Informal Writing #7 - Jeremy ilang-ilang

Informal Writing #7

Talk Show Host: John Moyen

Author #1: Jeffrey Dorfman

Author #2: David Leonhardt

John Moyen: Hello, welcome everybody to the What’s In It For Today show! I’m John Moyen, your talk show host for today and today we are going to discuss a crucial topic, called “Is college a basic need that should be affordable to everyone?” Today we have authors Jeffrey Dorfman, author of “There Is No College Tuition ‘Bubble’” and David Leonhardt of “The College Dropout Boom”. How are you two doing?

Jeffrey Dorfman: I’m doing well, thank you.

David Leonhardt: Doing just fine.

John Moyen: So what are you guys think about college being a basic need and being affordable for everyone who wants to attend? David, let’s start with you.

David Leonhardt: Well in this economy, it’s obvious that the price of college is too damn high nowadays. You got kids who really want to attend college but can’t really afford it and you got kids who are rich by birth and most of the high-income students sometimes don’t pay attention to the financial crisis. Just as I said in my article, only about a 41% of low-income students have managed to graduate school within a five-year period, as found by the Department of Education and however 66% of high-income students have. And I have to agree with the Harvard president stating “We need to recognize that the most serious domestic problem in the United States today is the widening gap between the children of the rich and the children of the poor…” because it is really unfair for students who weren’t born in a pile of gold.

John Moyen: Interesting take, David. So now, what is your take, Jeff?

Jeffrey Dorfman: I’d have to agree with that point. We can see nowadays that college prices are skyrocketing and are trending in the news recently. Just as stated in the beginning of my article, private colleges are expensive as always, and I know personally because of my daughter currently attending one and public colleges are increasing rates so that they can offset the budget cuts on the funds received by the state. I know people try and look at the “big picture” of colleges and their prices, but realistically, there are many colleges that are underpriced, according to the economic standards.

David Leonhardt: Well, that’s easy for you to say, Jeffrey. You’re trying to point out that many colleges are underpriced, not even the fair price, but “underpriced” according to your terms, while you have a daughter that attends an expensive private college. It seems like you’re coming off a rich background and that you wouldn’t take this topic in a serious manner but a manner that you would just summarize. For everyone who wants to go to a college of their choice, every college, even the expensive ones should provide every interested student with an affordable opportunity.

Jeffrey Dorfman: First of all, I never stated that I am a rich family nor come from a rich family background. I just have only enough to pay for my daughter’s education that I’ve been saving up ever since she was a child. Second of all, colleges’ actual cost compared to the commercialized costs in the media are actually much lower than usual. As I pointed out in my article, “When President Obama and other critics of college costs complain about sky-high tuition, they are either misleading people or do not understand the difference between the full list price and the average net price. After all, the only people paying the high prices for colleges are the ‘rich’ people who the very same critics believe in taxing so highly”. These prices do not seem as bad as they actually are, so they are quite actually affordable. Another thing I pointed out in my article, for instance, Harvard’s full price as stated in the media is at $59,800 but the average price paid by students who qualify for financial aid is only $15,550. When you actually examine the price personally, it doesn’t seem bad as it is in the media.

David Leonhardt: Okay, well what if those students STILL don’t have the money to pay off those fees? I’m sure to many students, that’s still an unaffordable price. I also want to talk about the selectivity of students by colleges, specifically the elite ones. If you read towards the end of my article, you would see that specific topic. Low-income students’ chances of getting in, despite their high test scores and astoundingly high GPA, has no better chance when being compared to higher-income students who are equal academically. Why? Because colleges demand both a brain and a great contributor to the school, and that’s a lose-lose situation in terms of not providing affordable options for lower-income students and not selecting a low-income student to attend their school.

Jeffrey Dorfman: Okay, well for those low-income students, maybe the expensive top-elite schools shouldn’t be their only choice. There are many affordable options to choose from. Again, going back to my article, low-income students can choose to attend a local community college or local state university that has prices much cheaper compared to these famous, expensive universities and that’s a great choice for them. During that period, students can save money to transfer later on to the institution of their choice. Likewise, just because Mercedes has a car that costs $100,000 doesn’t mean all cars are unaffordable, you just got to choose something that you can afford in the situation that a student is in at this point.

John Moyen: Well, time to wrap this up for today’s talk. Great discussion from these two authors. Again, ladies and gentlemen, Jeffrey Dorfman and David Leonhardt.