We all know that the price tag for college puts a degree out of reach for many people, and for many others, the debt from student loans is very high. Lamar Alexander, US senator from Tennessee and former Secretary of Education under President George H. W. Bush, has a proposal for easing some of the burden. He lays out his ideas in this February 2019 essay from the New York Times.
Alexander, “Going to college should not be a financial albatross”
- Alexander has several specific proposals for making college more affordable for US students. What are they? Who would be responsible for putting Alexander’s plans into effect? Summarize his ideas. Has he provided sufficient evidence that his plans would achieve their goal? Why or why not?
- Alexander is the senior US senator from Tennessee, a seat he has held since 2003. What might have been his purpose in writing an essay for the New York Times? It’s not a Tennessee newspaper, and this is not an election year. Who is Alexander’s intended audience, and what is he trying to accomplish with his essay? Explain your reasoning.
- In his They Say, Alexander uses direct quotations as well as paraphrases. Select two examples of quotations by named persons, and discuss why Alexander might have chosen to use the person’s exact words rather than a paraphrase. Consult Chapter 3 of your text to help you respond.
- Alexander asserts that the best way to “help more low-income students attend college” would be to simplify the FAFSA, the form that students and families must complete. Certainly, no student or parent would ever object to making that form less of a headache, but would that simplification really accomplish all that Alexander claims it will? Think about all that’s been involved in your process of financing your college education. Reflect on your own experience and that of people you know and evaluate how far Alexander’s proposals would go toward achieving the goals that he puts forth. Using Alexander’s essay as your They Say, write an essay evaluating his proposals.
They Say I Blog 
Debt cripples thousands of students a year post-college. Additionally, it discourages milllions of students a year from applying to college, in fear that they will never be able to repay what they have accumulated. Alexander proposes several ideas of making the student loan process less complex and less expensive. Overall, he does a great job at providing alternatives to the tackle the problem of over-encombering debt that students gain due to the necessity of funds to pay for college classes.
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Alexander starts by proposing that the number of questions on the form to apply for federal student financial aid be reuced from 108 to two dozen. This idea would not be as effective as actually informing students of how to apply for FSFA, which they are not taught to do. The rest of his ideas are more well thought out and effective. His other proposals not only help to reduce the cost of college, but to help these students pay it back in an effective manner. We believe that both the federal and state government should offer more scholarships to students for their achievements in high school. This will help to reduce the stress that is placed on student, as they will have less to pay.
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I think that the best was to help people pay for college is to have them work on campus and instead of paying them it pays for their college. If you don’t want that paying for their whole college then make it so that it takes care of 50% or something. The only way they can work on campus is if they have a C+ or higher.
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honestly i think that the system of loans set up by the government is fine and is not overly complicated. i think the FASFA form is asking only for basic info that we already know about ourselves by doing our annual taxes and etc. if anything i only really agree with his ideas to give college skin in the game of holding student accountable for the loans they take out. This also includes at what rate students are borrowing money at. i also agree that someone should be the adviser for student for loan advise and what works best for the student at the time. This would help reduce tuition prices. i think that the only problem with the system is that college prices keep going up and its not stopping and that is the bulk of the issues. if everything was more affordable to begin with more students would take the next steps in there education even if this is a post college education.
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I really feel that this is why a lot of students don’t further their education from high school. The cost and as researcher has shown that 60% of parents don’t have the means to help with college they have to take loans out and pray for scholarships to get there education.I truly feel that more young people from high school would try to attend college if it was at a responsible cost.I at 50 years old don’t see it getting any more resealable
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Alexander makes a fascinating point about altering the student loan process, to make it less complex and less expensive. I’d never thought of it that way before. I’d always thought that college tuition would keep increasing over time, but if Alexander is right, then that would explain why so many students are unable to pay back their student debt in a reasonable time. As Alexander mentions in the article, “Eliminating this unnecessary complexity is the best way to help more low-income students attend college.” I would have to agree with Alexander that altering the loan process, would tremendously increase the number of student loan applicants. But what Alexander overlooks is that it is a difficult task to convince the federal and state government to change the policies they have set. Just like Kim Little, I do not see college tuition getting anymore reasonable, but I do think Alexander makes excellent suggestions towards how the government should alter this stressful process.
