On Tuesday, February 28th I attended a deliberation entitled “College Tuition: Paying for a Better Future?” and I was definitely pleased with the outcome. The team opened with addressing the fact that all people will agree that in a perfect world, college would be free. Yet, obviously that can not happen due to tax systems, constantly dueling political parties, and other factors. So, they asked what ways in which tuition could be lowered and how college could be accessible to all people. It was from here that members of the deliberation group broke into smaller teams and joined the audience to address the problems together. I felt in this way, at least for me, the audience was more inclined to engage and voice their own opinions on the matter. The team leaders worked to move us along from each approach, but were still eager to hear our personal thoughts on the topic. Moving from the team to the actual deliberation, this is a point that all college students should have an opinion, so I was ready to speak my mind. The first approach was analyzing how the government could aid in the fight for making college more affordable. My small group mostly focused on how and if it would be possible to generate a base tuition cost for all colleges around the country. From there we ran into the problem whether certain universities, such as the Ivy League schools, should cost more based on their reputation. We also touched upon another popular suggestion in that the government could increase taxation and state legislation spending, but also make public universities free. However, after some research I found that this is not realistically possible. Main problems with this include maintaining state investment and the risk of taxing Wall Street, in light of another recession or crash.
The group then presented Approach Two which looked at what both students and family could do themselves to help ease the pain of college tuition. The main point some audience members touched upon was how high school students should take advantage of AP Courses considering they prepare students for higher education and are cheaper options for completing required courses. This actually turned out to be a contentious point as most of the audience had participated in AP testing and had differing opinions. Initially, I was pro-AP testing as it had helped me fulfill a college requirement for only $90. After research though, I find myself on the fence of this argument. A report from The Washington Post argued many positive points about AP’s, but mostly that it does not help students prepare for school. This is because in many cases, universities will not accept AP credits or make students retake classes crucial to their major.
Finally, we discussed Approach Three and examined what steps could be taken by universities to aid students. The main points of debate were whether general education (GE) courses were worth the money and if universities correctly spend money. Personally, I believe that most GE courses are not worth the money and do not positively contribute to one’s education. I say this from personal experience, as many college students routinely look for the easiest and most irrelevant courses to only boost their GPA. In fact, an article from Forbes reports that a small number of universities “have curricular requirements that come close to ensuring that their students receive a solid general education.” Obviously, there are GE’s that aid students in their majors, but it seems that very few contribute to shaping the student into a well-rounded student. We also mentioned that universities that should do a better job of prioritizing money to help students instead of only benefiting their reputation.
All in all, this deliberation was definitely inspiring as I was able to see both sides of an argument that I believed to only have one clear solution. In the end we all agreed that despite there being different ways of approaching this dilemma, college tuition is a nightmare for most families and should be addressed.
