For most students, the college experience involves more than just academics. Students also learn to deal with different kinds of people, think in new ways, and adjust to a life of independence away from their parents.
Some Tufts students, however, just have to walk up the Hill to stop in and say hello to Mom or Dad. These are the sons and daughters of Tufts professors.
Why would a Jumbo want to go to school where his or her parent teaches? For one, the tuition break: Students of faculty who have been at Tufts for more than five years automatically get free tuition, though they still pay room and board. But annual savings of about $34,000 are not the only reason.
One such student is sophomore Jarrett Lerner, the son of Child Development Professor Richard Lerner. The younger Lerner explained that the tuition break was not his deciding factor in choosing Tufts. "I knew I wanted to go to school in Boston, so we made a list of schools in the area, and I knew Tufts was the school for me," he said.
Lerner's older sister also went to Tufts and loved it, a fact that Lerner said helped to influence his decision to come here. According to Lerner, visiting his sister at Tufts allowed him to base his decision off of his own experience on campus, rather than just a tuition break. As far as his father's influence, Lerner said it was his dad's love for the school - not his wallet - that made Tufts so appealing.
"[Richard Lerner] is in love with Tufts. He thinks it's a great place," the younger Lerner said.
Professor Lerner agreed: "I love Tufts, and Jarrett loves it too," he said. The tuition money that he and his wife, a professor at Boston College, are saving is "Jarrett's money," he said.
"He's a very mature and judicious kid," Professor Lerner said, explaining that he trusted his son to use the money wisely.
Professor Lerner also pointed out that his daughter did not receive the tuition break while at Tufts, since she commenced her undergraduate career at the same time he started his second year here, thus failing to meet the five year requirement.
Calvin Metcalf is another student in the same situation as Jarrett Lerner. Metcalf, a senior majoring in bio-psychology, is the son of Economics Professor Gilbert Metcalf.
Though Metcalf was quick to note the financial benefit of his situation - "I get a pretty steep tuition break," he said - he explained that his father's love of Tufts also influenced his decision.
"He's quite fond of the place," Metcalf said of his father. He later added that he himself thought that "[Tufts is] also a very good school."
Metcalf also pointed out that his twin brother, who is "more artsy...and into photography," attends Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Or.
So now that Metcalf and Lerner are at Tufts, are there any benefits to having Dad on campus?
"It's definitely handy and convenient," Metcalf said.
Professor Lerner expressed the same sentiment. "Sometimes Jarrett will say, 'Dad, can you take this laundry home?'" he said. Being on campus so frequently also enables Professor Lerner to bring his son the Book Review section of the Sunday New York Times from home, which the younger Lerner loves to read.
Both Lerners agreed that, while the situation is a convenient one, it has not led them to meet for lunch every day of the week. In fact, Professor Lerner said that last year, he saw Jarrett on campus only twice.
"I never see him unless I make a point to. He gives me my space," Jarrett Lerner said.
This lack of contact wasn't a big surprise for Professor Lerner, who said that his son knew he would retain his freedom from the outset.
"[Jarrett] saw that I wasn't intrusive in his sister's life. He would be able to call the shots," Professor Lerner said. He said the two also respected each other's space this summer when both participated in the Tufts-in-Talloires program in France.
Professor Lerner additionally pointed out a not-so-obvious benefit he receives from having Jarrett on campus.
"The real benefit," he said, "is getting to see your kid... flourish in this environment with colleagues that I admire. It's a joy to see."
Professor Lerner compared this situation to that which he had with his eldest son, who went to Cornell.
He explained that, although he knew his son was exposed to great minds at Cornell, Professor Lerner had not had any personal interaction with those minds. At Tufts, however, he knows some of his son's professors and can thus more easily grasp the intensity of his son's intellectual career.
Lerner and Metcalf both said they have not attained celebrity status as the sons of professors, though Metcalf admitted that his father is well known on campus.
"Professors have done double-takes and asked, 'Are you Gilbert's boy?'" Metcalf said. The attention was greatest when his father served as chair of the economics department. "Students would pigeon-hole me at parties and tell me what they thought of him - only good things of course," he said.
