Abtract and Bibliography

ABSTRACT:

This is a piece working through the numbers and prices in higher education. From an economic frame, this paper explores the opportunity cost of choosing a public school versus a private, the subsidy that schools provide, and the return on investment the exists in any college decision. This paper faces the criticisms of higher tuition prices for private colleges, and explains where the numbers come from, helping to shed light on what is usually overlooked by the public. There is no way to say that private schools are the clear choice for everyone, but looking at all the facts, its seems to be the more beneficial choice economically.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Works Cited/Works Consulted

Axtell, James. "What's Wrong--and Right--with American Higher Education?" The Virginia Quarterly Review 79.2 (2003): 189-208. Print.

Berg Dale, Stacey, and Alan B. Krueger. Estimating the Payoff To Attending A More Selective College. NBER Working Paper Series. National Bureau of Economic Research, Aug. 1999. Web. .

Burten, Kathy L., and Victor M. Borden. The Impact of Class Size on Student Performance in Introductory Courses. Rep. Indianapolis: Indiana University, 1999. Print. AIR Forum.

Goethals, George R., and Cynthia McPherson Frantz. Subsidy Shock. Subsidy Shock: Reshaping Judgments of College Sticker Prices. Williams Project on the Economics of Higher Education, Nov. 1996. Web. Nov. 1996. .

Hill, Kent, Dennis Hoffman, and Tom R. Rex. The Value of Higher Education: Individual and Societal Benefits (With Special Conserderation for the State of Arizona)io. Arizona State University, Oct. 2005. Web. .

Ikenberry, Stanley O., and Terry W. Hartle. Too Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing: What the Public Thinks and Knows about Paying for College. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1998. 3-64. Print.

Kokkelenberg, E. C., Michael Dillon, and Sean M. Christy. The Effects of Class Size on Student Grades at a Public University. Rep. Ithaca: Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, 2006. Print.

"Official College Planning Tools | Research Colleges and Universities Online." College

Admissions Requirements. College Board, 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. .

"Office of Admission." Yale University. President and Fellows of

Yale University, Web. 19 Feb 2010.

<http://www.yale.edu/admit/visit/facts.html>

Parmar, Neil. "Why the Ivies Aren't Worth It?."SmartMoney.com Jan 2009: n. pag. Web. 19 Feb

2010. .

West Virginia University - Tuition." West Virginia University - Undergraduate Admissions. 2005. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. .

Winston, Gordon C. "Grow" the College?: Why Bigger May Be Far From Better. Williams Projects on the Economics of Higher Education. Williams College, Oct. 2001. Web. .

Winston, Gordon C. Economic Stratification and Hierarchy Among U.S. Colleges and Universities. Williams Projects on the Economics of Higher Education. Williams College, Nov. 2000. Web. .

my story

Looking back, I started out thinking I would have a non-bias standpoint through the majority of my research and then discover an answer. I believe for the majority of my research I did a good job sticking with this, however I did a full 180 between my two rough drafts of this paper. I went from backing public school education as the best means for education because students will pay less overall. However, when looking into it more, the private education showed more and more benefits as research and writing went on. Considering smaller classes versus lectures. From personal experience I have noticed in my first year at college, the large lecture classes are the classes I struggle in and the small classes I do my best in. In the large lectures I feel like I fall under the radar and fall behind, I feel helpless when I get behind and if I were to fail, no one would notice. However, in the smaller classes there is someone making sure you're tracking and willing to help. This topic was chosen by me because I chose Rutgers over a private university and I wanted to know if I made the right decision, while I still think Rutgers was the right choice for me, I just have a small price to pay and I have to work harder to make sure these large lectures don't effect me.

painting a picture.

In my project, I feel like not many images will be able to help me prove an economic argument, so I will use my personal standpoint in my images, here are two images. One from a small class and one of a large lecture hall. Which one do you think would be the best learning environment?

how i will go about my project

since my first rough draft, i have made some fairly big changes to my debate. I have changed my position and re-edited my paper completely and started from scratch. The sources that I found began to make me change my mind. I started out trying to prove my case that public schools were overall the better choice for a student, but as my project began to unfold I began to look at the bigger picture and changed my position all together. My outline now is as follows:

I divided my argument into three parts the personal, social, and economic standpoints on the differences between public and private universities.

Personal: Student teacher ratios, learning environment, counseling systems.

Social: "party schools", reputation, entitlement

Economic: tuition, tuition payback, salaries after graduation, job opportunities.

With everything I organized my paper into those three sections then at the end I wrap them all up together.

the point I am trying to make

At this point in my research, I have finally come to where I can start to formulate my case and the point I am trying to make. My question is, Is the giant Ivy League price tag truly worth it and what do students get from a private education? In my case I am starting to believe that it depends on the student and in most cases, a student can get a great education anywhere they go. My research shows that students in public universities can earn just as much (even more) than students in private universities. other aspects included in my research are employment rates for students coming out of both types of universities and enrollment levels in private universities. I am looking at evidence showing, graduation rates, class sizes, tuition, graduate schools acceptances, etc. to help stake my claim.

The Debate

The debate i have identified. Is a tough one to distinguish, and it will be even tougher to establish a winner. Both sides provide enough evidence to sway me in either direction. My question has shifted to whether or not the experience of an ivy league is worth it over another institution. And what is it that gives the schools such a sense of entitlement for their graduates success? While one side says, the Ivy League "grooms" its students for success, nurturing them and making certain that they do succeed. Is the university doing so to keep its highly accredited numbers high? And on the other hand, students at large public schools aren't granted the personal touch like the students at ivy league schools. They tend to be "mass educated" and students can drop out and fail a class without notice. However, students who do excel in this situation, do so on their own, showing that they can achieve success independently. So, the debate is difficult and I have much more research to do to venture both sides of this topic.

What I Need Help On.

So far, my research has been going quite smoothly. However, there are a few things in my research that I feel as if I definitely need help on. First off, I need help finding more scholarly sources, for some reason I have had no issue finding primary sources (i.e. U.S. News articles and University admissions websites), however when it came to me finding secondary sources I was coming up against great difficulty. I am not sure if I am going about my research the wrong way or I am just typing in the wrongs things into my search because I am having a hard time finding what I am looking for. I have found a few good ones, but I am fully aware that I need much more. Also, we already spoke of this in our conference, but I am still thinking of what directions I am going to go in my topic. I have been jumping around the topic and I need to finally choose a direction. Besides those things I think I am off to a pretty confident start. If I think of anything else, I will be sure to ask!