Julia Schwartz

Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103

Schwartz 1
How to Make College Cheaper

If someone told you to hand them over $100,000 to simply get a job,
would you do it? In todays economy it is almost necessary to receive a
formal four-year college education just to receive an entry level position job.
The average person will pay around $23,000 a year at a moderately priced
university for and undergraduate degree. In an article called How to Make
College Cheaper from the New York Times, Steve Cohen discusses how
universities, with the help of the government, can make college cheaper and
more affordable for the average middle class and lower class family. Julia
Schwartz also created a Public Service Announcement that highlights how
expensive college has become. Both the opinion article and the public
service announcement use the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos
to help strengthen their argument. Their use of rhetorical appeals helps to
depict the increase in college expenses. The verbal argument and the public
service announcement differ in many ways. The verbal argument article
presents solutions of how to actually make college cheaper with the help of
universities and the government in the form of tuition deferment, whereas
the public service announcement simply highlights how expensive college is
and brings to your attention how expensive college has become over the

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
years. The difference between this although seems minimal is quite
significant.
The verbal argument article was published September 2015 in The
New York Times making the information in the article relevant. Cohen
highlights the fact that college is becoming increasingly unaffordable and out
of reach for the average middle class and lower class families. FAFSA hardly
awards amounts substantial enough to make college affordable and families
are expected to pay an insane amount out of pocket. Many families must
now rely on loans to help pay for their childrens tuition, room, and board.
Families with bad credit, however, must reply on private loans and can be
charged up to 12% in interest rates (P7). All of these aliments are making
college virtually unrealistic for and families that have not been saving up for
college for many years.
Cohen argues that there is a way to make college much more
affordable for the average family. This plan is called tuition deferment, and
would help to defer the cost of tuition, room, and board until after
graduation. In this plan up to 75% of tuition, room, and board fees would not
have to be paid back until after graduation from a university as well as a job
with a steady income was found (Cohen P.5). Tuition would then be paid back
in monthly, affordable installments that are assessed based on the amount of
money one has coming in from a job; for example, a teacher would pay much
less a month than a petroleum engineer. Cohen also states that by changing

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
policies it can be possible to make two years of community college free for
everyone. This would virtually cut the overall cost of college in half and make
a formal university education plausible for even low class families.
This argument and proposition is aimed at middle and lower class
families who have children that are currently in or planning to attend a fouryear university. Cohen has aimed this article at this specific group because
they are most affected by the rising price of college. Cohen uses all three
rhetorical appeals to make his argument on how to make college cheaper.
Cohen uses logos to help appeal to us on a logical level. He uses many
facts that appeal to our logical sense, On average, students are graduating
with $33,000 in loan obligations, and parents often borrow even more (P.4).
We immediately realize how high of debt this is for a young adult that is fresh
out of school. His argument for tuition deferment is also very logical, The
colleges borrowing cost would be substantially lower than what individuals
have to pay for current loan programs because colleges have collateral:
endowments, physical assets and future cash flow (P.8.). This argument is
full of logic, and appeals greatly to people who are looking for ways to afford
college.
Ethos is also a major rhetorical appeal that Cohen uses to argue his
ideas of tuition deferment. Cohen establishes credibility in the second
paragraph President Obama has proposed making two years of community
college free. This establishes credibility because it shows that even the

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
President of the United States thinks that college should be made more
affordable for the average person. The Ethos Cohen uses shows us that this
plan is even being argued by very important people, making this argument
have credibility behind it.
Cohen uses Pathos to appeal to our emotions in his argument. Pathos
is a very powerful appeal because peoples emotions many time greatly
effect their actions and how they feel about certain subjects. Cohen uses
words and phrases that make us feel personally connected to his argument,
Families rely on a mix of government and private loans to pay these
horrendous costs (P.4). The use of the word horrendous evokes emotion
that makes us feel sorry for the rocket high prices people now pay for
college. The pathos appeals that Cohen uses are in place to make us feel a
connection to this issue that he is presenting as well and making us have
empathy for families that have children in college or will soon have children
going to college.

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103

Schwartz 1

College has become almost unafforabled

for the average middle and lower class
family
Average price for a moderate instate
university is $23,000 a year
Interest rates being charged as high as
12%

!
!

