Making It Work: The Bell and The Bowl by Dushyant Rakheja

I am getting a degree because I want to make money. I am getting a degree because I want to make money. I am getting a degree because I want to make money. Call it a completely normal statement; nothing about it stands out as odd apart from the fact that I wrote it thrice. It is what we all believe, and it is flawed.

When I was seventeen-years-old, my parents allowed me to watch a movie with my friends for the first time. Feeling like the king of the world, I went to buy popcorn during the trailers. As I was waiting in line playing with the only thing in my pocket, my dad’s debit card, a thought swept over me harder than a tsunami; someday I will have to spend my own money to buy the popcorn, the movie ticket, and the water! I went back home and handed the card back to my father without any grease on my fingers. The strength of the thought threw me into such an absolute anxiety about how to earn money that I forgot to order popcorn. This lingering unease was all I could talk to my friends about for the next couple of days. Unsurprisingly, they had had the same thought way before I did and were also looking for solutions. We shared our ideas on our communal bench, the one by the window in the corner. We took down notes during lectures hoping to scientifically analyse the historical decisions made in our civic society. However, we were only young seventeen-year-old brains with no real-world experience. All the ideas that we could come up with were too simple, according to our parents. So, naturally, we turned to them for advice and learned something we would never forget.

Having gone through the same phase, my father had an exact cure to my itch: “Go to college and get a degree. If you score all ‘A’s you will earn enough riches to dwarf a small nation. Score one B and you’ll just be getting along. Anything below that and you can call the assistant because you are not worth the time” (Rakheja). That is, in closest translation, what my father said to me, just as his elder brother had stated it to him. Later when I consulted my uncle, he confessed to quoting my grandfather on that occasion. One can assume that my grandfather probably quoted somebody ancient who came before him. Going to college for money, therefore, seems like an inherent knowledge passed down through my family. By conversing with people in my classes I discovered that this knowledge is not just my heirloom; we all have it. Consider the clear indication in my roommate’s prompt reply to my questioning his major: “I am an accounting major so I can get a job as an accountant. I gotta pay the bills” (Galietta). Everybody wants to study a subject to “get a job” in that field. It has been conditioned into us like the bell and the bowl of food that was conditioned into Pavlov’s dogs.

During the 1890’s, a Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov conducted research in classical conditioning by examining dogs’ saliva in response to an induced stimulus (BullyingNewsVideo). He would ring a bell and give the dogs a bowl of treats. In time, the dogs started to associate the sound of the bell with the bowl of food, thus releasing happy hormones whenever the bell was rung. After a while, the dogs got elated by the mere sound of the bell even without the chow in sight, thereby being conditioned to like the chime. Using the same logic, one is conditioned to stay in crippling college debt.

There is no denying that the cost of college is increasing exponentially. Take Hofstra University, for example; their per year tuition rates went up from $20,999 (inflation adjusted) in 1998 to $43,960 in 2018. Similarly, the City University of New York’s rates went up from $5,091 in 1998 (inflation adjusted) to $17,910 in 2018 (Chronicle of Higher Education). The cost of attending each college throughout the U.S. went up almost every year of the decade. If one was to take an economist’s view, it only seems fair to raise prices. Since it is seen as an essential product (diploma) and service (learning) by the people, they are bound to indulge in it. As Thomas Frank notes in “The Price of Admission,” “An annual pass to Disneyland would also cost $54,000 if society believed that what it took to make you eligible for success was a great many hours spent absorbing the subtle lessons of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage” (par. 5). Even so, it is not necessary for the bowl of crippling debt to follow the bell of college. The bowl that leaves a student crying on their floor eating ice cream while re-watching the same Disney movie for the 19^th time is avoidable. Alas, my strolls through campus and its neighborhood have pointed out that we do not want to evade it!

Every person I know would love to have less debt, but they are not willing to work. Obviously, they want a job, but they desire the immediate rags-to-riches story because they want to be Princess Diana. Nobody notices the “Help Wanted” signs posted in the windows of shops that are within a ten minute walking radius of the campus as they are too busy shining their tiaras. My own roommates, who have more debt than I do. would rather make fun of me for waking up at 6:00 am to go to work than get off their Playstation and work alongside me. By lounging around and complaining about not having enough money or required job experience afterwards, we allow our comfort zone to become a limiting threshold. Certainly not everyone may want to be waiting tables til midnight, but I have also seen a “We are Hiring” poster outside the same Target Superstore for the past month. These are not jobs that pay $250 or $300 an hour as we would like them to, but it is still progress--- the building block of human society. These $7 or $8 per hour jobs keep us from being monkeys with suits and ties hanging in our wardrobes. Everybody seems to be so content with being in the state of having debt that they forget what being human is.