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Like Matt, I agree that millions of students are afraid to apply to colleges because of the fear of being in debt. He states, “It discourages millions of students a year from applying to college, in fear that they will never be able to repay what they have accumulated.” I agree with this statement, I have a lot of friends who joined the forces instead of college. Some would even tell me “I do not want to be in debt”. Also myself I feared of being in debt, I decided before going to college to come up with a plan that I can stick to so I would not be in debt.
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In this article it explains how college is getting harder and harder to afford. The writer argues that millions of students are haunted by the process of applying to school and having that thought of being debt after they graduate. I feel this is why more and more students are attending community college after graduating high school. This is one of the reasons why I attended community college after I graduated because of the fear of being in debt. The writer gives great alternatives to face this problem of student debt.
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As Alexander mentions in this article, that we have to eliminate complexity to help more low income students attend college. I agree with his statement and solutions, I have two suggestions I’d add. I’d consider colleges to offer students who are really struggling the opportunity to attend with no pay until they’re financially stable. Also I’d try to save money ahead of time before I enroll into college. With that I suggest that students who graduate high school should have that opportunity and have had proper training of how to manage money.
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I agree with Alex that college is a huge investment that can really affect your life after you graduate college. The plan that I liked the most was the plan to calculate the discretionary income and base your monthly payment off of that. This is a great idea because it ensures that you are not going to struggle and live paycheck to paycheck in order to pay off your student loans. I think something definitely needs to be done, and I hope that the government is looking at solutions to the crippling student debt problem that the U.S. has.
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This is a great step taken by Lamar Alexander. This help many students to start study again. Many students need this facility for studying. Thanks, for this informative post. We share this my team at QandA.
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I agree with what Alexander is saying. The costs of a college education is ridiculous and full rides are rarely given out and barely given to students who are in the top of their high school graduating class. Most people don’t pay back their loans for decades after graduating college which is the huge problem in all of this. The ide that Alexander proposes about calculating your income and figuring out how large of a payment you can afford without struggling is a good idea. I feel that people often want to overpay to get their debt gone as soon as possible but then they often struggle with their daily life essentials. This type of budgeting is important as an adult who may or may not have a family or just take care of themselves.
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According to the writer Alexander, about 40 million graduates have $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the US (2019), so he mentions whether the colleges offer education that is worthy of large sums. I agree with his question. It is a fundamental human right to receive education and the idea that tuition fees for illustrating the equality of educational opportunities should be as free as possible. However, since the country’s economy can not be realized, it is collecting a large amount of money from students. Still, I think that the gap in society will expand if the students are forced to spend too much money on education. It’s dangerous that the inability to invest enough in education for low-income people means that the class is fixed.
Also, he explains the old debt repayment system using the quotation of a professor at the University of Michigan. I guess the reason why he used the person’s exact words is to emphasize that this system is not enough that others have the same opinion. In other words, Alexander believes that the system should be innovated to help students having debt.
In my country, Japan, most college students including me have our parents pay for our tuition so I can not imagine how serious the problem is. But I’m sure his proposals are better than the present ones.
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After reading the article write by Alexander, I agree with him about the huge cost of American University to get the chance to study and to get a degree. Indeed, the price of the University in the USA do not give the chance to a of of student to have the possibility to study. So, if a student wants to study, he often must borrow money just to pay the school, and after his degree he will already have thousands of dollars to pay back without even started his adult, his professional life! That the kind of thing that shocked me (I’m from France, and there is a lot of Free good University, where in around 5 years you will have to spend only like maybe $1000).
Those students who will have already lot of money to payback, will then have to borrow money for they house, for their car etc… so young adult after their University and just starting their life will already super indebted witch could be very problematic sometimes.
