Denis LaMar

Dina Wecker
ENGL 2010-025 F15
Position Argument or Proposal

Getting a good education is important to all students. How many people in here would agree with
that statement?
It is estimated that the tuition paid by parents, students, employers, and other entities at public colleges
in 2012 came to 62.6 billion dollars. It is reported that, that amount is less than what the government
already spends to subsidize the cost of a college education by providing grants, tax breaks and work
study programs. It is estimated that 69 billion dollars was spent in 2012 by the federal government with
another 107.4 billion dollars being spent on student loans. This is another example of government
waste. 69 billion dollars in tax breaks, grants and work study programs that the federal government
could be using to just make college free for everyone. Using these figures the governments current
attempt to make college affordable isnt working. According to thinkProgress, Tax based aid is only
benefitting the wealthy not the real students that need the tax credit. How can that be? The article also
says that Pell grants were cut to their lowest level ever cover the smallest percentage of tuition costs
since the program was created in 1981. As a result of the increase in college tuition costs and the
decrease of Federal government funding more and more students have been taking on debt to finance
their college educations. That debt has now reached more than 1 trillion dollars. It has also been
reported that one in eight students who borrow money for college is in default. Not surprising.

The quality of the education provided by public and private colleges varies widely and the reputation of
these schools varies as well. Online schools like the University of Phoenix, Walden University, and
American Intercontinental University are for profit schools that many employers will overlook when a
potential candidate has earned those types of credentials. Public community colleges have reputations
for catering to women and minorities and associates degrees from these colleges are seen as
substandard. Public Universities like the University of Utah or Texas A & M have excellent reputations
and each have their own entrance requirements and cost structures. For example a student attending
the University of Utah as a resident student for both the fall and spring semester should expect to pay
around $8196.96. In contrast a student attending SLCC for both the fall and spring semester will only pay
3,129.50. Are the students at the University of Utah different than the students that attend Salt Lake
Community College? One could argue that they are the same and that the cost of education at these
schools should be comparable.
President Barrack Obama and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton are already making education and
student debt a topic of discussion for the next election. Their position appears to be that a quality
education is a human right and that the government should pay for higher education opportunities. In
fact their point is that the current government subsidies in higher education like the grants, tax breaks,
work study programs, Pell Grant and other loans far exceed the cost associated with providing an
education to students. The intent is to incentivize private education companies to reduce their costs or
put them out of business altogether. We have seen that with the Corinthian Colleges, the largest for

profit, post-secondary education company in the North America that the governments goal of reducing
costs for students actually created an environment of distrust for the private for profit schools and the
culture it created. The for profit schools targeted low income students and single parents with low selfesteem and limited financial opportunities and showed them how to apply for help with tuition so those
students could get low interest loans or grants to get bachelors degrees, associate degrees, and
diplomas. It offered programs in accounting, business, nursing, criminal justice and other technology
and certificate programs. The gap created by the bankruptcy of the Corinthians College program has left
an entire demographic underserved or unserved for educations opportunities. Even though some may
have issues with the for profit status of these colleges they did provide hope and opportunities for a
segment of the population that may have already been living on other government programs.

There is a great deal of information available on the costs of public education and even more data on
what a quality education is. Some states have embraced educational standards like common core but
only do so to satisfy government requirements so they can qualify for reimbursements for the federal
government. Does that really qualify as a quality education? Will the transition of a public/ private
system to a completely public institution dilute the quality of the education that Americans get today?
How will the less educated or non-motivated student be treated? Will he or she be treated like a
student who has ambition and a desire to become a professor or a scientist? How is that determination

made? Parents from all countries around the world send their students to the United States to get
educated and they typically dont send their best and their brightest to colleges with questionable
academic standards or ethics. They send their students to the high cost; best reputable schools because
there is a belief their student will become leaders in their countries. If the government begins to provide
a free education for all who want one who is to say that the education that is received will be a quality
education? How is a quality education measured? Can it be measured by the ability of a country to
produce goods and services? Technology and innovation? Military might and imperialism? Time will tell
but there is a definite shift in how Americans are thinking about the cost of higher education.
In 2015 students all across the world that have access to a computer and the internet have an
opportunity to take classes online or learn on their own from websites like YouTube, or the Kahn
academy. There are many opportunities to learn and educate yourself without the need of a higher
public education system either for profit or not for profit. Even the schools like the University of Utah
are offering complete masters degrees without stepping into a classroom. What is the future of public
and private education and the cost of the public education system going to look like in ten years? My
guess is it will be completely different and look nothing like it does today.

"How The Government Could Make Public College Free For All Students." ThinkProgress
RSS. N.p., 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.
<http://thinkprogress.org/education/2014/01/12/3151391/cost-public-college-free/>.
James, Kevin. "Bernie's Bad College Idea." USnews.com. N.p., 27 May 2015. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.
<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usnews.com%2Fopinion%2Fknowledge-bank%2F2015%2F05%2F27%2Fwhybernie-sanders-free-public-college-plan-is-a-bad-idea>.
"Obama to Propose Two Free Years of Community College for Students." POLITICO. N.p., n.d. Web. 13
Aug. 2015. <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/barack-obama-free-community-college114094.html>.
"Free Community College for All?" Www.kiplinger.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.
<http://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T042-C000-S002-free-community-college-for-all.html>.
Rosenbaum, James E. Beyond College for All: Career Paths for the Forgotten Half. New York: Russell Sage
Foundation, 2001. Print.