Slow progress over centuries is what led humans to rule the food chain. It is these increments, i.e., low paying jobs, that will continue to lead our march towards the top. It is not as easy as going out with our paper degree, handing it over the counter, and coming back with money as if we are buying bread from a grocery store. It involves long hours of collecting small slices that will eventually bundle up to a big loaf (Farquharson). Not only is it about small slices, but American citizens can make their college lives easier in big sums---even if they do not have an academic scholarship!

The ROTC program at most universities is available for anyone with an average GPA of 2.4. The program’s recruiting officer at Hofstra University also mentioned that there are scholarships that can amount to half the cost of tuition (Massidas). Since room and board amount to the second highest cost contributor in college, Hofstra, like many American universities, provides free room and board to active ROTC members. This is just one way to cut down college cost without being an academic or athletic genius. All it takes is a little snooping around.

Amidst all this “give me what I want because I want it” mindset that we carry, the go-getter sense has been lost. The sooner one realizes that they cannot beam up to the rich life, but rather will have to put in some effort, the closer they will be to their American dream. I am an international student from a middle-class family who is not allowed to work in America. However, while nobody was looking, I was able to add two slices to my bread fund. If I could, that means native-born Americans do not look closely enough. Are we letting opportunities pass us by because we are blinded by the end goal? There is a treacherous track we must tread before reaching the ribbon. As the product of our parents’ money, having almost nothing to our name, why should we be afraid to start from level negative one? We have got to stop getting happy at the sound of the bell and go look for the bowl.

Works Cited

BullyingNewsVideos. “Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov.”  YouTube, 13 Sep. 2008, https://youtu.be/hhqumfpxuzI.

Chronicle of Higher Education, The. “Tuition and Fees, 1998-99 Through 2017-18.” Chronicle, 28 Nov. 2017, https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees.

Farquharson, Tajear. Personal interview. 10 Nov. 2018.

Frank, Thomas. “The Price of Admission.” Thomas Frank. Harper’s Magazine, Jun. 2012, Web. 16 Nov. 2018, https://www.tcfrank.com/essays/The_Price_of_Admission

Galietta, Noah. Personal interview. 1 Mar. 2018.

Massidas, Wilfred. Personal interview. 5 Nov. 2018.

Rakheja, Anand. Personal interview. 1 Aug. 2015.

Crawling Like a Snail by Yunfei Feng

 

In the TV series, “The Good Wife,” Alicia Florrick, the main actress, said she needed to deposit a large amount of money in her account, probably $750,000, because her two kids were going to college. A famous lawyer in that series, Alicia won the state’s attorney election in the latest episode and she said the salary of state’s attorney cannot cover her children’s college tuition. Although these words are just the actor’s lines, I believe they reflect the serious challenge that college students and their families are facing.

 

With the sky-rocketing increase in tuition and dormitory fees nowadays, college graduates routinely begin their working lives deep in debt. They are burdened by these overwhelming debts from the beginning of college life, having no time to take a rest. A survey shows that the total amount for a student without scholarship in college is $60,000 per year, even higher than the average salary of a male who has an undergraduate diploma in America. There is no denying that the tuition is a devastating debt for a middle class family. Furthermore, American families usually have more than one child. Despite more and more females choosing to work in order to enrich their lives and fulfill their dreams, there is a large portion of women who become housewives when they have a baby or get pregnant. If the whole family is only supported financially by the male parent, it is obviously not enough when their children go to college.

 

Here is a description in the article “The Price of Admission” written by Thomas Frank:

In March 2012, when the Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, was taking questions at a town-hall meeting in Mahoning Valley, Ohio, a high school senior rose to explain that he was on his way to college, but that he worried about the cost. In response, Romney gave one of his patented lessons in managerial smugness. The solution was to “recognize that college is expensive” but that competition “works.” No “government money” would be forthcoming under his regime. And so it was up to the student-consumer himself to “shop around,” compare the goods offered up in the freewheeling marketplace of educational choice, and make the best decision he could.

 

When I read this paragraph, I felt angry. The government’s attitude should be changed. The aim of government is to provide benefits and services for its residents. Education should be the basic right for a child. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be educated and absorb various types of knowledge. If a government cannot provide these chances for its citizens, it is not a competent one. When a student is faced with the choice of which university he wants to apply for, he should not focus on money, at least not as the priority. He should choose a place where he can get help to achieve his dream and broaden his horizon. He should choose a place where he can grow up and become a better man. He should choose a place where he learns how to hold the world in his heart and pursue the truth instead of studying hard in order to repay loans.

