A Brief Note On Confronting Inequality

Taylor Siebel
Professor Goodell
Essay 3 draft
March 28, 2015
Topic 1 "A society with highly unequal results is, more or less inevitably, a society with highly unequal opportunities, too" writes Paul Krugman in, “Confronting Inequality”. In 2009 around 98 percent of Slovenian college students graduated within four years, 85 percent of college students in Poland finished college within four years, and behind 22 other nations, only 70 percent of college students in the U.S. graduated (Graduation Rates). For years our nation has been on a downward spiral in the education department. There is never one thing that causes the problem; there are many key factors such as rapid growth in tuition over the past couple of years, lack of aid, and unfair advantages. With these road blocks not being addressed we can see our nation be more at risk of falling further down the list in education. Many students don’t finish an associate’s degree due to the vast growth of tuition rates. For a young ambitious high school graduate to attend college back in 1981 it coast around eight thousand dollars, in 2012 college tuition reached twenty three thousand and we have only seen it skyrocket within the last thirty four years (U.S. Department of Education). When it was 1981 that was all a person needed to land a well paid job to support their family, but now we see a demand for more schooling. The more school one has the better they become according to companies. Companies look for specific work skills and a lot of experience to entrust the candidate will carry out duties bestowed on the worker. One thing these companies don’t keep in mind is how expensive it is to continue or even start an education. Due to the expensive tuition rates of universities this turns off some students. Many students seek aid from various places but aren’t granted it due to social or economical standings. This makes it harder for a student to focus on their schooling rather than worrying about how the next tuition payment will be made. On top of the vast growth in tuition with limited aid students also different outside activities get in the way. Nearly four out of five college students have jobs to help pay for tuition says Tyler Kingkade in his article, “Most College Student Work Part-Time Jobs, but Few Pay Their Way Through School”. Yes, the title seems as if he is taking away from the hard work students go through to pay off school, but Kingkade points out that although many parents pay for small things, such as cell phones or car payments, most college students do support themselves to some extent during their college years. For example, I am a second semester college student and I work two jobs to help put myself through school. It may not be Yale’s tuition amount, but it’s around five hundred dollars a month for an eight-teen year old to pay. Fortunately, my parents do pay for things, cell phone and car payments, but for the most part every check I receive I put toward school. No one asked me to do it, I just felt it was the right thing to do, but for many other kids they have to if they want their education to last. America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, so why do we ask our students to break their necks to pay for an education? Is it right for a child that yearns for a higher education to be denied it due to high coast and lack or aid? Tamara Draut writes in, “Occupy College”, that, “Today the average college graduate leaves school with just over $24,000 in debt, an amount that eats up $276 every month if you stretch the payments out over ten years.” College graduates are asked to start paying back their debt six months after graduation. That gives the student a short amount of time to land a job that could help pay it back. This isn’t easy for many. Some students rely on loans to pay off their schooling. Even then those loan companies want their money back as soon as possible. The Institute for College Access & Success has a page that gives

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