Informal Writing #7 - Kendall BeCraft

10-24-13

Informal Writing #7



                                                                Informal Writing #7

     
     Two writers, Jeffrey Dorfman and David Leonhardt, arrange to get together to discuss the topic of if college should be more affordable or not and share any thoughts or opinions they have about it.

Dorfman: David can you tell me a little bit about your thoughts on the price of college and whether or not you believe it is affordable?
Leonhardt: Sure Jeffrey I'd be glad to. The prices of college right now are driving people away for applying for college and even causing people to dropout. Lower income people simply can't afford to pay the price of college. Only 41 percent of low income students entering a 4 year college graduate within 5 years, on the other side of that 66 percent of high income students do graduate. To me these statistics come from financial problems, the low income students that are attending a college look at it as putting themselves in debt when they could be out making money, therefore they tend to dropout. I talked to a man named Andy Blevins not to long ago, as a low income student he attended Radford University for his freshman year and after coming home to a summer job he decided making money now was better than becoming more and more in debt so he dropped out. He doesn't make as much money as he wants but he loves the life he lives and the people in it.
Dorfman: See David that's just it, everyone wants to make the big money. I believe the more you put into something the more you will get out of it. To me college is an investment and if you want to have a better job and make more money then in the beginning you have to put money into it. The amount of money you make the rest of your life will be far greater than the money you spend on a college. I actually think college is in some cases underpriced. Take Harvard and Southern California for example, Harvard's full price is $59,800, but the average student there with financial aid pays $15,550. Southern California's full price is $60,000 and their average student pays $27,500. With that being said there are ways to get around paying as much being a low income student. Also Harvard only accepted 5.8 percent of over 35,000 applicants, why not drive the price up some when some people are willing to pay for it?
Loenhardt: You cant drive the price up because not everyone can afford it. Everyone deserves a fair shot and I don't believe the prices of college now are allowing that chance for everybody.
Dorfman: Colleges are kind of like a car, there are cheaper cars out there and there is your more expensive cars. Just because the top of the line car is out there on the market doesn't mean everyone can go buy it. But most everyone can find a way to afford the cheaper car. There are ways to go around the issue of money if you are willing to work for it. It doesn't matter if you attend a community college of a school such as Harvard, the cost isn't what is stopping people.