Skyrocketing tuition incurs hidden costs for America
A quick scroll through any Trojan’s Facebook events feed boasts a dizzying number of opportunities to think about the world surrounding our campus. At USC, this week is both Sexual Assault Awareness Week, hosted by the Center for Women and Men, and Palestine Awareness Week, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine. On Sunday, Carrie Brownstein and Arianna Huffington spoke on campus as part of the L.A. Times Idea Exchange Series. On Monday, the Political Student Assembly is hosting a debate between the College Democrats and the College Republicans. On Tuesday, students will engage in conversation with renowned environmentalist Erin Brockovich. And that’s just the first half of the week.
Whether USC is doing its part to create an inclusive campus climate is another question, but there’s no doubt that the University has continued to provide opportunities for conversation about controversial issues inside and outside the classroom. In an age in which the rise of presidential candidate Donald Trump has created a climate rife with hostility, the University’s commitment to promoting civil discourse among those who disagree is more crucial than ever. However, in light of rising tuition costs, universities like USC must realize that those who would really benefit from institutional diversity may never get the chance to — and this has real implications for national conversation.
The good news for college students is that — regardless of political disposition — many of us hold civil discourse and tolerance in high esteem after graduation. In Iowa, four-fifths of college-educated GOP voters did not vote for Trump, whose ignorant comments and lackluster policy proposals demonstrate a deep misunderstanding about ethnic minorities. In Ohio, part of John Kasich’s victory in his home state came from an ability to bring those with university degrees to the polls. And in Florida, though Trump gained the support of most GOP voters without a higher education diploma, he only garnered 40 percent of those with one.
It’s a deep, deep oversimplification to say that a college education will cure ignorance in America. And it’s an oversimplification to say that all Trump supporters are unequivocally ignorant of the issues, because as our favorite former Celebrity Apprentice host would say, “some, I assume, are good people.”
But a college education is crucial to creating an informed electorate. An environment which fosters even the most simplistic sense of diversity — the presence of people with different backgrounds, ideas and principles — provides a compelling reason to listen to, instead of fearing, those who are different. Curricula that promote the healthy discussion of social issues provides opportunities for those with diverging views to engage with — not talk past — each other. And most importantly, the exploration of these issues provides what the Trump campaign, and many supporters, are missing: nuance.
The rise of Trump clues us into the implications of failing to provide a college education. As a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center contends, rural students lag behind their urban peers when it comes to college enrollment, and poverty plays an even larger role in whether higher education is a possibility for students. Low-income students must face the challenges of subpar schools, a dearth of opportunities and the absence of networks that provide crucial information about higher education. If they make it to college, they’re faced with exorbitant sticker prices to attend school. Applicants to USC this past year face tuition costs at an upwards of $50,000 per year.
And when impoverished rural students — many of whom already live in majority-white neighborhoods — lose out on college, the rise of Trump has proven that this has a profound impact on national discourse.
So the affordability crisis that accompanies skyrocketing tuition at schools like USC is not just a conversation about creating vehicles for social mobility. It’s also about whether high tuition costs impede access to diversity.
College could be the solution to the spatial fragmentation and ideological isolation that has followed the rapid urbanization and suburbanization over the past century. However, if those who really need college cannot access it, then inexplicably high tuition is part of a national failure to provide desperately-needed discourse and engagement.
USC — and universities across the country — need to greater consider the consequences of rising tuition costs, because they don’t just hurt those in need. If Trump shows us anything, it’s that they’re hurting all of us.
The youngest members of my Trojan Family have some “interesting” ideas.
First, let me point out that USC doesn’t admit all applicants, so reducing tuition won’t help more people get a college education at USC. I can’t say about the other schools out there.
Second, not everyone should go to college. Some people should be plumbers, electricians, and other trades people. Not only will they struggle in college and be miserable, but we won’t have enough trades people to take care of life’s necessities. Unfortunately, “everyone should get a college education” just isn’t true. Everyone should do something at which they excel.
Donald Trump is giving voice to people whose jobs were sent overseas, who see the wealthy living the good life while they work two jobs just to survive, and see politicians making promises during elections that are never kept. He’s not the result of an undereducated popation. He’s the result of a population exploited by the wealthy for their personal gain.
When I was much younger, students were being beaten at the Democtatic Convention in Chicago, shot and killed at Kent State, and attacked by police while marching with Dr King. I would like to think our actions made this country better. Now it’s your turn.
