Martin 1 Tyus Martin Professor Connie Douglass English 1102 093 10 February, 2014

The Cost of College: Is It Too Expensive?

One thing that many people do agree on, is that college is expensive. If you dont have the money for it, then prepare to be in debt 10 years after you graduate. Many Americans feel that the cost of college and the years of debt that follow it make many smart students unable to attend. Public Agenda wrote an article called Squeeze Play that contains many statistics and facts about how Americans feel towards college expenses. For increasing numbers of Americans, a crucial facet of the American Dream appears to be at risk. A solid majority consider a college degree an indispensable ticket to the middle class. At the same time, even more people believe college is financially out-of-reach for many qualified students. (Immerwahr 2) Immerwahr makes an interesting point here. He says that many Americans see going to college as their way out of a lower social class, but many cant afford to pursue that education. The reader might agree with this because many poor families who dont have the wealth of middle or upper class families cant afford to go to college. A less fortunate student would have to study much harder and earn scholarships to attend when many upper class students would be able to enter college with average grades. The reader may find that this is system of expensive education to get a better future may be a reason that the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. Of course there are exceptions to this, but its true for many cases.

Martin 2 Many authors however, feel that college tuition is necessary, and can be easily attained by lower class citizens. David Deming wrote an article called Into College, Out Of Poverty? Policies To Increase The Postsecondary Attainment Of The Poor. David Deming provides a lot of information to help lower class citizens get a degree. Deming starts off by saying Some of these differences trace back to performance gaps in elementary school and high school. But even among those who do well on achievement tests, socioeconomic inequalities remain: 74 percent of high-scorers who grew up in upper-income families complete college, compared to only 29 percent of those who grew up in low-income families (College Board, 2005). (Deming 3). The audience finds this statement to be powerful towards lowering college education expenses. The lower-income students have equal scores to upper-class students, but the percent of lowerincome students that actually go to college is much less. There are many students in lower-class income families that dont have the opportunity to pursue the education they need to leave their social class. Deming quickly turns around these facts by providing ways that many poor students can use to get their education. Deming encourages students to take the federal loans available. He mentions Pell Grants, and the Staffor Loan program as the two most effective ways. He then mentions other loans available to students. Pell Grants are very useful because they do not have to be paid back, but other Federal Loans do have to be paid back. The audience may not agree with lower income students taking a lot of loans because after graduating, they will be in a lot of debt. This will make it extremely hard for lower income students that graduated to move out of their social class because they will be in a deep hole of debt after receiving their education. Also, with the current economy and job market, it will not be as easy getting a well-paying job right

Martin 3 out of college. This means a lower-class student will have to find a lower paying job to gain experience in order to survive, pay off their debt, and find a better job. While there are different views on whether college education expenses should be lowered, many can agree that college needs to be more accessible to lower-income students. Tuition is necessary to pay for professors, services, and many other things, but the audience may think that the government should not charge so much to attend public colleges. Instead, the government should devote more of the taxes towards education in order to let every American have an equal opportunity to education based on their performance in high school.

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Works Cited
John, Immerwahr. Public Agenda, 2009. 0. <http://www.publicagenda.org/files/squeezeplay09_final.pdf>.

David, Deming. N.p.. Web. 01 Sept. 2009. <http://www.nber.org/papers/w15387.pdf>.