While it is probably a popular step to lower the interest rate for students who are attending school, this is only a small portion of the national debate regarding the affordability of college.’ It is all too easy to attend a college like Harvard or Yale and end up with more debt than is conceivable to many high school students who make the decision to attend these universities.’ It is so commonplace to end up in debt that it permeates society.’ If a couple has two or three children of college age, it is inevitable that they will hear, ‘Wow, those tuition bills must be stacking up!” Then again, not everybody has to go to Harvard.’ Or even a school like Hofstra.’ What’s wrong with a SUNY school?
Let’s compare a school like Hofstra to a school like Stony Brook.’ Hofstra costs over $20,000 a year, while Stony Brook is about $5,000 a year, give or take assorted fees.’ Hofstra also happens to be in Hempstead, while Stony Brook is a somewhat ritzier town, to make a gross understatement.’ Hofstra has mediocre academics by all measures, while Stony Brook touches shoulders with the most prestigious universities in the nation in more areas than one.’ Rather than asking why it is the case that a student graduating Hofstra is up to his ears in debt, it is more appropriate to ask why there are not more Stony Brooks.
The quality of public education is very good right now, especially in states such as New York and California, which offer very affordable tuition rates for students.’ It is not a terrible hardship to attend a public university and work a reasonable amount of hours during the week in order to minimize one’s debt.’ People do it all the time with great success.’ We have a system that works- provide kids with an affordable and smart way to go to school, and they will meet your expectations.
It is time for this government to stop trying to subsidize those of us who ‘just want to get away’ for four years and to start putting valuable resources into a more accessible and higher quality public education system.’ Too many students go to party schools, attending classes as a secondary function of their higher education, and then struggle through debt.’ The government should take no pains to make life easier for those who are unwilling to consider a school that fulls under the purview of a state education system.
The smartest way the government can provide debt relief for students is to help them from incurring debt to begin with.’ There should be a university with the academic rigor of Stony Brook in everybody’s backyard, providing people the opportunity for an affordable, top notch education.’ If people would rather spend the $20,000 a year for ‘the college experience of a lifetime,’ which includes a lot of drinking hundreds of miles from home, then by all means they are welcome to it.’ But not on the federal dime.
