Several years ago I wrote about how I was preparing to start a Post-Master’s Certificate program in Curriculum Studies. I remember writing that entry and at the time the only phrase I kept hearing go through my head was Chris Rock on the Howard Stern Show saying, “You’re going back to Shawshank!?” after Stern announced he was getting married again. I had that same thought going through my head when I started the Post-Master’s Certificate a few years ago and, in some respects, I have the same thought now as I prepare for this doctoral program.

There is a slight difference between now and then, though. When I started the Post-Master’s Certificate I had that, “Here we go again,” feeling because I was putting myself back in the classroom setting as a student. This time around I don’t have that feeling because I’m going back to the classroom setting as a student, rather I have that feeling because I’m going back to using student loans to finance my education. If you haven’t read my student loan story, then you can get a full rundown of my life with student loans by clicking here. If you scroll through those posts, you’ll find the one where I announce that I’ve fully repaid my student loans.

Though I need to take out student loans to finance my doctoral education, I am in a much different personal and financial place than I was when I finished my Master’s Degree in 2006. For example, after I graduated in 2006 I began working at a company in an entry level-type position making an entry level-type salary. Now, almost 10 years later, I still work at the same company and I’ve obviously progressed in my career. Granted, I don’t have the regular financial capacity to make $2,500 per month payments like I was making at the end of the aggressive, self-imposed repayment plan for my previous student loans. However, I do have the capacity to make payments on my new student loans while I’m still enrolled as a student.

And that’s probably the biggest difference between me being a student in 2015 versus me being a college student from 1999 to 2003 or a graduate student from 2004 to 2006. Today, I can afford to pay down my student loans during the actual semesters when I take them out in the first place. Will I be able to pay down the entirety of each loan during the semester when I’m taking the classes that the loan paid for? Probably not, but I’m in a much better position to try to do that now than I was 10+ years ago.

There are two other differences that I think are worth mentioning outside of the student loan issue. First, this is the first time that I’ll be taking fully online classes. In the past, I’ve successfully completed hybrid courses that are partially online and partially in the classroom. And for the last several years I’ve actually instructed many fully online classes. However, this will be the first time that I am a student in such a class. Second, this is the first time since I completed my Master’s Degree in 2006 where I’ll be taking more than one class per semester. After I graduated with the Master’s Degree, I completed two additional graduate programs by taking one class each semester (outside of textbooks, I didn’t pay to take these classes or to earn these degrees as I was provided with tuition remission at the local college where I work as an Adjunct Professor). The last time I was enrolled in more than one class as a student was during the spring semester of 2006.

All of these comments aside, I’m really looking forward to being engaged in the classroom as a student again. I’m particularly interested in engaging with my new classmates in an all-online setting. And, of course, I’m excited at the prospects of completing the doctoral program and finishing up a lifetime of classroom activity.

Anyway, the link series is back. Enjoy the links below and get your weekend started right!

Again, if you don’t already have one, then I recommend opening a free Feedly account. You can follow JerseySmarts.com on Feedly or you can add us to your existing RSS aggregator. Enjoy!

Governor Christie is the man!

Great stuff.

And how about the fact that tonight’s attendance at the game was 106,033? Can you imagine that? I went to college at Monmouth University as did my roommate, who I watched the game with tonight. We were talking about it and there were more people sitting in that stadium tonight than have cumulatively graduated from Monmouth University since it was founded in 1933. How ridiculous is that?!

USC’s quarterback did a great job, as did the USC offensive line. And when you have Pete Carroll running the defense and inserting himself into the offense during crunch time, you can only expect the outcome that we had tonight. Not that the Ohio guys didn’t have an equally impressive outing – they definitely did. However, it appeared that their offense fell apart right at the end of the game, when it counted the most.

How great is college football?!?!

I would suggest going over and reading Bradbury’s comments. He makes a great point about libraries being an alternative form of higher education (which makes perfect sense in my view, so long as you have someone with whom to discuss what you read at the library). In fact, Bradbury so believes this concept that he says, “I don’t believe in the colleges and universities, I believe in libraries.” He also makes some interesting comments about Yahoo, which are actually pretty funny.

Anyway, I suggest that you click on the link above and then click on the audio feature on the page to actually hear Ray Bradbury make his comments on libraries and the benefits they provide. When you consider that this man is a living literally legend, that audio feature is a pretty cool addition to the article.

For example, one school stopped using trays in their dining hall so they would cut back on both water usage and purchasing detergent. They’re going to save $30,000 per semester just for that minor change alone.

Other schools are hiring undergraduates to do some of the minor jobs that hired staff used to perform and saving a ton of money doing so. Students are filling twenty five staff positions at a college in Memphis, leading the school to save about $725,000 annually. That’s certainly nothing to scoff at and it also gives students a “real world” working experience. I’ve always been in favor of putting college students directly in the real world where there are real deadlines and, what I believe, is a better learning experience.

Campus life is getting a bit dirtier as housekeeping standards are relaxed. Oberlin College in Ohio saved $22,300 by scaling back on window washing, and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., is power washing its sidewalks and windows once a year instead of twice. Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., is having office trash picked up weekly instead of daily, a change that eliminated three custodian jobs.

Hey – did the sidewalks have to be power washed twice a year anyway? I don’t think so. So, here’s hoping that other colleges learn from the institutions chronicled in the article linked above. In a perfect world, lowering a college’s operating expenses could – eventually – lead to a decrease in tuition. And that would certainly be something worth striving for at all colleges and universities.

And it’s really a shame to say that because the author, Michael Blitz, does a magnificent job of researching what is included in this book. That said, what is included is nothing more than a series of applications of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name. He cites websites, newspaper articles, magazines, reporters, etc, that all use the term “Schwarzenegger” to describe something that is bigger or better than the rest. This is actually a fun exercise for the first few pages. Then it gets tiresome by about page 50. Then you hit page 100 and you want to hit somebody. I flipped around to later in the book just to get by this mind-numbing public masturbation of the Schwarzenegger name and it continues all the way through.

How many f’ing times can you go over pop culture’s use of Schwarzenegger’s image, likeness, and catchphrases? How many times can you emphasize that Schwarzenegger is used because he’s a big, giant man who realized the American Dream? Alright! We get it! Damn it – one could cover these points in a few pages and move on to why Schwarzenegger really matters.

Schwarzenegger matters because he ignited a revolt against a broken system of government in California. He’s important because regular people made an irregular decision and asked an irregular candidate to be their leader. He’s important because he’s given the people exactly what they wanted and he’s done it in a public manner that leaves nothing to closed door meetings or secret dealings. THAT is why Arnold Schwarzenegger is important.

He’s not important because of the million and two pop culture references he gets each day. Come on – how vapid a book can one write!? Overall, I admire the depth of the author’s research, but there is nothing worth reading in this book. I advise you to spend your time more wisely and if you DO decide to bring this book with you on a plane, please carry a back-up!

By the way, you can read most of this book on Google Books by clicking this link. But don’t be a fool like I was – once you get bored, move on!