Alexander in is article make very good points and well suggestion witch I hope the US government will think about it and find solution for future American (and maybe also international student studying in the USA) students.
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Alexander quoted from two specific organizations. First, administrators have a specific question: “Can you do something about the jungle of red tape that wastes on overhead that could instead be spent on students?” the author quoted. Second, professor Susan Dynarski at the University of Michigan calls the nine different ways of repaying student loans “a rigid, archaic payment system that unnecessarily plunges millions into financial distress, the author cited. He quoted exactly not paraphrased. That’s because the exact quotation enhances what the author wants to focus on.
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Alexander arguing that the high cost of courage education torment students. It caused some social problems, like delaying paying back. So, it is getting harder to have a lone.
In the article, Alexander explains how the old debts repayment is hard for the person who have it by quoting a phrase of a professor at the University of Michigan. I think that it’s expressing the hardness of debts repayment exactly.
And Alexander explaining the fear of students. whether it is affordable and worth for students to have debts. For about this fear, Alexander is quoting administrators words. “Can you do something about the jungle of red tape that wastes money on overhead that could instead be spent on students?” It is a kinds of Metaphor, though we can know how it is difficult to have it.
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(1) The number of applicants for student aid would go up by about two million a year, according to Kim Cook of the National College Access Network. The former president of Southwest Community College in Memphis told me he loses 1,500 students each semester who are discouraged by the chilling maze of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form.
(2) Professor Susan Dynarski at the University of Michigan calls the nine different ways of repaying student loans “a rigid, archaic payment system that unnecessarily plunges millions into financial distress.”
He quoted these two figures’ exact saying in order to support his opinion that the US university cost is too high and the country lacks system for students who face difficulty to afford it. I think the reason he came up with the exact saying of certain person was that the person he mentioned in his article was well-authorized person in the related field-university. To make his opinion or article look more convincing, he chose to quote exactly the same words that the people mentioned before.
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In this article in the New York Times, Alexander highlights the problem of the particularly high cost of tuition to study in the United States. To be able to pay for their education, students often have to take out loans that they have to repay over decades. In his article, Alexander seeks to attract the reader’s attention by using the exact words spoken by the interviewee. By using paraphrasing, Alexander seeks to show the feelings and impact of this problem through the strong words used by the interviewees. For example, at the beginning of the article, the sentence “no one mentions just how expensive and soul-crushing the debt will be.” is very explicit, the word “soul-crushing” really express the feeling of the person. If we had to summarize that sentence, we’d had to choose a more global word that will never have the same meaning and the same resonance for the reader. The sentence “Can I afford it? Is it worth it? Can you make it simpler to apply for aid and pay back loans?” shows us the distress of the student who is trying to find out if the significant investment that college in the United States represents will be rewarded later.
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According to the reading, Alexander insists we who live in this society must make it easier to pay back a student loan as we must make it easier to apply for a student loan. He mentioned about “A college graduate paying more than $1,000 per month on student loans recently”. Moreover he said about “Roughly 40 million borrowers owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. Honestly, I entirely agree with him since I think US tuition fee to get a degree is super expensive as an international student. Although I do not know well about how much US students pay for tuition fee and they get a scholarship from university, I am sure it is much enough.
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We completely agree with the given article as college education has turned really expensive, financial aids support is not available for everybody. As alexander mentions in United States 40 million borrowers owe $1.5 trillion student in loan dept. In making this alexander warns about the need to change the way we pay back student loans and the way they are given out so easily. The suggested payment plan in the article would provide help for many students throughout the U.S.A.
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I agree from your point of view. I understand that the cost for tuition is increasing and that students need to be advised for taking out loans and help them through that process.
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Lamar argues that Financial Aid is the fastest and easiest way to reduce college debt. I agree with what Lamar has to say is because there are many students that go into debt just of the fact that they could not afford to pay the debt or fail to apply for financial aid.
