March  21,  2018  The  Signal  page  3
Apply  /  Out-Âof-Âstate  students  find  adjustment  difficult continued from page 2 available at more than 100 participating colleges and universities. Students pay no more than 150 percent of the school’s in-state tuition cost at public colleges, and can receive 10 percent off the cost of tuition at participating private colleges, according to the Midwest Student Exchange Program. The Western Undergraduate Exchange program offers eligible students 150 percent of the in-state tuition rate at participating public colleges in states such as Alaska, Arizona, California and Hawaii, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. While the midwestern and western regional programs do not require students to pursue a major that is not available in their home state, but southern and New England programs do require students to have certain majors that are not offered instate in order to be eligible. The Southern Regional Education Board’s Academic Common Market allows qualifying students to apply for in-state tuition at participating colleges from 13 southern states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware and Georgia, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. Students are eligible for the New England Regional Student Program if they live in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont. The RSP enables thousands of New England residents to enroll in out-of-state New England public colleges and universities at a discount. In the 2016 to 2017 academic year, over 9,000 New England residents saved an estimated $60 million in tuition because of the RSP, according to the New England Board of Higher Education. Despite several programs in
place throughout the U.S., New Jersey seems to be one of the few states that is not a part of any regional program. “We have to sort of invest some way into creating a new network for people to come to TCNJ, to know about TCNJ, and that’s getting people from Pennsylvania and New York,â€? Blakeley said. States also have their own smaller-scale reciprocity programs to help determine who TXDOLĂ€HV IRU LQ VWDWH WXLWLRQ 6RPH of them allow in-state tuition for students from anywhere within a neighboring state. Colorado and New Mexico have an agreement that allows qualifying students from either state to get in-state pricing in both states — a better deal than the regional Western Undergraduate Exchange program, according to Kiplinger. The University of Arkansas waives 70 to 90 percent of the difference between in-state and outof-state tuition for students from Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas who earn at least a 3.2 GPA and score at least 1160 on the SAT, according to Kiplinger. Students feel that with all of the opportunities available at the &ROOHJH WKH\ ZRXOG EHQHĂ€W IURP adopting similar programs offered by other institutions. There are some students, however, that do not think it is necessary to increase the amount of incentives for out-of-state students to attend the College. “As long as they’re hitting the necessary amount of students entering the school, I don’t think it matters where they’re from,â€? said Harrison Kelly, a junior interdisciplinary business major from Middletown, New Jersey. %HQ 6FKXOPDQ D MXQLRU Ă€nance major from West Windsor, New Jersey, felt uncertain about the need to increase incentives. He said that if the College
increases its efforts to bring in more out-of-state students, that might go against New Jersey’s efforts to recruit young people to work and live in New Jersey. Other students feel that the problem is not creating more incentives, but stepping up the school’s marketing to prospective students outside of New Jersey. Arjun Sahni, a sophomore computer science major and an international student from India, heard about the College because he has relatives who live in Hillsborough, New Jersey. His sister FDPH WR WKH &ROOHJH Ă€UVW DQG DIter she recommended it to him, he decided to apply. “When I told my friends that I go to TCNJ, no one had any clue what it was,â€? Sahni said. “It wasn’t just friends in India. I have some friends in America — they’re from California. When I told them they also had no idea.â€? Goldfarb recalled her experience of sharing her college decision with her friends in Connecticut. “Everyone else was like, ‘where even is that?’ They had no idea where it was. No one had even heard of it because ‌ people have barely heard of it in New Jersey,â€? Goldfarb said. Blakeley said that although the College is looking to get more out-of-state students, it doesn’t necessarily plan on increasing the number of students accepted in the undergraduate program, overall. He believes that an increase in the amount of out-of-state students would bring positive change to the College. “I think it could offset the number of New Jersey students, and eventually decrease the acceptance rate, which is pretty good for an institution,â€? Blakeley said. While some students feel there should be more incentives made for out-of-state students in New Jersey, as well as more awareness of the College as an
