Posted on 04/07/2005 9:57:22 AM PDT by MisterRepublican
WHITEWATER - At the off-campus house Johnny Lechner shares with three other UW- Whitewater students, the stairway to his attic bedroom is lined with photos dating back to his freshman year.
Lechner has lost track of many of the buddies that posed with him at these long- ago fraternity parties and Homecoming parades. They have moved on to new lives - careers, wives, children, mortgages - and that's just not Lechner's scene.
"I could have - should have - graduated many years ago, but I keep passing on the real world's invitation," said Lechner, 28, who is in his 11th year as a student in the University of Wisconsin System, the last 10 at UW-Whitewater. He's taken a full course load every semester except the current one, in which he's taking seven credits.
Lechner has completed 234 college credits, about 100 more than needed to graduate and so many that he's now paying the so-called "slacker tax."
System students who exceed 165 total credit hours - or 30 more than their degree programs require, whichever is higher - pay double tuition. The Board of Regents instituted the surcharge this school year as a none-too-subtle hint that a state-subsidized education has its limits.
The slacker tax doubles full- time tuition at UW-Whitewater (12 to 18 credits) to $4,816 a semester. With the surcharge, Lechner is paying $2,810 per semester for his seven-credit load.
It is a measure of Lechner's campus notoriety that many classmates call the slacker tax "The Johnny Lechner Rule." While he doesn't mind being known as "that guy who has been in college forever," Lechner declines to take credit for the Regents' sweeping policy change.
(Excerpt) Read more at madison.com ...
That dude needs to get a life.
ping for later
If he can afford to stay in school then why not...he isn't hurting anyone is he?
Well, there goes the next chairman of the DNC.
Damn, and I thought Blutarski was bad....
Only the taxpayers who subsidize the UW system.
Possibly. On the other hand, considering he's taken full credits each term, he must enjoy school. Too bad no one has determined his talents and steered him toward graduate school. He could have had a masters and PhD by now. : )
With tons of undergrad courses, he isn't really being challenged, so why not stay in a comfortable environment? If he was in grad school, he'd either find that he has a knack for more difficult academic work or get out and get a life.
I spent 6 years at a 2-year college, but then I had th G.I. Bill and a large family.
Sounds like one of my older sisters. She remained a student until she was in her mid-thirties. She married a hippie who was also a perpetual student. She now teaches college and her number one desire for this world is ... (drum roll please)... income equality. IMHO, too much time spent in academia creates communists.
"IMHO, too much time spent in academia creates communists."
As stated by a poster on this site, "Socialism is the opiate of academia".
It's Van Wilder!
I spent 8 yrs. obtaining an AA degree (2-yr. degree), part-time that is and while working full-time and married with a baby. But still....
Surprised nobody's made any Van Wilder jokes.
Damn you! And damn this slow computer for taking too long before you made a comment!
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