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College debt is one of those things that not only damages the individule, but socoiety at large. If stutents leave collage and get a job, and then preceed to spend the next twenty years paying off their debt, all of the money they are paying off is essentally being nullified- economically speaking. In other words, collage graduates are unable to start playing a more active roll in our consumer based economy until their debt is payed, and, may I remind you that the entire point of collage is to recieve a higher level of education in order to contribute to and better society as a whole.m
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The financial complications of college, in my opinion, are forcing students to focus more on how they can manage to afford it than what they actually want to pursue while there. Even after college, these students are followed by any debt they accumulate, and the money they make in the pursuit of their career will have to be devoted entirely to the cause of paying for education. We have been warned of how many people already owe money (40 million), and if this situation cannot be reversed soon, we may be discouraging people from becoming active in society and being able to pursue the education they need to get there.
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College’s are way too expensive and most people can not afford colleges, and many people continue on in a master or doctors degree because almost all fields require extra years of schooling which makes it more expensive. I agree with the author’s points that there are many more beneficial ways to reduce the cost of college. Paying off debts is also just making dead money, there is nothing else to do with it after it is paid off it is not flowing in a money circle. I like the idea of paying off your debt like a mortgage, so you always know what you will be paying and how long you will be paying for it. I think college debt also holds back a lot of young adults who are fresh out of college from doing things like buying a house, a car, doing things they enjoy, meeting new people because they don’t have the money to do those things because money is tight.
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Alexander believes that by simplifying the questions asked on the FAFSA and providing easier repayment options, the financial burden that comes with college education can be reduced. The federal government and local banks would play a major part in making these changes. By allowing more people to understand the concepts behind the FAFSA and making repayment options simpler, the lower middle class and low class citizens will become more involved in the college process. Alexander provides an abundance of information on his proposed changes that informs the reader on his changes. These changes can be achieved, but changing the process would be extremely slow and deliberate.
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The reason why Lamar Alexander most likely wrote his Essay in the New York Times and not a regular Tennesse paper. Was to get more attention for his topic. Alexander intended audience are those in the age 21 through 30. The reason why is because they are done with at least their bachalores and Masters. They are trying to pay off their loans from college and are struggling with it. He is trying to add more voters to agree with his plan in order for his proposal to go through.
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Alexander argues that college should be a cheap easy way for people to continue their education into the career they want. He states a couple of proposal ideas such as making the dreaded FAFSA easier to fill out. Another proposal he makes is for finaicial aid to be easier to pay off. I am still in college, and have yet to have to make payments on my loans, but I am worried that in the future they will be too difficult for me to figure out how to pay, that if they were easier, I wouldn’t stress so much.
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Alexander proposes the idea of simplifying the FAFSA in order to benefit families applying for financial aid. Families may become too stressed while trying to complete the tedious form and give up on it completely. The process to complete the FAFSA in my family was a multi-day chore of collecting all the right information and accurately filling out the form. It’s easy to be discouraged when it feels like the task is never ending. Making the FAFSA shorter and easier to complete will result in more low-income families looking for financial help to receive the funds they need to put their child through college.
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To some college is expensive, which causes more than half a graduating class to drop out in their first year. Rather than looking at financial options like FAFSA, free scholarships, and on campus work study; students would let the debt take over and lose their dreams in education. In Lamar Alexander’s text he mentions that students should divide their income up into parts to help pay off their loans. I agree with what Alexander states; that students should put aside their income and divide it up to help pay off student loans.
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College can be too expensive and many people can’t afford to pay for college. Also many people that try to advance their college carerr some majors cause you to attend more year of college making it even more costly. The author makes a lot of good points about ways to pay off college. Paying off debts is also just basically you not even earning money because you are having to put all your money back to pay off yuor college tuition. I like the idea of paying off your debt like a mortgage, and also I believe the best way to help a college student pay off their dept to work on campus.
