Melissa Beca – 3/9/08

This page was last updated on March 9, 2008.

Don’t punish students; Melissa Beca; Beaver County Times; March 9, 2008.

In addition to her letter, it appears Ms. Beca made nearly identical comments on the Times website using the handle “smartperson.” Interesting choice for a screen name, don’t you think? Though unlikely, I guess it’s possible Ms. Beca assembled her letter from smartperson comments and she and smartperson are not one and the same.

Anyway, another person (“Why should I pay?”) wrote the following in response to smartperson’s first comment (Pretty much the content of the Beca letter.): “I scrimp and save every year to make certain that I have enough to put my kids through school. I have put moneay [sic] aside from day one for them. So, after doing this, I should pay for your children to go to school as well. I don’t think so.”

Smartperson replied, “Do you honestly believe you are alone in skrimping [sic] and saving so that your kid can go to college? Such naivity [sic] is why this country is a mess! Also, do your homework, PHEAA is not a government program! Look at other states who have programs in place to send their young adults to college FREE OF CHARGE! I would bet anything you would not be opposed to your kid attending college for free? [sic]”

I believe smartperson’s comments give us a view into her/his core beliefs. First, scrimping and saving so your child can go to college “is why this country is a mess?” The opposite is true. It’s people like smartperson who believe they and/or others are entitled to “free” stuff paid for with the earnings of someone else.

Second, it’s smartperson who needs to do her/his homework, assuming he/she doesn’t already know the truth and isn’t intentionally trying to mislead readers. Here’s the comment I posted in response to smartperson’s assertion that “PHEAA is not a government program!” “smartperson wrote, ‘do your homework, PHEAA is not a government program!’ If this is true, why does the Commonwealth appoint 16 of the 20 board members (most/all of whom are active members of the General Assembly), why is it subject to PA right-to-know laws, and why does a recent annual report show it gobbling about $420 million per year of state and federal taxpayer dollars? Further, Gov. Rendell refers to PHEAA as ‘a quasi-state agency.’ There’s one last thing on this point. A PHEAA press release from 2004 said, ‘Created by state law in 1963, PHEAA was intended to become a public service agency and a perpetual asset for the Commonwealth.’ Given all of this, if ‘PHEAA is not a government program!’, what is it?”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Shame on letter writer W.W. Young and his suggestion that what little ‘free money’ Pennsylvania college students receive should be reduced in number and size (‘PHEAA phooey,’ Thursday).”

[RWC] Young (I don’t know if W.W. is male or female.) never wrote about “free money.” That’s terminology introduced by Ms. Beca.

When you read Young’s letter, you find Young isn’t asking to cut PHEAA funding as Ms. Beca implies. Young merely said PHEAA shouldn’t be allowed to take more taxpayer dollars to make up for its mismanagement and that $7.5 million in bonuses should be recalled.

“Obviously, he does not have a child attending college. I suppose his tax money is better spent in Iraq?”

[RWC] Why can’t Young “have a child attending college?” My parents paid for their three children to attend college all without any government handouts/subsidies.

Where did the comment about Iraq come from? Young never said anything about Iraq. In any case, national defense is an explicit role of the government as spelled out in the Constitution. Paying for people to attend college is mentioned in neither the U.S. nor the PA constitutions.

“PHEAA is clearly an organization in chaos, and the blame lies with its executives’ frivolous spending on lavish trips and bonuses. Now, PHEAA officials would like us to believe that it is in dire straits financially?”

[RWC] The blame lies both with PHEAA and the General Assembly. The GA gets most of the blame, however, because the PHEAA shouldn’t exist. In addition to my belief PHEAA shouldn’t exist simply because it’s wrong, PHEAA appears to violate Article III, Section 30 (Charitable and Educational Appropriations) of the PA Constitution. Section 30 states, “No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth, other than normal schools established by law for the professional training of teachers for the public schools of the State, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House.” PHEAA grants, etc. are not limited to schools “under the absolute control of the Commonwealth.”

“Every dime that is not used for salaries and reasonable benefits for PHEAA employees should be given to Pennsylvania’s college students. Their debt load upon graduation is outrageous. And what example do we set for these students when they begin their careers in debt over their heads?”

[RWC] Did you notice whom Ms. Beca didn’t mention? Yep, taxpayers. Why should people who chose not to go to college or who went to college and paid for it themselves have to pay the tuition of others? Do I believe people who need tuition help should get it if the situation justifies it? Of course, but via private charities funded by voluntary contributions.

Regarding the comment about “debt over their heads,” government programs like PHEAA that hand out “free money” are probably the biggest reason for tuition rising much faster than the overall rate of inflation. Colleges along with their allies in government have themselves in a feedback loop pretty much guaranteeing an upward tuition spiral.