This essay is a reflectional analysis of the article “The Cost of College: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”, and the article “A Game to Help Students Pay the Right Price For College”. The first article, written by Forbes Magazine Contributor Mike Patton, discusses the alarmingly high and constantly increasing cost of college, as well as how it affects our country. Patton mainly used statistics in his work as evidence to support his point. The second article, written by Ron Lieber of The New York Times, focuses closely on Payback, a game developed to simulate how hard it is to manage money in college. Lieber includes numerous quotes and accounts from the people involved in the production and usage of Payback in his article. Both authors show
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He introduces statistics recorded by the College Board, average annual costs of tuition for public and private colleges, as well as for in-state and out-of-state students. “According to the College Board, the average annual cost of tuition and fees at a public university for the 2014-2015 school year was $9,139 for an in-state student and $22,598 for out-of-state students” (Patton, 2015). Patton uses a chart to show that the cost of education has a much higher inflation rate than the cost of healthcare. This is surprising because the cost of healthcare is a popular debate topic across the nation. “If education inflation continues to average 5.2%, the cost of tuition and fees for a four-year public university in 10 years will between $65,590 (in-state public) and $224,124 (private)” (Patton, 2015). He says that making college free, a well-known platform of Senator Bernie Sanders, would result in either extremely high taxes or eventual government bankruptcy. However he concludes with the prediction that if the inflation of education costs is not controlled, there will be severe repercussions for the …show more content…
Ranzetta was first inspired to create the game after constantly dealing with the frustration of families with student loan problems. First, he convinced a design firm, McKinney, to help him develop Payback, and then he partnered with Jenny Nicholson, one of the creators of a similar game, Spent. Her inspiration stems from her financially challenging childhood, and a bad experience she had with student loans. “In playing, students see running totals of their debt but can also track academic focus, the connections they’re making that could be useful later and their overall happiness — crucial factors in actually finishing college and graduating with a job that can help them repay their debt” (Lieber, 2017). Lieber also includes information about Spent, the game designed by the same firm as the one behind Payback. He believes that the ideas behind Payback and similar games should be the basis for a semester long mandatory course taken in high school to educate students about managing finances. While some teachers have already began to utilize Payback in the classroom, others are afraid that it could cause tension among students because of different financial backgrounds. However, it is important that students are aware of how their financial situation affects their ability to pay for college, and Payback is an effective way to spark conversation between
He introduces statistics recorded by the College Board, average annual costs of tuition for public and private colleges, as well as for in-state and out-of-state students. “According to the College Board, the average annual cost of tuition and fees at a public university for the 2014-2015 school year was $9,139 for an in-state student and $22,598 for out-of-state students” (Patton, 2015). Patton uses a chart to show that the cost of education has a much higher inflation rate than the cost of healthcare. This is surprising because the cost of healthcare is a popular debate topic across the nation. “If education inflation continues to average 5.2%, the cost of tuition and fees for a four-year public university in 10 years will between $65,590 (in-state public) and $224,124 (private)” (Patton, 2015). He says that making college free, a well-known platform of Senator Bernie Sanders, would result in either extremely high taxes or eventual government bankruptcy. However he concludes with the prediction that if the inflation of education costs is not controlled, there will be severe repercussions for the …show more content…
Ranzetta was first inspired to create the game after constantly dealing with the frustration of families with student loan problems. First, he convinced a design firm, McKinney, to help him develop Payback, and then he partnered with Jenny Nicholson, one of the creators of a similar game, Spent. Her inspiration stems from her financially challenging childhood, and a bad experience she had with student loans. “In playing, students see running totals of their debt but can also track academic focus, the connections they’re making that could be useful later and their overall happiness — crucial factors in actually finishing college and graduating with a job that can help them repay their debt” (Lieber, 2017). Lieber also includes information about Spent, the game designed by the same firm as the one behind Payback. He believes that the ideas behind Payback and similar games should be the basis for a semester long mandatory course taken in high school to educate students about managing finances. While some teachers have already began to utilize Payback in the classroom, others are afraid that it could cause tension among students because of different financial backgrounds. However, it is important that students are aware of how their financial situation affects their ability to pay for college, and Payback is an effective way to spark conversation between