English 20803 Portfolio 1 Rhetorical Response: The Rising Cost of Education Exigency: A college education is an impressive and necessary

accomplishment when an individual is looking to find success in this day and age. he unfortunate truth of the matter is that society looks down upon an individual that does not attend college to some e!tent. "owever# according to $ollege%ata.com a moderate &udget at a private college averaged '(3#28) per year. *or a large num&er of people this has categori+ed college as unafforda&le. As the price of o&taining a college degree is rising faster than ever &efore# students are finishing school with more de&t than their first ,o& can repay in many years. -ou might ask the .uestion# is it really worth it/ 0hat has contri&uted to the costs of tuition rising so rapidly/ 1ome people might &elieve the income you would miss out on during your college years is reason enough to skip college and ,ump right into the work force. 2ut can you ,ump &ack into the work force without a college degree/ 3thers are adamant that a college degree creates a lifetime of opportunity for those of us that invest in our education. 4n an article &y 2loom&erg news# statistics reported a shocking reali+ation of the real issue of the rising cost of education. he average cost of college tuition has risen 5386 in a 287 year period. his is more than the cost of medical care# gasoline as well as housing. he factors that contri&ute to this unprecedented increase are difficult to define &ecause there is an immense amount. 4n addition# the college application and selection process has &ecome e!tremely competitive in recent years. As much as the applicants are trying to impress and have each institution choose them# colleges have also felt the pressure to impress those potential students. 8onald Ehren&erg# an economist for higher education descri&es this situation in his &ook#

Tuition Rising. 9ust like with any competitive atmosphere# different colleges strive to achieve the highest level of e!cellence to continue to attract the same e!cellence in their applicants. 4n result# the cost of improving facilities# funding research# raising staff salaries and having the most up to date instructional resources is rising and the students are footing the &ill. $olleges are not as worried a&out the increase of their tuition# &ecause more people than ever &efore are getting college degrees. he &asic principles of supply and demand hold true# so no matter how high the cost of tuition there will always &e someone ready to pay for it.

Audience: he audience of people concerned with rising tuition costs continues to grow as .uickly as the tuition costs itself. here is pressure on colleges from the local governments to o&tains permits and a&ide &y regulations when attempting to improve facilities in the slightest. Alumni contri&utors have threatened to cease their donations# which fund much of the &asic e!penses a college must pay. Environmentalist and historical preservationist have also &een known to slow down campus pro,ects and thus increase spending on limited resources. 4n addition# the American middle class is e!panding and &eing told they are :too rich; to .ualify for federal aid. 4 am a student looking to o&tain a &achelors degree in *ood <anagement. A field that pays a modest salary when ,ust starting off# needless to say this issue is very real to me.

Constraint: *ederal government policies have &een &lamed for complicating the distri&ution of financial aid for students. An article &y $== <oney highlighted the growing disparity &etween starting salaries and college tuition cost. 4t is said that since 1))2# the average total amount of

federal aid offered over the four years a student spends at the >niversity# is only a&out '23#000. 9ustin %raeger# the president of the =ation Association of 1tudent *inancial Aid Administrators admitted# :? here has &een a fundamental shift# moving away from private su&sidi+ation# to individuals &earing more of the cost of a higher education.; 1o the amount of federal aid &eing given out is lower# and the interest &eing charged is rising. $== <oney@s article reported that according to *inAid.com# the average college graduate with a 2achelors degree is earning around '23#18A a year. his is making it nearly impossi&le to pay &ack student loans in fewer than 20 years. 4n an article &y =ewsweek and the %aily 2east# author <egan <cArdle correlates the rising tuition issue with the availa&ility of too many su&sidi+ed loans for students. 4n result# schools are a&le to increase their tuition in relation to the dis&ursement of more these loans. 1tudents are told that their loans are a :good de&t; &ecause you are investing in your future. "er article goes on to state a proposition to the pro&lem# :this would &e the lowest hanging policy fruit imagina&leB save money &y not providing aid and lower tuition in the process.; 4n response to this =ewsweek article# <ike Conc+al states on his &log for the 8oosevelt 4nstitute that this argument is &ased on the 2ennett "ypothesis. his hypothesis states that college tuition increases are due too the distri&ution of too many su&sidi+ed loans. 4n turn# colleges can increase tuition and still keep costs in the :afforda&le; range. Conc+al &elieves there is no reasona&le evidence to relate the relationship &etween su&sidi+ed loans and tuition increases to &ack up the 2ennett hypothesis. "e strongly &elieves that &ecause colleges are either pu&lic or non7profit they could not possi&ly &e looking for a profit. 0hat are the o&,ections to this/ 0e have not &een a&le to pin point the reason that college tuition costs are skyrocketing.

his might &e &ecause there are too many contri&uting factors to &lame ,ust one. 4t is apparent that my starting salary as a *ood 0riter and the student de&t 4 have already accumulated over the past two years here at e!as $hristian >niversity will take me as long as they predict to repay. his makes &uying a house# esta&lishing good credit# and saving for future generation@s education e!penses a difficult task. %oes the average of '1 million dollars more that a college graduate makes in their lifetime out way the financial &urden of attending a >niversity/ he price is high for four years dedicated to enriching your mind and &ettering yourself to ac.uire skills that will allow you to prosper in the work place. o some# this is a worthwhile investment to make and the years of financial &urden post college graduation are merely a part of the ,ourney of life.