Parents deserve report cards

The people who pay the tuition should be able to see their children's grades. In the workplace, those who pay the salaries review worker output and thereby determine wages. Admittedly, the University is not a place of business. Students are not salaried workers, and tuition payers are not bosses. But parents should not have to expend $30,000 a year in tuition and not be informed of how their children are performing academically.

Of course, parents could simply ask their children for their grades. Too often, however, students may not be completely candid with their parents. Parents learn too late about their children's academic difficulties when they can no longer be helpful in addressing the problem.

Tufts University could easily resolve this problem by including together with the tuition bill a waiver of the student's right to privacy in terms of grades. The student could then sign that waiver which would enable his or her parents to receive the grades in the mail.

As to the matter of the University's dunning parents for fees over and above the anticipated tuition, the school should not hesitate to mail those lesser bills directly to the students. Of course, the University wants to be paid and knows that too often students tear up dunning notices, chuck them in the trash, or leave them unopened under a pile of papers.

If students do not pay their library fines, revoke their library privileges. If they don't pay their parking tickets, tow their cars. College students are not babies and should not be treated as such. If they can vote, drive, and fight for their country, they should certainly know that they have to pay their bills and behave like responsible citizens. Sending routine bills to parents in order to obtain immediate payment only infantilizes students, teaches them to be poor citizens, and assumes that they should live "the entitled life."

One would hope that the University will see the error in its ways and will in the future make every effort to encourage good character in its students by directing bills and grades appropriately.



Jessica Kaplan is the mother of a Tufts University senior.