Chapter 2 - 4

04 Education

Now listen to a lecture related to the topic in step 1. Fill in the blanks of the note diagram below with keywords or key phrases used in the lecture.

M: OK, let’s take a few minutes to discuss a subject I’m sure all of you are pretty familiar with… college tuition.

Pretty much every way you calculate it, the cost of college is increasing dramatically for students. And it’s continuing to get more and more expensive for the average student to pay for an education.

Now, let’s talk about why it might be a good idea to get rid of college tuition altogether because, after all, it’s a growing concern for everyone sitting in his room.

You guys might not be aware of it, but several people are just choosing to avoid college altogether and pursue a career instead.

You want to know why this is the case? It’s because students who attend public colleges currently pay over $5,000 every year on average.

That translates to approximately $23,000 in total costs to attend a four-year public college.

Now that’s a lot of money − it’s not just pocket change that you can work off in a short time or pay off by working a part-time job.

Private colleges are even more expensive. The cost of a four-year private college has recently increased to over $30,000 per year.

That’s over $120,000 for four years! However, if college tuition was completely eliminated, almost all high school students would be able to attend at least a four-year public college.

In addition, numerous students who end up leaving college early claim that financial burdens were one of the biggest considerations in their choice not to finish their degree.

A study taken several years ago showed that a little over half of people who attended a four-year college actually graduated six years later.

To give you a better idea of why this is such a problem, statistics show that one in every four freshmen who attend college drops out in the first year.

If we could eliminate college tuition, it would help many of the people who attend college to actually graduate.

Then we would have a significantly more educated population who could better contribute to our society.

Finally, if you all graduate − I don’t mean to frighten you, but your typical college graduate ends up with an average of $19,000 in debt − that’s enough for a down payment on a house.

You’ll probably be paying an average of $200 per month for over 10 years. I bet you could think of many more worthwhile ways that you could be spending your money if college tuition was eliminated.

So, the cost of college is discouraging numerous students from getting a college degree.

And many of the well-paying careers require a college degree to work in them. Isn’t it pretty obvious why this is such a problem?