2008 Woodie Awards
Second Chance for First Scholars Program
Andrew Assaad
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First thing's first. We're all a little bitter about the new First Scholars program that gives freshmen to the University of Baltimore a free ride we all wish we could have taken. We feel betrayed, suspicious and jealous. Still, despite any misgivings, no matter where those misgivings and suspicions come from, the First Scholars program is going to be a good, or at least not harmful, thing for UB.
If nothing else, the First Scholars program will bring an influx of new blood to UB. While this new initiative won't help the parking situation at all (though it was bad long before the plan was conceived), it will bring a new type of student with new perspectives. If that doesn't sell the plan to cynical minds, consider the fact that if UB were to become a lower-division school and take on more students, new opportunities for additional funding for the university open up. Money that's used for keeping tuition under control (though this is less likely than Elvis announcing that he's coming out of hiding) or improving UB facilities (imagine, overhead projectors that don't devour a half hour because they refuse to work). Either way, UB students benefit when the university builds a lower level.
And this move won't harm the university either, other than the usual ups and downs of a student body that's increasing in size. The First Scholars program isn't going to change the type of student that goes to UB too drastically. It will still be a place that focuses on giving students the tools they need to make real money. It's part of UB's nature.
Finally, the UB head honchos have apparently wanted to expand into offering lower-division courses and programs for a long time now. An anonymous donation provided them with a windfall that they could use to attract a bumper crop of new freshmen to UB. This isn't a spur of the moment marketing scam; it's a concentrated effort to expand UB into a lower-division college, which tends to mean more funding.
The potential growth UB could win as a result of the First Scholars program makes it worth giving the plan a chance.
Assaad, English major and contributing writer for The UB Post, can be reached at andrew.assaad@ubalt.edu.
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