By Jaclyn Davis / Special to The Delta

Missouri Valley College’s student population represents many different states across America and many countries across the globe. Some students travel many miles to attend Missouri Valley, but others grew up in Marshall and chose to stay for higher education. 

Nicholas Hartley has lived in Marshall for about 15 years; after moving to Marshall with his family around age 5.  

“I chose Missouri Valley because my mother is a professor here and I wanted to take advantage of free schooling, with the intention to transfer after a few years,” said Hartley.  “I didn’t really consider any other schools to begin college at, because I definitely wanted to have a few years free, but have considered many different colleges to transfer too.”

Despite the free tuition, Hartley finds that attending Missouri Valley can be difficult, which is why he looked to transfer.  

“The downsides of Valley is it is sometimes hard to meet new people,” he said. “As the majority of students are involved in sports, it can be difficult to meet new people unless you play a sport. I’m just now learning is that Valley doesn’t transfer very well to other schools so once you start upper level classes at Valley, it is most likely beneficial to just graduate from Valley, as not many classes besides Gen Ed’s transfer well.”

The positives of staying at Missouri Valley outweighed the negatives for Hartley, who finds that he fits well in Marshall. 

“If you have family in Marshall and stay at Valley like I do, it is nice to have a support group very close to you and have opportunities to get off campus and relax with family,” said Hartley. “I think that Valley can be great for students like me that thrive in smaller classrooms and one on one time with teachers. If I were to stay at Valley and continue a dual major in accounting and finance, I already know all of the teachers I would have to take by name and know to some degree what they expect in their classroom. The last big benefit of valley is once you get into your upper level classes, you end up in the same classes with the same teachers and same students semester after semester so it makes it easy to find a group of people you can study well with together.”

Hartley finds that his view of Marshall has changed after becoming a college student.

“High school in a small town involves a lot of politics and people knowing everything you do,” he said. “Now that I am at Valley, I feel as if I’m just another college student that doesn’t have to deal with what other parents have to say. It has definitely changed my view for the better.”

Taylor Crawford has lived in Marshall her whole life, and considered other colleges to find new experiences outside of Marshall.  However she decided the right path was to stay home.

“I decided to attend MVC because I can still live at home for free and keep my job while getting my undergraduate,” said Crawford. 

However, Crawford has mixed feelings about her place at Missouri Valley College, and sees both the ups and downs. 

“The biggest downside of MVC is there is not a lot to do,” said Crawford.  “I feel like many students aren’t that involved in the school especially when it comes to sports. The biggest positive of MVC is the small class size. It’s nice to have that one on one feeling with professors and that you are actually getting to know them.”

Crawford finds that after 19 years of living in Marshall, the only difference after becoming a college student is having more free time.  

State Fair Community College student Heath Hendershot took a different path than some of his fellow Marshall High School alumni because of price and size.  Hendershot still lives in Marshall with his family to conserve money, but commutes to Sedalia. 

“One semester at MVC would cost me the same in tuition for two semesters at SFCC,” said Hendershot. “The size of the school is also smaller which helps.”

Hendershot noted that attending SFCC had a different, more modern atmosphere than Missouri Valley offered. But his main concern was being able to transfer credits. 

“I’ve heard over and over again that transferring from Missouri Valley College wasn’t an easy task so that scared me a little bit,” said Hendershot.