ssues & ideas

EDITOR BILL EVERITT

THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014 7

Student life: Tech, degrees, tuition

Students don’t have it easy - we’re addicted, indebted and struggling to measure up

Technology addiction creating a new social reality

Social media interactions lack non-verbal feedback, change communication

By MADELYN FORSYTH

any Langara students tend to Mi: displaced without their smartphone and Dan Nykon, the assistant department chair of psy- chology, thinks they may be missing out on real-life interactions. When people spend so much time > connecting through social me- dia, they miss out on “the non-verbal feedback,” said Nykon. “It’s really easy, that’s part of the problem is that

SIMRAN VIRK very often people

Goes everymhere will knock off an

wi ner pone email or a message

without thinking very much,” he said. “There tends to be less reflection involved.”

He also points out how technology has changed the way we interact with each other even when we’re face-to- face. “All too often you see whole fami- lies sitting around the table and each having their devices out.”

Langara student Samantha Lim feels “weird” when she doesn’t have her smartphone on her.

“I try and avoid [my phone] when I’m trying to do my homework,” Lim said. “Otherwise, ’m checking things online or Googling something. It’s al- ways with me.”

The Score on Davie, a sports bar in Vancouver, recently installed lock box- es for people to voluntarily give up their phones for the duration of the meal. The bar, famous for the Luongo Caesar, says on its Facebook page that they added the lock boxes to put the “social back in social media.” The first person in the group to ask for their phone can get it without a fuss, but must buy a round of drinks for their table first.

“T think it will at- tract a certain kind of person,” Nykon said before adding that the people who don’t agree with the process

SAMANTHA LIM

will likely just not ries to keep her go there. phone off while studying

The reality of face-to-face inter- actions may be changing with how driven people are by social media, he suggested.

“The jury is still out,” Nykon said, “you'll see what happens in 10 years or so as these people get into adulthood and whether that changes.”

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RENEE SUTTON photo

Gerald Curle is one of many students planning to transfer to UBC after Langara College

Langara transfers took lower grades to UBC

However, UBC registrar says that after one term transfer students catch up to general entry

By RENEE SUTTON

espite sending more transfer

students to UBC than any other

institution in the province, in

the past Langara transfers were admitted with some of the lowest grades.

According to the latest report, from 2003 to 2008, Langara provided UBC with 32 per cent of all transfer students that came from B.C.

This is nearly twice as many as any other institution.

The average GPA of Langara trans- fer students upon admission was the second lowest of all 22 B.C. institutions.

Average grades for transfer students admitted to UBC ranged from 72 to 79 per cent.

Langara students admitted to UBC at that time had an average grade of 74.

BCIT students had the lowest aver- age of all institutions at 72 per cent.

Larry Xiong, director of institutional research at Langara, said in an email that even as the most recent informa- tion, the report might not accurately reflect the current situation.

“This research has not been updated since [2009], and may not represent the current state of transfer flow be-

tween Langara and UBC,” he said.

Kate Ross, associate vice-president of enrolment services and registrar at UBC, said that students transferring from colleges might have difficulty ad- justing to university.

In an email, she said most transfer students “will often experience ‘trans- fer shock’ but typically after one term are performing similarly to those who were admitted directly.”

Ross said the proximity of Langara to UBC could be one reason for the high transfer numbers.

Gerald Curle, general arts student, said Langara promotes itself as a step- ping-stone to university.

“It seems like Langara is trying to promote that this is your bridge to uni- versity, this is where you want to come before you go there,” he said.

Jon Koch, a kinesiology student, said the price and lower requirements are why he chose to study at Langara be- fore UBC. He said post-secondary insti- tutions often say GPA isn’t everything, and that it’s about being a rounded in- dividual.

The Langara administration was contacted but did not comment by press time.

Grad Stats

1 Langara sent more than double the students to UBC than second-place Capilano College

2 Langara granted 1147 credentials in 2012/13

3 For transfer stu-

dents, general arts is the most-popular program with 56 credentials granted in 2012/13

4 The bachelor of science in nursing is by far Langara's most popular pro- gram, with 131 credentials granted in 2012/13

Reports from Langara and UBC

Students cope with expensive province

Working two jobs or work- ing while in school are the norm for Langara students

By KARLY BLATS

help from family are ways to pay

tuition without taking on student debt, which according to the Bank of Montreal is worse in B.C. than any- where else in Canada.

A 2013 BMO student survey states B.C. students can expect to accumulate $34,886 in student debt, ranking among the highest in Can- ada.

The average tu- ition per semester at Langara for full- time students is between $1,000 and $1,500, which does not include appli-

Fi: Langara students, working and

WYATT FIDDICK

cation fees and Gets help from books. his grandparents

Nathan Kay, a student at Studio 58, said he worked to save his own money to pay for his tuition.

“T was a production assistant on a shoot during the [Calgary] Stampede, I was a personal assistant to a musician and I also did promotional work,” he said.

Before moving to Vancouver, Kay worked and went to university in Cal- gary where he paid his own way through school and saved enough mon- ey to pay his tuition at Langara as well.

“T know the value of a dollar now... I taught myself that,” said Kay.

The survey also said Canadian stu- dents are relying less on their family to finance higher education, down eight per cent since 2012.

However, history student Wyatt Fid- dick said his grandparents help him with school fees.

“They will pay for each grandchild’s first degree,” he said.

Business marketing student Andy Yeh said he worked 30 hours a week last year to pay for his tuition while go- ing to school full-time.

Yeh said although you can get burnt out from all the work, if you enjoy your job and your studies, the struggle is worth the hard work.

BMO suggests taking advantage of “student status” to save money by seeking out promotions available to students.

Across the border, an 18-year-old Duke University student, stage named Belle Knox, recently made headlines for funding her education through al- ternative means: porn.

Knox puts herself through Duke by flying to Los Angeles during school breaks to film hardcore sex scenes. Ina Globe and Mail article that came out early this month, Knox said she could make up to $1,200 a scene which goes toward her $60,000 tuition fees.