BG News Adviser
BGSU '77, '83
It wasn't that long ago, at least not in our minds anyway. Those days in college -- the friends, the experiences, the late nights in the newsroom, or later on winding down after deadline at some favorite gathering place.
A lot hasn't changed. The BG News and the BGSU journalism department are still partnering to develop some of the best professional journalists today, or graduates choosing to make their mark in another career, using those skills they first found or developed at BGSU and maybe the student newspaper.
What has changed is the financial need. Many of us worked for little or no pay. A few hundred bucks were more than enough because we were there for the experience. But no more.
BGSU says that half of our students hold part-time jobs; average school debt per student is now more than $16,000. Nearly two-thirds of our students are receiving financial aid, and more than 40 percent are the first members of their families to attend college.
But let's bring it down to a personal level. The experience is still there at The BG News, and scores of students are doing what we did over the years and still have the same fun doing it. Yet fewer students can put in the time at The News, or other internships, because of financial need. Never have I seen the number of students minimized in their ability to develop because they are holding down more than one part-time job just to stay in school.
The editor of The News a couple of years ago was busing tables 20 hours a week to make her way through school. A recent News alumnus was working more than 20 hours a week as a campus dining services manager. Fewer reporters can put in the time to develop basic writing experience because of outside work and other obligations.
In a survey of The BG News staff in spring 2004, many student staff members said their amount of pay, companioned with financial need, was a barrier for greater involvement in working at The News or other internships.
So what it all means is support -- support for the Terry Goodman Memorial Journalism Scholarship and The BG News Fund, support to help give these students today the same opportunities we had in college.
(Editor's note: Bob Bortel is a former summer editor of The News who worked with Terry Goodman on the student newspaper in the 1970s. He has been The BG News adviser and business manager since 1982.)
