By Joseph Stueve, Samuel Huist, Lisa O’Hearn and Timothy Bernard —
Part one
Some experts have compared today’s economic condition to the Great Depression. Sinclair Community College Vice President Jeff Boudouris would agree.
“I don’t think any parts of our nation-to my understanding-have avoided in some regard the implications of this economy,” he said, “because there is such a dependency amongst us.”
With a scarce job market and bank loans more difficult to obtain, students at Sinclair are feeling the recession and are looking for new ways to save cash.
Students like Emily Patrick have replaced restaurants with ‘Easy Mac.’ Robert Shadix now catches the RTA. And, Jessica Culton decided to cut down on her commute to campus by taking classes twice a week.
To better support his family, Matthew Hoang felt prompted to leave Sinclair and join the Air Force.
With the national economic process hitting the Miami Valley, Sinclair has continued its stride in helping the community.
“In Dayton, we hit bottom early. Hopefully, we will be in a better position to recover,” said Sinclair’s Career Services manager Matt Massie.
Various layers at Sinclair happen to be feeling the effects and hardships of the struggling economy.
Student impact
“I don’t go out as much as I did before the recession,” Patrick said. “I used to go out to clubs and restaurants with my friends every weekend, but now I buy ‘Easy Mac’ and only go to the club when I get in for free on ladies night.”
Because of the economy, some students are thinking twice about taking out large student loans and opting instead to save money by attending Sinclair, which currently has the lowest tuition in Ohio thanks to a levy passed in March 2008.
Books are an essential and expensive part of higher education. Shadix, who moved to Dayton after being laid off from a couple of automobile factories in Toledo, has found a way to get his books cheaper.
“This quarter, I bought all my books at half.com and spent $250 instead of $400,” Shadix said.
First-year Sinclair student Jessica Culton has more money for books this quarter than last after she thought of a plan to save money on gas.
“I live in Middletown and it’s a 30-minute commute for me to and from school,” Culton said. “Last quarter, I had classes five days a week and this quarter I purposely scheduled all my classes on just two days so I could save money.”
A student who does live on her own is Nursing major Jen Reidy. Although, she admits to spending less “frugally” during the recession, she said that she is actually benefiting from it.
“To be honest with you…the recession hasn’t really affected me. I’ve gotten lucky,” Reidy said. “I work as a bartender and I make the same money now as I did 5 years ago. Because when you got money and want to celebrate, you drink and when you don’t have much money and you’re depressed, you drink.”