No Money, Mo' Problems

Instead of writing about an education issue this week, I'm going to be writing about an education issue. Specifically, I'll be talking about the issue of the high cost of post secondary education, as I went to a deliberation about that topic before spring break. 

This deliberation was really relevant for me (and most students) because we discussed the issue of college debt. This issue is almost purely financial, so I didn't expect there to be much emotional discussion going on, but I was wrong. Of course, there weren't really any moral dilemmas surrounding the topic, but there were a lot of strong emotions tied to the issue. 

I thought it was very effective of this group of RCL students to use an anecdote to open up their issue brief; it's the diary entry of someone who's elated because they were accepted at their dream school. Unfortunately, though, that celebration is tainted with stress because of the almost insurmountable problem of the high cost of post-secondary education. There were a lot of people at this deliberation who are where I am, in the middle of the middle class; we don't qualify for aid, but we also don't have enough money to pay our way through school. The first approach of the deliberation addressed the issue of high entrance costs.

Relatable ecards are the lifeblood of 40+ Facebook moms,
but this one is actually relevant to this post (and there's no minions so it's fine). (src) 

The biggest thing people talked about was FASFA, a beast we all have struggled with; my estimated family contribution (EFC), which determines the aid you’re eligible for, was $40,000, meaning that the government thinks my parents are paying my tuition every year and then buying me a really nice car to put my diploma in. If you didn’t catch that, it was sarcasm; they’re not going to do that. We don’t have that money. So this was a pretty heated issue.    

The second approach, which I thought was the most interesting, was destigmatizing non-4-year post-secondary education. I’m not a perfect person and I know I’ve judged people when they said they’re going to a technical college or a community college; I think it’s probably a universal thing, at least in America, to treat your local community college as a joke, as a place where dumb kids and poor kids go because they can’t cut it at a 4-year university. (I know that sounds terrible, but stigmata aren’t usually positive).

memegenerator.net is where dreams go to die. There's
so much wrong with this. I'll let you unravel
its majesty on your own. (src)

Someone at the event talked about how their state has a 2+2 program where you can go to a community college for two years and then finish at a university. I thought that sounded like a good idea. I would’ve gone to a branch campus for at least a year if it weren’t for Schreyer money.

The third approach talked about reducing exit costs, which basically means getting rid of debt after you have a degree in your hand. This one hits home for me because my mom and dad both got their debt reduced or eradicated through loan forgiveness programs, whether that meant working for the military or working in economically depressed areas. I think there should be more loan forgiveness programs out there.

Overall, this deliberation was really interesting, even though I’m still not totally used to a deliberation-style discussion when we are usually driven to debate.

Though I don't want to end on a dismal note, I think it's kind of a shame that a lot of the deliberations were almost fully populated by students. I was hoping the deliberation would be a big opportunity for community involvement, but everyone that I've talked to said their deliberation events were heavily attended by students. Some of the deliberations didn't even have more than one person who wasn't a part of the project in attendance. What do you think? Do you wish there was more community involvement? Why do you think there wasn't a lot? Is it just that most of the State College community is students? Or possibly that there's not much motivation for civic engagement among non-student State College residents?