynn Shields Asst. Editor

Many students at Manhattan College have a tightly packed schedule full of classes, extra-curricular activities and more. For athletes, competing on a Division I team, having time for anything but sports or classes seems almost impossible to manage.

However, there are some like Caroline Ferri, who prove this wrong. A sophomore and a member of the cross country and track and field team at Manhattan, Ferri trains with her team from the end of August and finishes her season in late May. However, since her sport is all year round, she is expected to train during all months—there is no off season for her.

But along with running and pursuing an accounting degree, Ferri has added to her list of responsibilities. She’s held a work study position at Manhattan since the spring of 2016 as an assistant in the athletic training room. After starting off with six hours of work a week, she has bumped up her schedule to 11 hours a week.

“Balancing school work, athletics, extra-curricular activities and a work study position was hard at first, but now I consider going to work like going to one of my classes,” Ferri says. “I rarely ever miss a day of work. And quite honestly, I’d rather be making money than snoozing in my bed all day.”

On top of working 11 hours in the train-

ing room, where she cleans and organizes the room and performs light treatment on the student athletes, Ferri is also expected to attend practice once a day, for two to three hours at a time.

With 11 hours of work a week, and between 14 to 21 hours of practice, it seems difficult for Ferri to also manage her school work. However, Ferri disagrees.

“Having a job at school has actually made me even more productive,” Ferri says. “Even though I am working five more hours this semester, compared to last semester, my GPA has gone up. I often study my notes or get work done when the training room is not busy.”

Besides missing out on potential naps that many of her teammates seem to have time for, Ferri says that her work hours never interferes with her social life. While working, she says that her paychecks go towards food, textbooks and her savings.

Ferri’s work study position, as well as being an athlete has only helped improve her college experience. Ferri believes that all athletes could manage a work study position, as long as they really put their minds to it.

“Working in the training room, I have made friends with athletes on almost every team,” Ferri says. “I love the people I work with since they make work an enjoyable environment to be in. My boss is very understanding about our needs as student workers, and he allows us to bring homework in to do when we have down time. I

am able to study when it is nice and quiet in the training room. And lastly, the $9 an hour really adds up after a while.”

But Ferri is one of several student athletes with a work study job. For sophomore Talia Price, work study has also done nothing but improve her experience at Manhattan.

In addition to being a sophomore on the women’s lacrosse team and a psychology major, Price holds a position in the admissions office, working as a tour guide.

She works approximately six hours a week and some Saturday’s for four hours. Her team practices between eight and 13 hours a week, depending on the time of the season.

As a tour guide, Price not only gives campus tours to perspective Manhattan College students, she also helps in the admissions office with filing, sorting paperwork, applications, and test scores of incoming students and more. With some weeks dedicating 20 or more hours to work and sports, Price seems to be handling it just fine.

“The most difficult part of balancing both is having to rush from practice to work,” Price says. “It is essential to look presentable for work, so every Tuesday and Friday before work I find myself rushing from practice back to my dorm with approximately 20 minutes to shower and get ready to go.”

Working as a tour guide, Price has learned to interact with people on a much

deeper level.

“Personally, I was drawn to the position of becoming a tour guide because I know plenty of information about our school and I also enjoy conversing with people and maintaining an upbeat personality,” Price says.

For Price, although the majority of her down time is dedicated to work study, meeting friends who aren’t athletes is a huge plus for her.

“Having an outlet outside of the athletic world is great, and gaining work experience for the future is a plus as well,” Price says, “Along with making money, having money coming in when you believe all your time is consumed by your sport is a nice thing to see.”

Managing a work study position for an athlete may seem time consuming, however for Ferri and Price, work study is much more fulfilling than time consuming. Meeting new people, interacting with people of authority and making money all in one place doesn’t sound like a bad deal for them.

“I think a work study job is a great experience,” Price says. “It is a nice change of pace, it places you in a formal position and creates an outlet to meet new people as well as adults of authority. Athletes must use their best judgment to decide if they can manage a work study job with their schedules and if they can’t one specific semester, there is always time to find one the following semester or year.”

Daniel Ynfante/The Quadrangle

sports

12

Nov. 8, 2016

The Perils of the NCAA Tournament

The Manhattan College men’s basketball team reached consecutive NCAA Tournaments in 2014 and 2015, generating an increase in revenue and expenses for the athletic department.

Aaron Mayorga/The Quadrangle

Daniel Ynfante Editor

On March 20, 2014, the Manhattan College men’s basketball team stood on the hardwood floor of the Amway Center in Orlando. Some players cried, others lowered their heads. The Jaspers had just been defeated 71-64 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by the Louisville Cardinals.

A year later, the Jaspers once again reached the NCAA Tournament, but suffered the same fate. A quick exit—this time in a First Four game—at the hands of the Hampton Pirates.

But while pain and agony exuded in each loss, the consecutive NCAA appearances marked a level of unparalleled exposure for Manhattan College. The coverage and publicity has led to an increase in revenue and expenses for the school’s athletic department.