Rather than engage in discourses about those things with which you don’t agree, use the resources with which you are blessed at USC to make the world a better place for everyone.
It’s not all about you.
Teddy, very good points for these “I need a safe zone” kids.
Additionally, using Trump as your dartboard of disgust is misdirected. You should be upset at the state of the union , Obama’s presidecy, the old Socialist and the “soon to be charged with espionage” Democratic Party candidates.
The liberals of government and education have failed you. They have indoctrinated you since elementary school, since TV became a major focus of information, to align you to their agenda. You d OK n like Trump or Cruz, but these two candidates are the only “non establishment” candidates available and they will change the way Washington operates. And it will be done for the betterment of legal citizens.
You say Trump is devisive? President Obama is the most devise elected politician we’ve seen in genetations. The man has done nothing for America other than work to transform America in to some twisted view of his emoti I n ally messed up world. We are fighting all those who try to make our country something she isn’t.
We don’t want illegals. We don’t want u vetted refugees from anywhere. There are processes in place for those who want to come here and these processes are there for a reason; to protect our country from those who want to do harm, use our resources and not contribute to the betterment of our society.
Once you get a job and start pay I n taxes, you might see the world in a different light… you might even smarten up a bit and throw away the utopian ideals of liberalism, 2 high really isn’t classic liberalism anymore, and you’ll move towards the political venter if not a tad right of it. Childrenn, jobs and taxes have a way of opening up ones eyes to the reality of life. Good luck, and as always… Fight on.
Well. I guess it’s on me to say it.
You who are about to receive a diploma from this university should also receive an apology from this university. And a refund of a large portion of your tuition you have paid.
You have been cheated, bilked, propagandized and badly educated. Your tuition has been much too costly, for which you can blame the federal government and the avarice of the university.
Washington has produced a bubble in higher education just the way it produced the bubble in housing. Some government planners decided that too few people owned homes. So the planners decided to force an increase in home ownership. They lowered lending standards for people seeking a mortgage. This produced a glut of sub-prime loans. And sub-prime borrowers. And then a crash.
Next, some government geniuses decided that there were too few college students. So government made student loans and other tuition subsidies easier to get. Of course, colleges and universities responded by increasing tuition to capture these government subsidies. Which is why the cost of college has been rising 4 times faster than the rate of inflation.
The cost of college has increased faster than the cost of healthcare. There is now in excess of $1 TRILLION in student loan debt. There is more student loan debt than credit card debt. More than auto loan debt.
Most of you will graduate with debt. In effect, you will be graduating with a mortgage but with no house.
And what did you get for all of this tuition? A sub-prime education.
USC students — like students of every other university — study many fewer hours a week than students a generation ago. But they are getting higher grades. This too is a result of government creating perverse incentives. The Government money gives colleges and universities a powerful incentive to admit more and more students. Inevitably this means more and more students who are marginally qualified — or unqualified, Many of these will pay tuition for a few semesters and then leave school with debt but no degree. Others will plod along, paying tuition, piling up debt, and eventually getting a degree, but not in four years.
If you major in gender studies, or women’s studies, or ethnicity studies, or cinema deconstruction, or any other of today’s fads, I have this advice:
When you take off your cap and gown at graduation, do not look for a job. Instead go straight to the unemployment office. This university did not equip you to add value to the American economy.
Soon, this university ‘s office in charge of alumni giving, will contact you and ask you for money. Your response should be, “Are you kidding?” Instead of sending money to this university, just send a schedule of your student loan repayments. If this campus is like most campuses, you have been living in a community of enforced conformity. When you leave and enter the real world, you are in for a shock.
You have paid USC for a speech code. It has forbidden and punished speech that did not conform to fashionable political pieties.
You have paid lots of money for USC to teach you that you have a special entitlement — that you are entitled to pass through life without hearing any speech that annoys, depresses, confuses, offends, or otherwise distresses you.
Like other campuses, you have paid tuition for USC to have a “free speech zone” – a small , isolated inconvenient space where students are allowed to exercise First Amendment rights. I don’t exactly know where it is. But guess what? Off campus, out in reality, nobody recognizes this entitlement. You will find that the US Constitution makes the rest of America – all of it –a free speech zone.
This school has restricted free speech in order to protect your tender sensitivities and to protect your feelings from being hurt. When you leave this campus, you will have to “un-learn” the silliness that you have been taught here. The idea that you deserve to be treated as a frail flower.
So students of USC, you have been saddled with debt and bad ideas. Good luck. You’re going to need it.
[Note: hat tip to George Will]