 

University life is a period for transformation. Students learn professional knowledge and identify the direction they want their careers to run. They arm themselves with all the information they can get and experiment constantly with new ways to pursue their dreams. They are just like the sun at 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning, warm and lively. They gather strength and prepare everything they will need for future success in college. Being deeply in arrears is not a position which stimulates their will to fight. On the contrary, it is the snail’s shell which can drive students crazy. College students carry heavy debt in the exact same way that snails carry heavy shells and crawl slowly. They will be afraid of the amount of the capital which needs to be invested into their project and deny their original thoughts in order to save some money. They will be timid to dream something big because they cannot afford it. They may give up their favorite major and choose another one because they need to find a well-paid job to repay the debt after graduation. They struggle helplessly in a hard life.

Money isn’t everything. However, it is indeed the key to all doors. Without money, you can do nothing. When all your savings are dispossessed by the “crazy” tuition, you have no wings for dreams. Although there are many favorable policies related to student loans, they cannot solve the basic problem. The tuition has grown too rapidly in recent years. Student loans only delay the problem from erupting for a while. It cannot solve the problem ultimately. If the tuition keeps growing, the problem will be fuelled and is going to be worse.

 

In my opinion, government should be responsible for the “horrible” tuition. Universities are not merchandise put on the shelves waiting to be bought in the market. Governors should not request students to choose their universities from the position of being consumers. I don’t agree with what Mr. Romney said in the meeting: “Consumers shop around, they compare and contrast, and they get the best deal they can, reassured all the while by their awareness that competition works. Just don’t come whining to the government for help” (Frank). Applying to universities is one of the most important decisions in a student’s life. It is just like the process of choosing a spouse. The “personality” and “ability” should be considered first, not the costs. That is the reason why we need a government---to protect its citizens and guarantee their basic human rights. Relevant policy should be legislated to control the growing cost of tuition according to the inflation and the economy. Combined with the GDP and the average income in each state, government should recommend corresponding tuition for each university and stipulate that the floating between the actual tuition and the recommend one cannot excess a certain range.

 

Besides, the Departments of Education and Treasury should cooperate and supervise the flow of funds in each university. Colleges should report their expenditure at the end of each year to these departments and make a detailed budget at the beginning of next year. If there is something unreasonable, government can take measures to rectify the situation. Schools should control expenditure and publish important decisions and donations regularly to the students and parents. If a college wants to make a pivotal assessment like building a stadium or other infrastructure which will cost a lot of money, they should convene the students’ representatives, analyze the advantages and disadvantages for them, ask for their opinions, let them be a part of the decision committee and vote for the proposal. Students should be informed where their money is going and become part of the decision-making process.

 

Frank also notes that twenty years ago, the Department of Justice charged the Ivy League universities and MIT with conspiring to restrict financial-aid awards, and thus to fix prices. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh even called the schools a “collegiate cartel.” The Ivies settled immediately after the suit was filed in 1991, signing a consent decree that forbade them to collude over tuition, salary, or financial-aid awards, but I should mention that the decree expired in 2001. Looking back from twenty years on, it’s clear that the Ivy League schools did little to keep their promise. Some believe it may have driven costs even higher. All these famous universities regard their prestige as a selling point based on the common sense that we live in a “knowledge economy” and the diploma from prestigious school is the credential towards a successful career and happy life. As rational people, we should realize that the college degree and the brand of world-famous universities is not the conclusive element of our lives. What really matter is who we are. The abilities and qualities we own are the genuine gems, not the degree. The diploma cannot represent anything and is only a souvenir of the most beautiful days in our lives. It isn’t a pledge which will win success. You need to win your success by yourself. From this point, there is no reason for us to pay so much for the prestige. The training system and the teachers in these famous schools may be one of the keys to cultivate the best students, leaders and millionaires, but the most critical factor is your intelligence, hard-working manner and creativity. If we can change our mind and pay more attention on the improvement of our own abilities instead of pursuing the prestige of school in order to satisfy our vanity, the tendency of tuition increasing may be slowed down even restrained.

 

The unreasonable tuition is a nightmare for many students and their families, and it should be controlled immediately. Only in this way, can more young people get the chance to be educated and allow the country to become better and wealthier.

 

Works Cited

Frank, Thomas. “The Price of Admission” Harper's Magazine. June 2012. Web.

 

Yunfei Feng is now a senior student in China. Upon receiving her bachelor's degree in July, 2016, she will work as a junior data analytics specialist in Shanghai for Opera Solutions Corporation. Two years later, she hopes to apply for a master’s program in the USA.