Informal Writing #5

Informal Writing #5

Jordan Tawney

For this writing, I decided to compare and contrast as well as discuss the articles “Why Does College Cost So Much” and “I’m Not Saving Up For My Son’s College Tuition”. While reading both these articles, I was able to discover many similarities as well as differences between the two and my thoughts on paying for college have definitely been reconsidered. Throughout both articles, it is clear that the authors are strict on their own opinions and they do a considerably good job at trying to convince their audience of the same things. The “Why Does College Cost So Much” article tends to focus on the more factual based part of college tuition and why things are the way they are. On the contrary, the “I’m Not Saving Up For My Son’s College Tuition” article talks about paying for tuition on a more personal level and makes the audience consider how and why they are helping to pay for tuition.

For the article, “Why does college cost so much?” The author uses mostly logos to persuade his or her audience by bringing up endless statistics on the costs of certain colleges and explaining why the prices are the way they are. Colleges that are more selective would clearly need higher tuition rates to keep up with the standards and responsibilities that they are held to. The article also uses some pathos and logos by comparing the costs of college to that of cars. A luxury car is obviously going to cost more than an average car because of its endless amenities and higher quality. The same goes for college and with a more “luxurious” college would come a higher price tag in order to compensate. Although this article does a fantastic job of persuasion using statistics and well backed up facts, it did not completely convince me that the costs of college today are completely reasonable. Although the lack of funding in today’s economy places a need for higher costs on the students, when is it ever going to end? Just because the price as a whole makes sense, doesn’t mean that it is reasonable. No matter what type of financial background a student comes from, paying for college is a struggle for everyone and the growing cost of education is going to drive away more students each and everyday.

            Similar to the previous article, the one called “Im Not Saving Up For My Son’s College Tuition” also uses many ways of rhetorical analysis to get its point across. The author mainly uses pathos by describing the struggles she dealt with in college by having to pay for everything by herself as well as not receiving the emotional support she needed along the way. She also uses logos when stating that The New York Times claims that students who don’t have to pay for college don’t tend to do as well as one might think and ethos by making the audience consider how they want their students going through the college experience. Although this article is good at persuasion, I feel that it also alienates its audience to a degree. Most parents these days work extremely hard to save up for their children’s college tuition and this article in a way is saying that this is not the way to go and students should not be receiving help from their families. I feel like I can relate to this article to a degree because I am a college student that must find ways to pay for tuition, and I see why some parents would want their children to learn how the world works by paying for everything themselves. However, my parents have been very smart about handling my college tuition and are helping a great deal in paying for it. I greatly appreciate this because they are helping me get a head start in life so that I will not have to leave college with loads of debt in my back pocket. Overall, this article does a great job at explaining the reasons why not saving up for college could be beneficial, but it also depends on the family and what they feel is the best way to handle college costs.