Tamara Draut

The Growing College Gap

In her essay The Growing College Gap Draut makes the claim that attending college is a decision students are faced with nationwide. She argues that there’s a gap between class and race dealing with financial problems. The gap has increased due to many cuts in the educational system and how Financial Aid helps the less fortunate but it doesn’t make higher education any more affordable to the masses. Therefore, since the socioeconomic breach continues to grow, security for a middle-class student, which is earning a four-year degree, is now decreasing because of the expense to actually achieve the said degree.
This essay focuses on college students and their future, while making a comparison of their social class. It shows the government has a major impact in this situation because it offers some statistics to give a vision of what the employment rates have changed according to previous studies about now. In addition, the author differentiates the futures many college students have as a result of their parents’ financial past and present.
Tamara Draut dissected every aspect of the American college system and thoroughly backed up her argument with undeniable statistics and facts. For example, persons with some college experience can expect to earn $1.5 million while with an Associate-degree they can expect to earn $1.6 million. Also, persons with a Bachelor’s degree can expect to earn $2.1 million, persons with a Master’s degree can expect to earn $2.5 million and with a Professional degree they can expect to earn $4.4 million (1). Surprisingly only seventy percent of high school graduates attend college; one would think that with estimated earnings such as those that more than eighty-five or ninety percent of graduates would go onto higher education. If college were less expensive, this percentage would increase drastically.
According to Draut, “While the Federal government is spending more than ever before on student aid, over $70 billion to be exact, funding has not kept pace with enrollments or tuition prices” (2). This quote it is confusing, because of the amount the Federal Government is spending is quite a huge number itself and yet it’s not enough to fund most students. There are cuts in education, and a lot of students are affected by it. It will be hard for them to pay off the tuition and loans because some of these students are from a low income family. It has been difficult for them to consider how much money they will end up paying off after they’ve graduated from college. It would be good if the Federal Government can find ways to help give the poor more funding for college.
Economic status is a major factor in the college process. For most people, it is the only factor. Unfortunately, the first question middle-class and low-income families ask about a school is how much it is because of the insane burden that college loans place on the student and their family. With the extremely competitive job market as well as the intense competition between college students, as long as tuition rates continue to increase, the economic classes will grow further and further apart. In the nineteenth century, there were really only two classes: the upper class and the lower class. It seems that soon enough, there will no longer be a middle class based on the economy and competition alone. The lower class cannot get ahead because they do not have the money; especially when college is extremely expensive. The upper class will continue to get ahead because they have enough money to do with it whatever they want.

Another part of Draut’s argument should make all college degree seeking Americans fight against the injustice of government aid programs; providing aid on merit based performance only (3). It is fair the money being granted to students who study hard and make sacrifices in order to obtain their secondary education, but what happened with the students who come from low income backgrounds? Aid programs do not take into consideration that many low income students come from inner cities, where secondary education is at the bottom of categorized education scale and these students lack the crucial knowledge that being taught at the more prestige’s high schools of the suburbs where middle and upper class students attend. The college tuition rates are increasing and soon enough only the wealthy will be able to afford going to receive their degrees. Even with the various grants, legislation and financial aid opportunities, students and families alike still struggle to muster up enough money to be able to enroll in one’s preferred institution. Hopefully, more legislation will be instilled so that many more students, of minorities and low-income families predominantly, will have better chance of being able to attend a university.

Works Cited
Draut, Tamara. “The Growing College Gap”. The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing. Ed. John D. Ramage, John C. Bean and June Johnson. New York: Longman, 2010. 270. Print.
Draut, Tamara. “The Growing College Gap”. The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing. Ed. John D. Ramage, John C. Bean and June Johnson. New York: Longman, 2010. 271-272. Print.
Draut, Tamara. “The Growing College Gap”. The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing. Ed. John D. Ramage, John C. Bean and June Johnson. New York: Longman, 2010. 272. Print.