Nikki Goldstein
Persuasive Writing
First Draft Persuasive Essay
29 October 2008

The need for financial aid from college students is increasing more and more, as the resources of aid are lessening and budgeting is becoming tighter. Many students have to turn to private loans and other sources to pay their way through school because financial aid is being taken away from them. Here at Temple many students were faced with this issue very recently. By the time college students leave with a four year degree, they are largely in debt. The issue lies right inside that fact, along with the realization that a four year degree is becoming less effective in landing a job that will actually pay off all of their debt. Many students are aware of this and continue on to graduate school. They do so in order to further guarantee themselves a good job, one that will pay off their loans and still leave them with an income, to continue paying their way, as we inevitably have to do in life. The problem is American students need less debt and more access to funds because the economy is struggling, so colleges need to find ways to break apart and ease the costs of tuition.
Our economic struggle in America is increasing. Even private loans are following with the failing economy, and interest rates are soaring. These are known facts that put college students in the heavy debt situations they are in. In Nick Perry’s article from the Seattle Times, he points out that “in 1997, the federal government financed almost all student loans, with private loans making up just 5 percent of the market.” He obtained this information from the College Board. (Perry; 2008) Now, government is not maintaining such standards. The College Board also tells that this past year private loans took up 22 percent, the amount rose to 17.1 billion in 10 years. For those who may not think this is too large of a jump, keep in mind other ways borrowing is occurring to make the tuition ends meet, such as home equity and credit cards. (Perry; 2008) These situations that weren’t so highly concerning years ago are indeed a necessity now for the many students being stripped of their financial aid and having nowhere else to turn.
The problem does lie within the lack of government financing. However, until our economy rises again we should expect little change from that perspective. So, since can’t change what is being given to us unless the economy gets better, we need to change what we are actually paying. An important thing to first look into is college endowments. In Senator Charles E. Grassley’s article in the Los Angeles Times, he throws out some alarming statistics and information for the public. Among these are, “373 colleges had endowments of $100 million or more, according to the 2007 list from the National Assn. of College and University Business Officers.” (Grassley; 2008) As parents and students of largely middle class societies, we are watching college endowments grow each year by billions upon billions of dollars. We are left with no answers why this money isn’t being used to help ease tuition costs, why we are scrambling to find multiple ways to make the tuition ends meet?
The answers to these questions including why colleges won’t use their endowments to ease tuition costs are equivalent to “the dog ate my homework” excuse, according to Grassley, and the feeling is most likely mutual among college students watching this money grow and not seeing anything done for them. A major problem occurs in where this money is going. In Grassley’s article, he notes “a 45-page report from the University of California system, Annual Report on University Private Support, 2006-07". This report entails the donations to universities being used for research centers and to endow professor’s chairs in great detail, while using the words “financial aid” twice, “student aid” once. (Grassley; 2008) Now, if this dilemma continues on, soon colleges will find themselves with all these fancy resources and high endowments for chairs, and a significant drop in students. What is the point in using this money for things that in the larger scheme of things, are what is causing students to be put out and not able to afford an education. With this it is clear that there ways colleges can ease the costs of their facilities, we just need to find them. Sometimes, we aren’t getting our money’s worth. In a table showing the average undergraduate tuition and fees and room and board rates charged for full-time students in degree-granting institutions, 1964-65 through 2006-07, in current dollars, there is an alarming jump from $2,577 to 18,445. (Ies National Center for Educational Statistics; 2008) While through these years there have been advancements in technology so the prices were bound to increase, a problem occurs in the breakdown of what is being paid for. In most college tuition bills the breakdown includes the lump sum of tuition, and then on top of that is extra fees, such as student activity fees. However, within the tuition, there needs to be a breakdown of all the services students are paying to receive. With this, colleges can break apart what student uses what and have a more fair way of applying services and being fairly paid for them. At this rate, college students are sliding into debt deeper and deeper to pay for things they are not even being given, all the while colleges turn the other way when financial aid runs out.
For the times that they don’t turn their heads and try certain ways to explain themselves, colleges and other sources may disagree with such claims with such statements how higher college tuitions attract more students. (Grassley; 2008) This may have been the case in years before this situation becoming worse with battling for financial aid. Now it is increasingly discouraging for prospective students they cannot afford any university prices. Yes, it may look prestigious to have high tuition, but it goes a lot deeper than that, especially when there aren’t any students that can actually afford it. Also, there is the mentality that in America, your degree sets the bar for how much you will make, so spending all this money for a prestigious degree and sliding into debt, will pay off in the end when you land a high paying job. In some cases that is true, but in the large majority it is not. Especially with a failing economy, jobs are increasingly harder to find. In Perry’s article, he compares the rates of two degrees – a bachelor’s degree an average of $51,000 a year and just a high school degree $31,000 a year, (Perry; 2008) When looked at more deeply, when you factor in the increasing debt that is coming along with degrees high than high school, the two become close together. So, this argument becomes less valid as government aid decreasing and the economy becomes worse.
In conclusion, there are many factors that are attributing to student debt increasing, including the government lack of funds and colleges not stepping in to help. I have also shown that there are many factors than should be demanded of colleges in order to ease tuition costs, like endowments, as well as the construction of tuition needing to be broken apart. This situation needs to be taken into control by colleges for their students if the economic conditions are going to remain.