Informal Writing #5 Kelly Chesson

Informal Writing #5

Kelly Chesson

            In the article, “Why does college cost so much,” it is explained as to why college costs the amount that it does. It talked about the cost of tuition, books, room and board, and things such as food. This all adds up. It also talked about how everything is relative. We think of college as being very expensive, but it depends on what college you’re talking about, and how much income you make. It compares colleges to cars. For example, buying a Lamborghini is much different that buying a Hyundai. This is just like college. Going to a college such as NYU, which costs $61,000 a year, versus going to Bridgewater State University, which has a $910 per year tuition, is very different. All of these are relative. It also has to do with the amount of money you make. For someone who works part time at Wal-Mart, even paying only $910 a year could be a lot. However, for a very successful doctor, paying the tuition at NYU might not be a big deal.

            In the article, “I’m not saving up…,” a woman tells her story about how it isn’t such a big deal that she hasn’t been saving up for her son to go to college. When she went to grad school, she had to pay for it herself. She and her husband paid for their own grad schooling, and they had to pay to be living on their own at the same time. She believes that if they could pay for their own schooling, that her son should be able to do the same. She also believes that paying for your own schooling makes you do better in school because it’s coming out of your own pocket.

            In my opinion, both articles have good arguments. They both cater to their audiences and share statistics in a good way that benefits their argument. I would say that the first article persuaded me more. I believe that this is partly because I already didn’t agree with the second article from the start. I come from a family who has always thought that it was the parents’ job to pay for their children’s college. That may sound conceited, but that is just how I’ve grown up. My parent’s have always told me that they would do whatever it took to get me through college, and whatever other schooling I needed to have the great career that I want. I agree with the first article, and I have never really thought about college the way they talked about it. I have always thought of college as being very expensive because most colleges are, but I never thought of them as all being relative to each other. There are some schools that are a lot cheaper than other schools, and it all depends on how much money you make. Some people may think that paying for college isn’t that big of a deal if they have a large income and have set aside money for a while to pay for it.