The University plans to expand its full scholarships to families with an income lower than $60,000 a year and to replace some students existing loans with grants. Considering that it now costs about $34,000 in tuition alone to attend Columbia, this change is simply a good start.
As a lower-income student at a private university, I understand the struggle to pay for school and the detriment of student loans. So, while I applaud Columbia University for a step in the right direction much more needs to be done, both by these institutions and by the government, to allow the youth who wishes to pursue higher education with every opportunity possible.
Why is education a privilege and not a right?
Posts
11 comments:
Get a job!
Kate and I both work on campus, Colt.
And education IS a right...up to a certain extent. Obviously, everyone has the right to go through [public] high school. It's going beyond that that is the privilege. And that's a problem since higher education is fast becoming a must-have in the professional/business world.
I work on campus in the library and am also applying to have a second job next term. I also work 40+ hours a week during the summer. Not that it matters,Colt.
That's the problem Amelia, I feel that you should be able to receive as much education as you want, and that all education is a right, even higher education. In many European countries, college is paid for by the government.
College has just become another business, like the health care industry. The demand is high, so they feel it necessary to vastly overcharge us for it, and if you don't pay up, face the consequences.
And can someone tell me what the hell is wrong with Colt?
I don't know that college overcharges that much. It's just that the costs of bringing together the elements of a good modern education are higher than they were in the days of yore.
The problem is that, while there are many munificent donors out there, there still aren't enough to give out the needed amount of financial assistance.
I would further postulate that there are no rights; there are simply those things that are earned and those that are privileges (that is, given to us by others, whether parents, donors, financial aid offices, the government...) and that if we grow complacent about maintaining our privileges and what we've earned, we'll lose it. Okay, shoot me.
Well, if we don't want our society to turn into a bunch of half-wit derelicts, then education should be a right.
And honestly, when something is so overpriced that the average middle-class American can't afford it, it's overpriced.
Colt get an education
Getting an education isn't so easy when your parents aren't paying for it.
Anonymous, yes it is.
Colt. I'm sorry, but you're a moron. College is extremely difficult to pay for on your own, unless you can make $50,000 while still attending school. Oh wait, I think you need a college degree to make that much.
I totally agree, Ryan, college is a business. And I disagree, JPR, that colleges don't overcharge. Why is college tution going up 5% a year? Where is that five percent going every single year?
And I go back to my first statement. I do believe eveyone has intrisnic rights, and education is one of them. I don't qualify high school education as a complete education because in must US high schools you are being indocrinated to follow rules, memorize dates and formulas, and take history and goverment to reinforce patritosim. College is where you learn to think. It is essential to most people.
Post a Comment