The year before reaching the NCAA Tournament, the athletic department generated $10.8 million in revenue and expenses according to the school’s 2013-2014 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act report. Three years later, that number has increased to $13.6 million.

“It immediately brings what I would like to say is new air into the building,” Steve Masiello, Manhattan’s head basketball coach said about the NCAA appearances. “I think it did that in both situations, where we kind of refocused the campus and rejuvenated the campus and the school comradery.”

Teams that reach the NCAA Tournament are awarded $1.7 million, which is divided into six year-payments distributed equally among the other teams in the schools’ conferences. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Con-

ference has 11 teams, so Manhattan has received roughly $26,000 after each tournament appearance, for a total of $52,000.

Richard Satterlee, vice president of student life at Manhattan, whose responsibilities include athletics, recognized that the money awarded from the NCAA tournament hasn’t directly been responsible for the nearly $3 million increase in revenue and expenses Manhattan has seen in three years. But the appearances have had a direct effect on the exposure of the school and the contributions from donors.

“They certainly didn’t hurt,” Satterlee said in a phone interview about the NCAA bids. “But also, the department has done some good old fashion hard work to improve their revenue generation. That has to do with making connections through the Jasper Athletic Club, with alumni and folks that are friends with the athletic department.”

The increase in alumni donations coincides with the creation of the Jasper Athletic Club in October of 2012. The club was made in an effort to fundraise for the athletic department. Members of the club have the option to donate to athletics or to a specific sport, and receive benefits such as memorabilia and access to special events.

Before the club, athletics had seen a $337,000 decrease in revenue and expenses from 2011 to 2012. In 2013, a year after the Jasper Athletic Club was constituted, the department bounced back with a $986,000 increase.

And since 2013, numbers have increased substantially. The growth reached its highest point from 2015 to 2016, where revenue and expenses increased by nearly $2 million.

“Anything that brings the passion and pride back, I think it’s a great feeling,”

Masiello said. “I think our ability to get to the NCAA Tournament, basically play on the biggest stage in sports, was it great for our players? Yes. Was it great for me?

Yes. Was it great for the current students?

Yes. Who I’ve realized I think get the most out of it are the alumni. They go to dinner functions, they go to business meetings and they get to walk in and brag about something that they’re very passionate about, their alma mater.”

Before the upsurge from 2015 to 2016, the athletic department had seen a steady growth every year since 2003. On average, athletics increased its revenue and expenses by $487,000 from 2003 to 2015.

But the NCAA tournament appearances have in part been responsible for an increase in revenue and expenses.

“They’ve really been great in terms of putting our brand out there, which is a really important piece of this,” Satterlee said.

“They’ve done a great job of sort of representing who we are, which is a New York institution with a proud history and a hardnosed approach to athletics.”

Manhattan’s brand has perhaps reached an all-time high since the NCAA tournaments. Following the first appearance in 2014, Manhattan signed a sponsorship deal with Under Armour for an undisclosed amount. In 2015, Manhattan reached a multi-year agreement with Learfield Sports, which manages all areas of Manhattan’s multimedia rights.

“Your brand, and I call it our stock, rises,” Masiello said about what the NCAA bids have done. “That’s what we are. We’re a stock. … I think it helps you raise your standards internally. It helps you say, ‘Hey, we’ve been to the NCAA Tournament. You have to act a certain way. You have to have a certain GPA. You have to conduct yourself in a certain way. People know who you

are now and you can’t hide anymore.’”

The success of the men’s basketball program at Manhattan has been crucial to the budget increase of athletics because of how important the program is to the school.

In 2016, the men’s basketball team generated 15 percent of the total revenue and expenses for athletics, the highest percentage among the school’s 17 Division 1 teams.

“I think that that is a really important part because it’s our most highly visible sport,” Satterlee said about the men’s basketball team. “It’s the sport that gets the most exposure.”

Since the two appearances, the other sports on campus have also seen an increase in their budgets. In recruiting, the Jaspers have raised their expenses from $230,000 in 2013 to $280,000 in 2016.

Some teams, like women’s soccer, have translated the stronger financial commitment into success on the field. In 2015, the team reached the MAAC Championship game, its first in program history.

“I’m a huge believer that positive breeds positive, winning brings winning,” Masiello said. “It’s contagious. … When I saw women’s soccer last year go to the MAAC Championship, I was as excited as if it was us. That makes me want to get back there. It makes me want to taste that.”

Prior to joining Manhattan, Masiello was an assistant at Louisville, where he became accustomed to reaching the tournament every year. It is a culture Masiello is trying to bring to Manhattan. He has seen the effect it can have on an athletic department.

“I believe every year we should be in the NCAA Tournament,” Masiello said.

“That’s who I think we are. I’m not going to change my standards or my expectations. If anything, I’m trying to raise it up.

I’m trying to get us to think that way.”