JESSICA DaSILVA

I can’t speak for college newspapers across the U.S., but The Independent Florida Alligator is in a position quite different from the professional journalism industry.

From my understanding, the paper is on very solid financial ground, though I won’t get into specifics. We have enough money for a full staff, which is more than many newspapers can say, and I’m very thankful for that.

However, here I am, with seven weeks left in the semester, and there is still a drastic shortage of writers.

Our budget allows for five university desk writers, three metro writers and one features writer. Right now, we have three university writers (one who was just hired within the past two weeks), two city writers and no features writers (just freelancers).

It doesn’t seem too bad at first. These are shortages we normally face. But let me put this into context.

We started this semester off with almost a full staff. University had a desk of five strong writers, leaving metro with the opportunity to have its pick of the freelancers.

Within a month, four of those writers quit, and only one had a valid excuse (16 credit hours). Meanwhile, barely any of our freelancers seem to be interested in staff positions.

We were not given any warning or reasoning as to why three of them left. I won’t lie. I was angry. But I thought we would find replacements relatively soon, especially as freelance writers started sending in assignments for their reporting classes. Not so.

I’ve been at this paper going on three years, and I can say recruiting has never been this difficult. For the first time, I’m hearing students turning down staff positions because they have to keep their GPA up just in case they have to choose a backup career if journalism doesn’t work out.

My hypothesis is that journalism students are jumping ship. They see the numbers, and they’re scared. I think we can’t find student writers because students may be switching majors or using journalism to prepare for law school. I plan on speaking with the college to see if enrollment data reveals any trends.

I understand the industry is in a bad state right now. Believe me, I’m scared about not having a job after graduation. However, this bad news is just a reminder that I have to try harder at what I’m doing now to prepare myself.

Not going into journalism isn’t an option for me. It’s my calling. Could a nice salary and designer shoes replace passion? I don’t think so.

I’m OK with shopping at Payless.

It’s here! And just in time for my arrival in Washington, D.C.!

Check out JESSICA DaSILVA in D.C., for updates on my classes and all the sights I’ll be taking in at the nation’s capital.

Expect to learn a little about political science, American history and me this semester. You should also expect loads of pictures of me with national landmarks.

P.S. Check out the design, custom made by up-and-coming online journalism sensation Brett Roegiers. (Thanks, Brett!)

There is always a lot of debate over the AP exams.

Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education Blog reported that a Web site listing high schools that don’t have the AP or IB programs has been uncovered. It’s interesting in the context that several high schools are considering dropping the AP program.

College Board’s audit of the AP program shows that no one really benefits from the program’s use, the article stated. The program restricts teachers to a preparing for an exam, and students don’t really get anything out of it, either.

It said parents are the biggest issue because they overestimate what the AP program can do for their kids’ college careers.

I went to a private school that didn’t have a lot of AP classes, and you know what? I’m fine. Yes, despite only having about 4-5 AP classes under my belt (none of which counted for my prerequisites), I’m at UF with decent grades and a bright future, pun intended.

I started off college in easier classes that allowed me to be prepared and have better grades in more advanced classes.

From what I’ve seen personally, college professors don’t even seem to like the AP program.

Since I’m getting into more advanced classes, a lot of my polisci professors now will ask at the beginning semester if anyone has taken a government class before that wasn’t an AP class. If not, usually they recommend taking a basic government class at UF because AP doesn’t prepare students for harder classes.

From this article and my own experiences, I can’t help but wonder whether schools are listening to the teachers and students–the people most affected by this.

For the past few weeks, it’s been back and forth with my parents as to whether I can go to Washington, D.C.

The argument for “Yes” is that they love me. Obviously, they want me to go.

The argument for “No” has been because we just can’t afford it right now.

Despite having a $4,000 scholarship from The Fund for American Studies and being able to take out a $5,000 loan, I would still have $3,500 left and, unfortunately, neither I nor my family have that kind of money. A few days ago I had to write the program and explain why I wouldn’t be going.

The program manager called me the next day and said she talked to the scholarship board and they increased my scholarship to $6,000 total, leaving me to find $1,500. She said she’ll try to get more, but in the meantime, I should try finding some funding.

I think I’m going to try finding something in the J-School. Maybe they’ll be more willing to help me when they hear $1,500 instead of $8,000.

If anyone feels like donating, let me know.

I just read an interesting article at Inside Higher Education. It focused on a topic that was presented at the National College Media Convention during a session called “Up Against the Wall: Working for Administrators.”

The session covered how student newspapers at religion-based colleges and universities can function as a newspaper and work around administrators’ attempts at censorship.

From what I can gather, the session focused on knowing the rules, how to get around them and when to break them.

I think the advice transcends beyond student newspapers at religious colleges. If all student newspapers made an effort to think about what its school’s rules were, it would streamline their coverage and probably minimize some unnecessary conflicts with administrators.