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Fabian Garvey

Professor Milton

English 101

October 10, 2017

Know Before You Go

The purpose of this article is to write a rhetorical analysis of Ryann Dannellys

article Is graduating with student debt worth the degree? Dannelly utilizes logos, ethos

and pathos to appeal and persuade her audience. Dannelly uses personal examples and

real life subjects to convey the financial hardship/ debt students will face after enrolling

in a 4-year college.

Dannelly begins her article by introducing personal facts from reputable sources

to provide statistics and emotional connections. She also uses her own experience to

connect to her audience; she explains that, she as well as many high school seniors

chooses to go to college without knowing how much their decision can hurt them

financially. Incoming students have a misconception that "I believe that my degree will

open up a lot of doors for future employment that will ultimately allow me to earn

exponentially more than the amount of debt I'm currently in." (Dannelly para.4).

Unfortunately, a college degree does not guarantee financial success.

Throughout her piece, Dannelly uses many strong sources to reinforce her appeal

to credibility (ethos) by speaking on students financial stress. She introduces the readers

to Jerry Stevens, who works in finance at the University of Richmond. He states, like

any university or college across the country, it is possible to graduate from Richmond

without any debt through the use of scholarships, grants and financial aid, but because of
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Richmonds high tuition, there are still students who leave with large sums of debt

(Dannelly para.2).

Additionally, Dannelly uses logos to appeal by pleading with her audience to

know the impact and the aftermath of college loans. Students believe they understand the

repayment process but later on discover that they are now trapped. It would be best for

students to have the true statistics before entering. Would you still choose to attend

college if you knew that average amount of debt that students graduate with, $20,000,

with a 5 percent interest rate? Dont be fooled by the admission office, they are always

ready to give information to offer you different loans which can sometime appear like its

free money, but after graduation thats when things get real.

Dannelly makes another strong appeal by using pathos in the middle of the article

by painting a sympathetic picture by introducing an emotionally charged student, who is

experiencing the college debt difficulties. Dannelly sat down with a recent college

graduate from the university of Richmond to discuss student loans. After graduating she

explains that she cant just apply for any job, she needs high paying jobs just to be able to

pay off her loans. Im currently searching for a better job to be able to pay off large

lump sums of my student loans per month because I would like to have them paid off in

10 years," (Dannelly para.3)

The author rarely injects her opinion into the article, by showing her credibility,

saying its not about me; its about you. She purposely makes the article stronger by

making it about real life experiences and allows her audience to form their own opinion.

However, she concludes her article with a very powerful quote, "Graduates are going to

be forced to learn about the consequences to their debt once they graduate, so why not try
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and be preventative of this through educating them before they make these decisions

(Dannelly, 2012). The author deliberately uses this quote as a warning to incoming

students, which helps her argument.

Its clear in this article that the authors utilize logos, pathos, and ethos in her

writing by providing data, and emotional interviews to appeal and effectively persuade

her audience, of the possible financial hardship ahead. What are you guaranteed as a

college student? According to Dannellys article, very little.

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Works Cited

Dannelly, Ryann. Is graduating with student debt worth the degree? The

Collegian. 2012. Web. 9/24/17 1:56 PM