- Information
- AI Chat
English Unit 2 Essay Rough draft
Principles of English Composition II (ENGL 1213)
University of Oklahoma
Recommended for you
Preview text
Sphindile Mtetwa Professor Shearer English 1213- 8 March 2021 Beth Akers on Free Education While the conversation around free college education in the United States is not a completely new one, the road leading up to the 2020 Presidential Elections brought new debates and shed new light on where the public and industry professionals stand on it. One such individual who has been prominent in this debate is Beth Akers, <a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)= (<Beth Akers=). Before joining the AEI, Dr. Akers worked with the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow where she closely researched the economics of higher education. Providing her expert opinion even as far as standing before the U. House Education and Labor Committee, Dr. Akers has continuously pleaded the case against free Universal free education. The need to show the economics and opportunity cost involved in making college tuition-free for everyone regardless of economic standing arose when many Democratic Presidential Candidates based their platforms on this, promising to relieve debt for the trillions of Americans currently in debts and making college free for those who are still struggling to get those degrees. Like others who argue against the concept of Universal free education, Dr. Akers acknowledges that there is a problem with the way the cost of going to college has skyrocketed over the recent past and agrees that something needs to be done to mitigate the increase. In a blog post by Dr. Akers published on Education Next, she proposes different strategies that she thinks will do better than just making college tuition-free. Akers argues that
the cost of implementing a universal free college system outweighs the costs and even goes further to say that it is not necessary. She brings up that <college is already free to the lowest-income students, who benefit from generous state and federal grants, as well as private scholarships from their college or university= (Akers, <Don9t Ruin College by Making It Free=). Beyond this Akers proposes that instead of making college free for everyone, the aid system should be reinvented and reorganize so it can work effectively and efficiently to reach those students that need it the most. First, when she appeared before the U House Education and Labor Committee, Akers proposed that the way to provide a safety net for borrowers that is also fiscally sustainable would be to <replace the existing system of federal student lending with a single loan program that collects loan repayment through a plan that ties monthly payments to a borrower9s income= (<Testimony before the U. House Committee on Education and Labor=). She states at the beginning of the testimony that the problem is not that people cannot afford to pay for college or pay off their debts, but rather that is the risk associated with college that is untenable (<Testimony before the U. House Committee on Education and Labor=). She later expanded on that in a later article when she proposed another strategy to mitigate the risk. Akers proposes that the risk can be reduced substantially by <moving grant-based support into the early years of college=(Akers, <Don9t Ruin College by Making It Free=). By this, she provides that since grants are usually reserved for upperclassmen, college students tend to take out student loans as early as freshman and sophomore year and if they drop out for whatever reason, they get stuck paying off student loans that did not even see them through college. Additionally, Akers proposes the expansion of Pell Grants for the neediest students to cover more than just tuition but living expenses, and room and board too because <tuition isn9t the only or even the most important barrier to enrollment for low-income students= (Akers,
it can be seen that Akers also understands that there is an accessibility problem in higher education and that it is mainly due to the costs and fees. Taking this into account I would try to suggest a different policy to Akers that is not too far off from what she proposes. From my research and what I have read about Akers she seems to be more of a conservative. With this is mind I know from the start that a radical idea like Universal Free college would not get me anywhere with her, I would suggest a plan that makes college Universally free for people from low income families. What I mean by universally free in this case is a program that covers all costs from tuition to room and board for all students with demonstrated need. To convince her of this I would show her the data on international student that attend college in the U and show her that most international students graduate with bachelor9s degrees in four years unlike the six year average for American students. I would show her that this is because most international students come to college of <full-ride= scholarship and therefore spend less time worrying about finances which helps them succeed in their academics. Additionally, since Akers is an Economist I would try to make her see from an Economics stand point why this investment would be beneficial for the country. To do this I would use countries with free college education to show her that it can help to promote and improve the standard of living for the country. The study of economics shows that an idea or investment would only be made if the marginary benefit exceeds the marginary cost. While her arguments says that the costs exceeds the benefits, I would try to show her why this is not the case, especially if you treat it as an investment and placing a future return value on it.
Works Cited Akers, Beth. <8Free College9 Doesn9t Mean What You Think It Does.= Economics21 , 12 June 2020, economics21/free-college-wont-be-free. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021. ---. <Don9t Ruin College by Making It Free.= Education Next , 9 Mar. 2020, educationnext/dont-ruin-college-by-making-it-free-threats-quality-innovation/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021. <Beth Akers.= American Enterprise Institute - AEI , aei/profile/beth-akers/. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021. Sisolak, Paul. <Should I Attend a Public or Private University?= Student Loan Hero , 18 Dec. 2020, studentloanhero/featured/public-vs-private-college-attend-which/#graduation. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021. <Testimony before the U. House Committee on Education and Labor.= Manhattan Institute , 12 Mar. 2019, manhattan-institute/testimony/house-education-akers-cost-of-college. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021.
English Unit 2 Essay Rough draft
Course: Principles of English Composition II (ENGL 1213)
University: University of Oklahoma
