When faced with the choices offered for higher education, I bet many of you first struggled with the decision about whether to attend private or public universities. A university is considered public if it gains funding from the state, and thus the taxpayers, in which it’s located. A private university is one that is funded mainly by the tuition of students and the endowments from generous donors and alumni. Thus, the costs to attend private colleges are usually much higher than public institutions. Both types of schools have value related pros and cons, and it really depends on affordability and the individual’s preference regarding which one is a “better fit” for their lifestyle and personality.
Public universities usually tend to have a larger campus with larger student enrollment than private universities. Private universities usually offer more scholarships and financial aid, which sometimes makes the extremely high cost at least somewhat more palatable. In general, private universities are considered to have smaller class sizes with more instructor to student contact. Some are considered elite, academically challenging, and more exclusive, such as the Ivy League schools. Those who decide to attend may be of the opinion that if they attend a private university, they will have a better chance of obtaining a job with a better starting salary. Public universities have the stereotype of being bigger, less expensive, less difficult to get into to, and more apt for parties and the social scene.
These stereotypes, although very common, are not necessarily true and accurate. According to an article written by Business Insider, public universities are said to be better to attend overall mainly because an individual is getting more “bank for their buck”, essentially more value for their tuition dollar. The only category that private schools “won” in this article was regarding “prestige”, and even then this was claimed to be a “myth” by the authors. However, in all of the other categories that compared private to public schools, public universities won and tied once. The article directs students to “Pursue a graduate degree at a private university, where you will benefit from more academic rigor and more specialized areas of study.”
Another controversial topic is the choice between Ivy League and non-Ivy League colleges and universities. Ivy League schools are known for their prestigious nature and elite scholars. Of course, if a student gets accepted to one, they end up attending mainly for the reason that they can say they went to an Ivy League school. However, is it really worth is? An article written in The American Scholar magazine talks about one individual who realized there are disadvantages to attending an Ivy League School. He stated that his attendance at an Ivy League school made it difficult for him to communicate with others who weren’t like him. He also states that attending an Ivy League gives a false self-worth. On the contrary, an article in Forbes states that a degree from Ivy League school still seems prestigious and to have merit. Out of the top 100 Most Powerful Women, thirty out of the 100 women attended Ivy League schools, which according to this article, is a remarkable number. All in all, the most important choice when making a college decision is where an individual feels he or she fits in and feels most comfortable in the learning environment.

A very interesting topic that arose among the class during the deliberation unit was in regards to general education requirements. Are these classes important? Do they help students? What should be taught in these classes? How many credits of general education should be required? These are just some of the questions that were posed during the deliberation.
The amount of general education credits required for graduation varies among universities. Penn State students must complete 45 credits of general education credits in order to graduate. However, Michigan State University and Bloomsburg University students do not need to take as many credits in general education courses. When the question arises about general education courses, there are two opposing points of view. Some people think that general education classes are a waste of time and feel they should not have to take classes that do not deal with their major of study. On the other hand, others think that general education courses are very beneficial and enhance their overall education. Those with this point of view feel general education courses help students that are unsure of what they might want to major in find their niche. Some also say that they provide a break from all of one’s major classes.
According to Forbes, this argument can be broadened to a more general statement, specifically, “ Are colleges really teaching students what they need to know for later in life.” According to Forbes, Bill Gates says “colleges have to change.” Gates gives facts saying that “45 percent of students showed no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning, or written communication during their first two years of college.” He agrees that general education classes are good but questions what they are really teaching. Gates believes that college should not be the first place where schoolwork becomes rigorous. He also believes that 20-year-old students should not be learning how to write. Gates thinks that it needs to start at an earlier age.
In general, the classes taken in college should be beneficial to a student and their major. In regards to general education classes, they can be very important if they introduce students to their career. Unfortunately as a business major, there are no business related general education courses that I can take. All of my general education classes are different subjects that I may never need or use again in my career.

As we were deliberating over the past few weeks about higher education, it was apparent that many of us had opposing points of view about how scholarships for higher education should be distributed. Some felt strongly that financial need should be the most important factor, while others felt that such monetary need should be secondary to academic merit.
On one hand, it is important to reward students who are performing well in school, as exhibited by their high grade point average, top percentile scores on standardized testing, and balancing their workload successfully while participating in extracurricular activities. Scholarships for such students are a well-deserved reward for their hard work, diligence, and dedication. However, it is also important to provide scholarships for students who perform in an academically sound manner, desire to attend higher education, but cannot do so without financial aid and support. As important as the financial need issue is and as crucial as it is to make sure all academically sound students have a fair chance to attend college, scholarships should not be directed solely for need based candidates.
It is important for society to find a true balance between need and academic based aid in order to help everyone succeed, thus keeping the U.S. as a highly competitive player in the global economy. According to an article written in The Wall Street Journal, more merit scholarships were granted than need based scholarships in the past decade, starting in 2000. However, in 2012, need based scholarships reportedly surpassed merit based scholarships. An article published from NPR notes that large merit scholarships have now become a major issue in higher education. As many colleges and universities are trying to attract the best and brightest students by issuing large merit based scholarships, tuition is ultimately increasing at some institutions without large endowments in order to fund these scholarships. Rising tuition is already one of the major issues confronting higher education. Such large scholarships, such as full tuition for 4 years, should not be adding to the costs for all students if the university doesn’t have the money to solely fund them from an endowment source. Also, another concern regarding the distribution of scholarships is the trend to give out more scholarships to students with interests in math, science, and engineering fields of study. These disciplines are supposedly felt to be the “most important” in keeping the US competitive in the global economy. Although it is crucial to recognize these areas indeed are very important, other gifted students with talents and interests outside of math and science should not be at a disadvantage due to their study of choice.

As we were deliberating over the past few weeks about higher education, it was apparent that many of us had opposing points of view about how scholarships for higher education should be distributed. Some felt strongly that financial need should be the most important factor, while others felt that such monetary need should be secondary to academic merit.
On one hand, it is important to reward students who are performing well in school, as exhibited by their high grade point average, top percentile scores on standardized testing, and balancing their workload successfully while participating in extracurricular activities. Scholarships for such students are a well-deserved reward for their hard work, diligence, and dedication. However, it is also important to provide scholarships for students who perform in an academically sound manner, desire to attend higher education, but cannot do so without financial aid and support. As important as the financial need issue is and as crucial as it is to make sure all academically sound students have a fair chance to attend college, scholarships should not be directed solely for need based candidates.
It is important for society to find a true balance between need and academic based aid in order to help everyone succeed, thus keeping the U.S. as a highly competitive player in the global economy. According to an article written in The Wall Street Journal, more merit scholarships were granted than need based scholarships in the past decade, starting in 2000. However, in 2012, need based scholarships reportedly surpassed merit based scholarships. An article published from NPR notes that large merit scholarships have now become a major issue in higher education. As many colleges and universities are trying to attract the best and brightest students by issuing large merit based scholarships, tuition is ultimately increasing at some institutions without large endowments in order to fund these scholarships. Rising tuition is already one of the major issues confronting higher education. Such large scholarships, such as full tuition for 4 years, should not be adding to the costs for all students if the university doesn’t have the money to solely fund them from an endowment source. Also, another concern regarding the distribution of scholarships is the trend to give out more scholarships to students with interests in math, science, and engineering fields of study. These disciplines are supposedly felt to be the “most important” in keeping the US competitive in the global economy. Although it is crucial to recognize these areas indeed are very important, other gifted students with talents and interests outside of math and science should not be at a disadvantage due to their study of choice.