Why community college students ‘stopped’

Good morning. Today is Monday. We’ll look at the “shutdown” and how it’s affecting community colleges. We’ll also look at Ivana Trump’s arc in New York.

Nicholas Figueroa, above, will meet an academic advisor at Queens College next week who will likely not like what he has to say.

Figueroa has decided to “stop”: He’s taking a break from his studies to keep working – again. He made the same message a year ago, postponing enrollment to continue working at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, where he kept video games pinging and ducks squealing. when the kids climb up.

Figueroa, 21 years old, who worked part-time there before graduating with a college degree from LaGuardia Community College last year. “You have to put aside your aspirations because the reality of your finances is very good.”

And if that means taking a break from school, he said. “Nobody tells you you have to finish in four years,” he said. “Enter the job market and see what’s on the outside, you’re earning more than you expected. When you’re presented with that, it’s easy to skip going back to school and say, ‘Now I’m making money.’ “

In today’s hot job market, it’s irresistible for students like Figueroa to earn money. And no surprise: Like my colleague Jeanna Smialek wrote last month, rank workers and files has benefited from the strongest wage growth since the early 1980s, especially in lower paying jobs in industries such as entertainment and hospitality or commerce and transport.

“We have students who make $50 an hour babysitting,” says Maria Conzattipresident of Nassau . Community College on Long Island. “The first time I heard that, I thought, ‘God, Louise, $50 an hour.’ When I babysit, it’s $5, and I think that’s a lot of money. And they’re making 25 hours an hour to be a bartender at Starbucks with whatever benefits come with that. They really don’t feel like they need to be educated.”

One result is a drop in enrollment. Nationwide figures from the National Clearinghouse Student Research Center show that 351,000 fewer students enrolled in community college programs this spring than the number a year earlier, down 7. 8%. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, community colleges have lost more than 827,000 students, according to the clearinghouse.

Educators worry that students who suspend school – and brag about quick pay increases and promotions – may suffer a downturn. “You will have industries that say, ‘Do you have a certificate? Do you have a micro certificate? What do you have that we will hire you to do? ‘” Conzatti said. “That would be the reality check.”

Kenneth AdamsLaGuardia’s president, said the pandemic had disrupted many students’ academic plans that had “stopped”.

“Our students come from households that immediately reduce their rent,” he said. “We’re trying to encourage them to come back to LaGuardia this fall, and mom is saying, ‘Wait, we need you to keep working’ because the state’s eviction ban was lifted last month. January.

However, there are signs that enrollment will increase again. LaGuardia applications for the fall semester increased 17.5 percent and the school’s workforce training programs grew 17 percent in March from a year ago.

And programs that drive students to in-demand employment are thriving. “We couldn’t make the pharmacy technicians for CVS fast enough,” said Adams, while Conzatti mentioned a newly acquired building for the culinary arts and hospitality program, a pioneering project. with rented restaurants “from Manhattan to the Hamptons,” she said.

Figueroa, who says he makes $15 an hour at Chuck E. Cheese, is saving up to go to a bachelor’s degree at Queens College. He hopes to eventually air, but he wants $10,000 in the bank before signing up.

He says he’s already halfway to that goal, “but everything that happens in life comes at a cost.”

Weather

Prepare for showers and thunderstorms throughout the day and evening, with temperatures nearing the mid-80s. At night, temperatures will drop to the mid-70s.

PARKING OUTSIDE

Valid until August 15 (Hang Thuan Festival).

Top news about Metro

For a week or two in the 1990s, I joked to friends that I was the Donald-and-Marla reporter for The New York Times, like the Pentagon correspondent for The National Enquirer: you’ve heard a lot. great thing that you the editors are not the least interested.

It’s mostly just been a bit of a positive for me, focusing on Donald and Ivana Trump’s divorce. Other reporters filled the courtroom. I was assigned to speak with divorce attorneys and explain some of the moves in the Trump v. Trump case.

Marla, of course, Marla Maples, who became Donald Trump’s second wife after flirt with him in church and confronted Ivana on the slopes of Aspen, Colo. “I’m Marla, and I love your husband – right?” Maples asked, according to Ivana’s book “Raise Trump.” (I’ll just refer to Ivana by name here, partly for clarity, partly because everyone else in New York has done the same.)

Ivana, who passed away last week at age 73, was in her 30s as she became a mainstay of New York’s celebrity-tabloid culture. It’s as if the appetizer tray is being passed on to a new generation. Ivana is almost half a century younger than Brooke Astor, still a doyenne.

However, as social photographer Patrick McMullan said the day before, it was Ivana who made the bold bold.

Ivana is also the one who put the word “the” in the word “the Donald”. The articles identified there was a way in and out for Czech-born Ivana – as she said in 2017 “I am basically the first Trump wife. I’m the first lady, OK. “Melania Trump’s communications director at White House calls for comment “Noise seeks attention and serves itself.”

By the time her ex was in the White House, Ivana said she liked “Italian men, Italian food, Italian mountains, Italian men, everything Italian” – even the Italian version of “Dancing With the Stars” ” she just showed up. She said this at a party in 2018 advertises a diet created by – yes – an Italian businessman.

It was a year after Maples appeared on the American version of “Dancing With the Stars,” prompting Ivana to react like this: “What a shame! No classes!”

METROPOLITAN . Diary

Last night was a movie

Dear Diary:

“Last night was a movie,” Swati said as she bit into her sandwich.

We had all gone out the night before to celebrate Faiz’s birthday on an open mic night at Harlem Nights, where neon lights illuminated drunken faces and a disco ball whirled in front of the stage.

I was immediately mesmerized by the energy of the place: Strangers clashed with each other, dancers gliding along to fun tunes, and waiters carrying trays of margarine weave their way through the crowd.

“What’s the matter, Swati?” MC, who wears sunglasses and sunglasses, said. “You go up tonight?”

“You know it,” Swati said. “I’m singing the song I wrote this morning.”

Throughout the show, we watched a parade of musical geniuses: an artist born for the ballads of Bruno Mars, a saucy artist with a homemade beanie and an unusual rapper. obey the law of oxygen.

“Whose birthday is it?” MC called loudly at pause. “Let’s sing for you!”

We cheered for Faiz as he took to the stage.

“Can I play the drums?” he asks.

MC lowered his sunglasses to get a better look at Faiz’s face.

“Do you play?” he asks.

Taking the question as an invitation, Faiz picked up the stick and hit a perfect intro. The crowd went wild. The band quickly picked up the beat and played the tune.

The backup singers jumped to the next chords, prompting the audience to sing “Happy birthdayyy to youuu…” in perfect harmony. We made the best rock rendition of “Happy Birthday” ever.

The whole bar chanted Faiz’s name as he stepped onto the stage, his face bright red.

“Best birthday ever,” he said.

Yes, last night was a movie.

– Laura Yin

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and Read more Metropolitan Diary here.