It’s nearing the deadline to pay tuition, and Smyly Crawford has a decision to make: let her grades suffer and work more hours, or spend more time studying and ask for financial aid from her parents.
Such is the decision for many BYU students, but for Crawford, asking her parents for money is not an option.
“I would get scared that I wouldn’t have enough for tuition, and I would feel bad asking my parents to make up the difference,” Crawford said. “So I would have to take on more shifts that week and work very, very close to 20 hours, hoping not to go over hours, of course.”
Thanks to the inspiration of her father, Crawford is working as many hours as she can and taking 15 credit hours but is not daunted by her busy schedule.
“My dad worked two and at one point three jobs during college,” Crawford said. “He paid for all of it while still being able to make fantastic grades, and he still had a social life. And so whenever I think ‘Oh, I’m working too much and I have too much school. I’m not going to make it,’ I remember, ‘Actually, I think I will because I can compare anything to that.’ So he’s the ultimate example of any student.”
But the story of Crawford’s father is a rarity. A 2010 poll by Public Agenda found that less than half of students who paid for college themselves actually managed to graduate. According to a 2012 poll by Sallie May and Ipsos, the majority of college funds are coming from parents.
But the Crawfords’ out-of-the-norm decision is because they believe that paying for something themselves will give it more value.
“That is definitely something I learned in life, because I see people whose parents are paying for everything and they don’t take their schooling seriously and they think college is just for fun, and that’s why they came here to college,” Crawford said. “But that shouldn’t be the reason why you came to college.”
Family finance Professor Craig Israelsen agrees, to an extent.
“It is relevant who’s paying for it, and I agree, in general, that when a person pays for something, it probably, in most cases, has more meaning to them,” Israelsen said. “If somebody else pays my tithing for me, that doesn’t really work. Tuition is a different thing. Tuition is not a commandment, and who pays for it is a result of lots of choices and opportunities from prior years.”
Israelsen claims that paying for college personally is admirable, but not critical. What he does think is important is that students have job experience.
“I think it is helpful for a student to work whether or not they’re paying for their own tuition,” Israelsen said. “It’s a totally different issue. The student is developing a new set of skills and friends. Is working 10 – 15 hours a week going to pay for college? Probably not. But it’s still honorable and virtuous.”
Derek Miller, a sophomore from Cedar Hills studying economics, is an advocate for parents funding school.
“In my case, my parents considered it their gift to me, that the most valuable thing they could give me was an education,” Miller said. “So they have been saving up, and instead of paying for a senior trip and other things, they’re giving me an education.”
He plans to follow in the footsteps of his parents and help his own children fund their education someday. He believes that it is possible for them to pay for college themselves, but it is not the best option.
“It’s very, very difficult, and they won’t get the same kind of educational experience as if they had it already taken care of because it puts a lot more stress and pressure and constraints on the student, which limits their ability to learn and study,” Miller said.
Despite the difficulty, Crawford is successfully paying for school and is just as “Smyly” as her first name suggests. She said it has been rough at times, but she believes that any student can pay for school themselves if done correctly.
“I think they shouldn’t jump into it at first,” Crawford said. “That’s why I’m really grateful my parents are paying for food and housing this year, but I do think it’s possible for students to start paying for themselves and working for a living. It’s difficult to find a job sometimes, but it’s not impossible and they can definitely learn that work ethic if they put themselves to it.”
