At Tufts University, the financial benefits available toprofessors with kids enrolled in the University are alluring:children of full-time professors receive free tuition - providedthat they are admitted to Tufts through the normal admissionsprocess.
This deal completely pays tuition but does not cover any otherbenefits such as room and board. A part-time professor, bycontrast, receives one free course for him or herself or a familymember.
Like many other professors, economics professor Gilbert Metcalfencouraged his son to come to Tufts for exactly these reasons. "Iencouraged him because it's a very good school, and I thought theprograms would appeal to my son," Metcalf said. "Also, faculty andstaff, whose children come to Tufts, come tuition-free . . ."
Even though Metcalf realized that "there is always the concernthat a student should be able to carve out their own identity oncampus" and that attending college where your parent is a professormight make doing so hard, Metcalf was not concerned, "knowingCalvin and his ability to make his own way."
Metcalf's son Calvin, now a sophomore and biopsychology major atTufts, agreed that free tuition was enough of an incentive aswell.
While many professors' children do not see their parent at allduring their time at Tufts, many choose to spend more quality timewith their parent - or even take a class with them.
Even though Senior Anh-Tuan Vo is a Japanese major, he decidedto take ES3, an engineering class, with his father Van Toi Vo, anAssociate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. "I took a class withhim once because he wanted me to out of curiosity," Vo said.
Even though he had his father as a professor, Vo did not feeldifferent from any other student in the class. It was not madeknown to any other students that Vo was the professor's son. Also,"[my dad] didn't treat me any differently," Vo said. "I had tostudy really hard for that class - I was surprised I did sowell!"
Like Professor Vo, Physics Professor Kenneth Lang has also hadthe pleasure of having his daughter, Julia Lang, take a course heteaches: Astronomy 10, Wanderers in Space.
Lang said it was not difficult to act as his daughter'sprofessor. "There was no problem in acting as an impartialprofessor, since there are 350 students and the grades are basedsolely on numerical test scores," he said.
Contrary to Vo's experience, however, it was made known thatLang's daughter was a student in the class. "I did want her tobenefit, and I did single her out in one or two lectures," Langsaid.
Most students felt that having a parent work for Tufts did notimpact them socially one way or another. "A lot of people don't puttwo and two together - it really doesn't come up," Vo said. "For meit doesn't change anything, but it might change the way people lookat me."
When other students do comment on his father, they are alwayspositive comments. "Students always tell me he is a good professorand that they like him," Vo said. "I have never heard anyone saythat they didn't like my dad."
Among professors, there is almost never talk of how another'schild is doing as a student at Tufts. This may be because manyprofessors within one major do not have much interaction withprofessors within another, but there is also a concern for thestudent's privacy.
"Most faculty share the view that all students need theirprivacy, and all faculty as well," Professor Metcalf said. "Itwould not be appropriate to talk about my son during class."
While Professor Lang also enjoys having a daughter close enoughthat she can "come home once or twice a week for meals," he feelsthat "we can be too close to her school goals and problems, whichhappen at more of a distance for most students."
Professor Metcalf, on the other hand, feels that it is notnegative in any way to have his son at Tufts as a student.
"If anything, it's enjoyable in that I probably get to see him abit more then other people's kids that are on campus - we have acup of coffee every week or so," Metcalf said.
Metcalf also enjoys seeing first-hand that his son is "very muchenjoying the Tufts experience and he is doing well - it's enjoyableto see how much he is thriving."
Vo said that along with free tuition, it is also a positive thathis father works within the administrative system. "Whenever I havea problem, he says, 'You're the student, so you really have all thepower in the system,'" Vo said. "He said that [the administration]is not going to listen to one person, but if enough people writein, the University would look at it. I don't know if I would havethought about it that way if not for my dad."
