Response to Current Event

Credit:  http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/24/the-rise-in-tuition-is-slowing-but-college-still-costs-more

The average price for in-state tuition and out of state tuition is increasing overall. This forces students to get loans because their families can not pay the higher prices. Even with scholarships, the majority of students are still receiving loans. Colleges gave out twice as many grants this year than the previous, yet colleges are making up for the loss of money from this by increasing tuition. There are over a trillion dollars owed in student loan debt. Therefore, if everyone was able to pay for their tuition, then colleges would not have to raise prices due lack of money.

This essay relates to my family a lot because my family is going through the same struggles as the people mentioned in his essay. "For many others, post secondary education would be out of the question without generous subsidies from the government, their colleges and universities, or other sources." This is very true because my parents have two kids going to college and are struggling by to pay tuition fees. The end result is I may have to get student loans from the loss of money from my older siblings going to college. “And as increases in the cost of college – including tuition, fees, room and board, and school supplies – continue to outpace gains in family income, more students fall into the second category.” This is also true because both my parents work at the university and neither have gotten a pay raise recently, but college tuition is continuing to rise and making it harder for my family to pay for tuition.

Even though it is a news article, there are still some biases discretely placed throughout the article. There is a bias through statistics and crowd counts because they start off with statistics from the 1970’s which have a much lower tuition rate and then shows statistics from 2010’s which has a much higher tuition rate. There is also a bias through photos because the photo they have at the top of the article shows a student with his piggy bank signing up for a student loan. This implies more students are signing up for student loans and gives the impression tuition prices are rising. Lastly, another bias is through selection and omission. The editor of this essay leaves out information on exactly why tuition prices are rising and instead has quotes from several people saying the average family can not pay for their children's tuition, but worded in a different way. There are no true facts behind his arguments supporting his ideas, which is why he wants tuition prices to stop rising.