New Jersey is not a part of a regional tuition program. institution, some also feel that there should be more programs for out-of-state students currently at the College. “It would have been helpful to create the sense of community that people who live here in New Jersey already have,â€? Goldfarb said. According to Sahni, the College provides transportation services to the airport for international students. Heidler, however, was not offered that same opportunity when she did not have a car on campus. ´,W ZDV GLIĂ€FXOW Ă€QGLQJ RXW KRZ WR XVH WKH WUDLQV DQG Ă \LQJ RXW DORQH ZDV VWUHVVIXO DW Ă€UVW Âľ Heidler said. “Now that I drive , WKLQN LW ZRXOG EH EHQHĂ€FLDO LI there was a way for out-of-state students to connect so that if some of us lived generally close we could carpool home.â€? Scarborough also thinks that there should be a way of joining out-of-state students to help get them get acclimated to the College GXULQJ WKHLU Ă€UVW IHZ ZHHNV While he did not have those initial connections coming into the College that a lot of students had, Blakeley said that he would not have attended out-of-state student
HYHQWV RQ FDPSXV GXULQJ KLV Ă€UVW semester at the College. “Most people don’t want to feel like they’re the outside group, and that can be a reality,â€? Blakeley said. Although the transition to a QHZ VWDWH PD\ EH WRXJK DW Ă€UVW most out-of-state students agree that the College provides many learning and networking opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to receive elsewhere. “Since starting at TCNJ, having working, incredible artists as my professors, learning about art theory and art history — art has truly become everything to me. It’s the most fascinating thing to me now, it matters so much more and it was TCNJ that gave me that,â€? Scarborough said. Goldfarb said that she also feels that the College is the perIHFW Ă€W IRU KHU DQG KRSHV WKDW other out-of-state students become more aware of the different programs and opportunities the school has to offer. Besides, how else would students from other places learn about the perpetual debate amongst New Jerseyans over the food referred to as both Taylor ham and pork roll?
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Missionaries participate in community service activities. By Julia Marnin Production Manager A growing sense of uneasiness spread across campus as rumors of human trafÀFNLQJ ÀOOHG VWXGHQWV¡ KHDGV 6SHFXODtion was centered on multiple incidents where students encountered groups of
people who invited them to a dubious off-campus event. “They asked me and my roommate if we’d be interested in joining their bible study that meets off campus, but they didn’t tell us where,� said Kayla Mahns, a junior psychology major. The way these people described their
bible study was very vague, which made the invitation seem suspicious, according to Mahns. Campus Police began to investigate the group that was approaching students on campus, and came to the conclusion that it was a religious organization called the World Mission Society Church of God. ´2XU RIĂ€FHUV KDYH LQYHVWLJDWHG WKHVH reports and spoken directly with people associated with this group,â€? said Tim Grant, the College’s interim chief of police, in a campus-wide email. “At this time, we have found no cause for concern but will continue to monitor the situation.â€? The World Mission Society is religious organization that originated in South Korea. Since then, it has established multiple churches across the U.S. A spokesman and missionary for the group, Victor Lozada, said that the organization has had multiple locations based in New Jersey for around 20 years. This religious organization is distinguished from others due to its unique belief in both a male and female God. Members of the World Mission Society claim they have been falsely accused of OXULQJ IHPDOH VWXGHQWV LQWR KXPDQ WUDIĂ€FNing at multiple college campuses, including Vanderbilt University and the University of Mississippi.
“The person now thinks that they were DW ULVN RI EHLQJ NLGQDSSHG DQG WUDIĂ€FNHG Âľ Lozada said. From his research, Lozada believes the rumors started from a Facebook post in California. Viral posts on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter alleged that people who preach about “God, the motherâ€? are actually a part of an elaborate human WUDIĂ€FNLQJ VFKHPH 6WXGHQWV RI WKH &ROOHJH eventually caught wind of these social media posts. “My roommate ran into my room worried because she saw a screenshot posted in the ‘TCNJ Class of 2018’ (Facebook) page warning about the group,â€? Mahns said. Lozada and members of the religious organization are very disappointed with the prevalence of such rumors revolving around their group. Immediately upon hearing these UXPRUV /R]DGD VDLG ´WKH Ă€UVW WKLQJ ZH GLG was go to the police department.â€? The organization wanted to know what could be done to end these accusations because of the fear they had spread. Lozada said he was advised that the best thing he could do was issue statements on social media saying that the rumors were not true. see CHURCH page 5