!
!

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
The public service announcement created by Julia Schwartz makes the main claim
that college will put you in a ridiculous amount debt by the time youre tw
nty-two and do not even have a stable income or job. The PSA is aimed at
middles and lower class college students and their families, as well
as potential college students and people who are considering a four-year
university formal education. The most powerful component of this PSA are the
mages of students graduation caps with the price tag of their diploma. The
se pictures bring to attention the actual price of attending a four-year univ
ersity. This PSA does not so much argue a solution but rather argues and brin
gs to attention how ridiculous the price tag of college has become. This PSA ac
complishes its goals by using the
Pathos is used in this PSA to makes us feel an emotional connection to
the students and their families who have to pay an excessive amount of
money and still be deep in debt before they even have jobs to begin paying
back loans. A very powerful and emotional image in this PSA is the pictures
of the students graduation caps that list how in debt they will be after
graduation. The author has used this image because rather than just hearing
facts we can see that even on this happy day in their lives, in the back of
these new graduates minds they still have to think about how they are going
to pay back their debt from college loans. This charges peoples emotions
because of this monumental day in ones life, they should not be
overwhelmed by loans and

This PSA created by Julia Schwartz lists facts

about how expensive college is as well as shows
images that help us see real life examples of how
college costs puts students in debt.

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
obligation. We can also see pathos when the author states college has
become almost unaffordable for the average middle and lower class family
(Schwartz). This brings to our attention that most average families cannot
afford the education that they need to get a good job with good pay to live
even a semi-comfortable lifestyle. The use of pathos in the PSA evokes our
emotions and makes us feel empathy for these students and their families
trying to afford college.
Ethos is also a rhetorical appeal used in Julia Schwartzs public service
announcement. This PSA is linked to a reputable government organization,
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the author herself does not
truly have expertise in the subject of college costs. The author does not have
true expertise, but the facts used in this PSA are true and come from a
reputable article written in The New York Times which is a major national
newspaper read by thousands of people everyday. The word choice used in
the PSA is simple and clear and goes straight to the point without saying
innate information that does not add to the argument. Overall the PSA is
polished and professional without being over the top and does a good job of
grabbing the audiences attention. Overall, this PSA contains accurate,
credible information even though the author is not an expert on the subject
of college costs.
The most used rhetorical appeal in this PSA is logos. Logos is the
logical appeal and the author uses facts to appeal to logos in this

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
announcement. In this PSA we are given facts such as Average price for a
moderate, instate university is $23,000 a year (Schwartz). Presented facts
such as this really makes the audience see facts about how expensive
college is rather than just make us feel bad for college students. By putting
an actual price tag on the amount students and their families are paying we
can see how out of control the cost of college has become. Paying $23,000 is
comparable to buying a new car each year which no average middle or lower
class families could even imagine being able to afford. The use of logos in
this PSA gives us real numbers and facts that help us logically reason how
expensive college has become.
The verbal argument article and public service announcement
although cover the same topic, accomplish two very different goals using the
same three rhetorical appeals. The verbal argument article by Steve Cohen
argues on how college can be cheaper through plans such as tuition
deferment, while the PSA simply states how expensive college has become
and brings to our attention facts about the price tag of college. Although the
verbal argument and PSA accomplish different overall goals, the PSA
strengthens the verbal argument by giving us extra facts and presenting
them from a less sided stand point. The PSA is more factual while the verbal
argument presents a possible solution to the increasing cost of college
tuition, however, both of these use the three main rhetorical appeals to state
their facts and viewpoints on the cost of college. Overall, the verbal

Julia Schwartz
Mrs. Fielding
WRTC 103
Schwartz 1
argument article presents a stronger more pronounced viewpoint on its idea
of a tuition deferment plan and free community college where the PSA is
more a presentation of fact.

Works Cited

Cohen,Steve."HowtoMakeCollegeCheaper."TheNewYorkTimes25Feb.
2015:n.pag.GaleOpposingViewpoints.Web.25Sept.2015.
<http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=
&display
query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&u=viva_jmu&currPag
e=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_withi
n_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=G
ALE%7CA403027496>.