Same Diploma, Different Price
Students save big by enrolling in CCS

By Jeff Frankel

Senior entrepreneurial studies major Mike Briehler is not your typical student. He works full-time, attends Rider part-time, takes just nine credits a semester — andsaves a ton of cash.

After starting as a full-time student, he discovered a little-known method for attending Rider at half the price by taking courses through the College of Continuing Studies (CCS).

“I was going full-time and was going to take a class at Mercer County Community College that they didn’t have here at Rider and then transfer the credit over here,” said Briehler. “[The registrar] said it might be cheaper to join the College of Continuing Studies.”

Cheaper it is. After signing up with CCS, he was paying a mere $395 per credit. That’s $3,555 a semester for three courses, compared to the $800 per credit part-time undergrads dish out.

If someone were to complete all 120 credits in CCS, he or she would pay a total tuition of just $47,400. That’s less than half of the $96,880 in tuition a full-time student would pay over four years (using this year’s rate).

According to Jamie O’Hara, vice president of enrollment management, the “tuition rates are based on the services provided to students, not the number of students enrolled.”

Tuition is lower for part-time CCS students because they don’t have to pay for extra services that the school offers, said Boris Vilic, associate dean and executive director of CCS. Full-time CCS students, however, pay the full tuition.

But there are some catches:

­— To get the part-time CCS tuition, a student cannot take more than 11 credits – which usually translates to three regular courses a semester. However, on average, CCS students take two courses a semester, said Vilic.

“It is theoretically possible that a CCS student could enroll for 11 credits,” he said. “[But] it is not likely.”

Briehler had a plan to speed things up.

“You’re going to take a little bit longer to graduate,” said Briehler who is 23.

He started in fall 2002 and expects to graduate in summer 2007 – a little over five years. However, he sped things up by occasionally attending the county college simultaneously. He would take three Rider courses plus two more at Mercer (at $98 a credit). When the semester ended, he would transfer the Mercer courses back to Rider.

“The only thing is there is a limit,” Briehler said. “Once you hit 60 credits, you can’t do it anymore.” Transfer credits are not allowed from two-year colleges after a student reaches 60 credits, and transfer credits are not allowed for any students who have reached 90 credits.

— CCS students can live on campus but most don’t, according to Vilic. However, some do because of where they live.

“We typically do not have any part-time students who live on campus,” he said. “Our full-time, [CCS] international exchange students, for example, do live on campus.”
With only a limited number of CCS students living on campus, they could miss out on a large part of the college experience.

“I think it’s easier to get involved in campus life if you live on campus just because you can’t get away from it,” said Jamiyl Mosley, an area director for Residence Life. “You live it, you go to class with it, you eat here and just everything revolves around life on campus.”

Because of their busy lifestyles, many commuters find it hard to balance work and play. Once classes are over, many commuters and part-time students have work, he said.

“For a commuter, you have to make more conscious decisions to stay on campus and hopefully make connections with people with whom you could stay on campus,” he said.

Mosley also noted that it is hard to get them to stay on campus after the sun goes down.

“Once you get to afternoon classes, the numbers just go down,” he said. “Once a
commuter leaves campus, it’s hard to get them back.”

However, he stressed that even if non-residents do not take advantage of the activities, they always have the chance to.

“The opportunities are equal, but there is a greater challenge to get heavily involved
in campus life when you’re a commuting student,” he said.

— Advising and scheduling can be tricky. A student who is working full-time could have a hard time finding required courses at convenient times. CCS students, fortunately, can sign up for classes at anytime, Briehler said.

“There is no waiting,” he said. “While freshmen have to wait until the date to sign up, CCS students don’t.”

Luckily for Briehler, he has a flexible employer, his father. Others may not be so fortunate, but other options are available.

“They offer special courses, like weekend college,” Briehler said. “We can go Saturdays, and they also offer every-other week classes.”

­­— Most part-time students do not qualify for financial aid or it is very limited. For instance, only students with six credits or more are eligible for federal and state aid, said Vilic. “Most institutional aid is limited to full-time students only.

Most aid is also available for some women, he said. “The Charlotte Newcomb Foundation has a scholarship for women over 25 that qualifying CCS students can apply for,” Vilic said.

Of the 771 registered students in CCS, 90 percent are part-time and only 44 individuals are less than 22 years old, the traditional age of a college student, said Vilic. That includes international exchange students, high school gifted and talented and “traditional-age students who already hold full-time or close-to-full-time jobs,” he said.

“Our mission really is to serve the full-time working adult,” said Vilic. “If you look at our population, the average age is anywhere between 30 and 35.”

Senior business major Ken Paul is another student who does not fit into the typical pattern of a CCS student. After commuting as a full-time student for two years, Paul first heard about CCS from his friend and co-worker Briehler.

“After he told me, I went to the [Registrar] and they told me if I was going to transfer from Mercer, they could only accept 45 credits,” he said. “If I went into CCS, they would accept 60.”

Joining CCS was the best way for Paul to attend school while working at a local gym owned by Briehler’s family.

“It didn’t make much sense taking more than three classes while working full-time,” he said. “It is geared for people working full-time who really can’t do the full course load.”

Briehler feels most Rider students have barely heard of CCS. He wonders if the administration wants to keep it quiet.

“I think they keep it silent to the students,” he said. “A lot of the people who take these classes are people who work full-time. I think [the administration] makes it more known to them, and I think it’s more of the day students they do not tell.”

Paul never heard of CCS until informed by Briehler, but he does not think the administration is keeping any secrets.

“They just don’t advertise it as much,” he said.

According to Vilic, the administration does not keep CCS hidden from day students. It is probably just not the best option for most students, even though some enroll.

“For traditional students, we’re not probably the correct venue for coming to the
University,” he said.

The average age for a CCS student is 34, and many have families. Typically, they come back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree by taking two courses a semester, said Vilic.

“Sometimes we get students who went to college, but never finished,” he said. “Sometimes we get students who have associate’s degrees from community college, [but] sometimes life just gets in the way so they never started or completed.”

Paul, who is 22, says the age difference really shows in his night class. “A lot of people in that class are older than me,” he said. In day classes, he’s older than most.

Current full-time students who wish to get in on the CCS action can enroll in summer
school, which is run by the college. Summer tuition is also $395 a credit.

According to O’Hara, CCS is well regarded with adult students in the region and is
important to the University.

“We do expect the college’s enrollment to increase in the years to come,” he said. “It is an important component of the University’s Strategic Plan.”

As for his belief that the administration keeps a tight lid on the CCS program, Briehler has a solution.

“I tell as many people as I can,” he said.

- Additional reporting by Steph Mostaccio