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Posts Tagged ‘Lisa Rathke’

Requiring All Students to Hold Paid Jobs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2014| 2 Comments »

There is a constant drumbeat in the news these days about the cost of college. Of course, it’s not really news. Families have struggled to pay for generations, and there have always been students who worked their way through (Suzanne’s dad, for one). And there have always been a few institutions seeking ways to help them.

Lisa Rathke writes in the Boston Globe about today’s “work colleges,” which believe that working your way through has many advantages, especially if all students are in the same boat.

She writes, “After college, many students spend years working off tens of thousands of dollars in school debt. But at seven ‘Work Colleges’ around the country, students are required to work on campus as part of their studies — doing everything from landscaping and growing and cooking food to public relations and feeding farm animals — to pay off at least some of their tuition before they graduate.

“The arrangement not only makes college more affordable for students who otherwise might not be able to go to school, it also gives them real-life experience while teaching them responsibility and how to work together, officials said. …

“With rising college costs and a national student loan debt reaching more than $1 trillion, ‘earning while learning’ is becoming more appealing for some students. But the work-college program differs from the federal work-study program, which is an optional voluntary program that offers funds for part-time jobs for needy students.

“At the seven Work Colleges — Sterling College, Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Ky., Berea College in Berea, Ky., Blackburn College in Carlinville, Ill., College of the Ozarks in Lookout, Mo., Ecclesia College in Springdale, Ariz., and Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C. — work is required and relied upon for the daily operation of the institution, no matter what the student’s background.” Read more.

Photo: Sterling College via Associated Press
At the seven Work Colleges, it’s not optional: Students must hold jobs during their undergraduate careers and pay off some of their tuition before they graduate.

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Family Businesses Do OK in Recessions

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2013| 4 Comments »

“If you want to go into business during tough economic times, you might want to do it with family,” writes Lisa Rathke, Associated Press, at the Boston Globe.

“According to the Family Business Institute,” she says, “90 percent of US businesses are family owned. Some giants got their start as family businesses, including retailer Walmart and automaker Ford.

“Maple Landmark, a wooden-toy company in Vermont started by Michael Rainville, now employs his sister, his wife, his mother, and his grandmother, as well as his sons.

“Rainville is willing to work long hours and do whatever it takes to keep the business going. When business softened after 2001, they bought a similar Vermont company so they could offer a broader array of toys. But between 2002 and 2007 they were lucky if they grew at all and ended up smaller by about 15 percent.

“Rainville said he didn’t have any more tricks to pull out his bag so they focused on being more efficient. …

“Brothers Charles and Arthur Anton also grew up in the family business, Anton Cleaners, based in Tewksbury, Mass. Their grandfather started the business nearly 100 years ago.

“When the economy soured, people were dry cleaning their clothes less often. But like the Rainvilles and [others] they didn’t resort to laying off employees. They cut back hours.” They were determined to make it work because it was family. More.

The infighting at some family businesses I’ve heard of make them seem like a bad idea most of the time, but I haven’t previously considered that in a recession, blood may really be thicker than water.

Photo: Toby Talbot/Associated Press
Michael Rainville employs his sister, wife, mother, and grandmother at Maple Landmark, a wooden toy company based in Vermont.

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