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As a current senior in high school, the decision of going to college has been a big conversation at home. Now have making the decision to go to college other questions have been brought into descussion, one question is “how much is college going to cost?”, another question is “how am I going to pay for college?”. These are only few questions that are asked when choosing to go to college. College debt is one of those things that not only damages the individule, but socoiety at large. If stutents leave collage and get a job, and then preceed to spend the next twenty years paying off their debt, all of the money they are paying off is essentally being nullified- economically speaking. In other words, collage graduates are unable to start playing a more active roll in our consumer based economy until their debt is payed, and, may I remind you that the entire point of collage is to recieve a higher level of education in order to contribute to and better society as a whole. According to the reading, Alexander insists we who live in this society must make it easier to pay back a student loan as we must make it easier to apply for a student loan. He mentioned about “A college graduate paying more than $1,000 per month on student loans recently”. Moreover he said about “Roughly 40 million borrowers owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. Honestly, I entirely agree with him since I think US tuition fee to get a degree is super expensive as an international student. Although I do not know well about how much US students pay for tuition fee and they get a scholarship from university, I am sure that it will help.
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I agree with Alexander’s points about college being outrageously expensive. A great majority of families in today’s society can not afford to send their child or children to furthre their education after highschool. The financial need situation for a college or university almost causes the students to worry more about how they will pay for their tuition rather than focus on their academics. Most students are in debt right after graduationg college and can not get it paid off for decades or more. College is extremely expensive and the price will continue to raise as the years go on.
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Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee senator and the chairman of the Senate’s education committee. I believe Alexander wrote a New York Times Article about the catastrophic debt of college student to reach more people, writing his opinion locally would not have gave his voice as much exposure . Alexander seems to be reaching out to the financial departments of colleges and also the students in debt. The proposals are to benefit them. With his article, he is trying to give out options help lessen and prevent more debt.
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I agree with Alexander, because I believe that most students worry more about going into debt and how they’re going to pay off college tuition, rather than focusing on their studies. In the article he gives a few proposals on how to reduce the cost of college. FAFSA is too comlicated, so he states that cutting the amount of questions from 108 to two dozen could simplify this process. He states that limiting complicity of the college process would dramtically increase the urge for students to apply for collge. Also, cutting the amount of student loans needed for college could have a positve effect on students going into collge too.
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The New York Times is a well known news article that many people in our country stay up to date with. To get his word out, it was smart for Alexander to write his article to the New York Times instead of his local Tennessee newspaper. This results in catching the eyes of several college students and easing stressful concern of paying for college. This article gives many alternatives to help the common college student with ways I agree with.
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In the article “Going to College Should Not Be a Financial Albatross” Alexander states, “Our country has most of the best colleges in the world. We also have the most graduates paying off college debt. Roughly 40 million borrowers owe 1.5 trillion in student loans.” College is very expensive and people should find ways to pay back their loans so they will be debt free. Alexander created a few proposals to help people pay back their student loans. The first is reducing to about two dozen from 108 the number of questions on the 20 million families fill out every year to apply for federal student financial aid. His second proposal is to replace the complicated student loan repayment system with two options, both with monthly payments deducted from employees’ paycheck. The other repayment option would be standard 10-year repayment plan, with equal monthly payments, like a mortgage. The third proposal is a new accountability system for college programs based upon whether students are actually repaying their loans. Alexander does not state who would be responsible for putting his plan into effect but, I would assume bank lenders and colleges would be responsible for putting his plans in effect. I personally like the 10- year replacement plan because I would be making equal monthly payments. Alexander does provide sufficient evidence that his plans will achieve their goal.
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Going to college can be very expensive and sometimes can lead to debt. The first questions when planning to attend college are “Can I afford it? Is it worth it”? Many people tend to ask these questions when making this decision. In the article “Going to College Should Not Be a Financial Albatross” Alexander states “just as we must make it easier to apply to a student loan, we must also make it easier to pay back a student loan”. The “second proposal is to replace this complicated student loan repayment system with monthly payments deducted from the employees paycheck, or have a standard 10-year repayment plan with equal payments”. Overall he wants to be able to make college, hassle-free and affordable. I agree with the payment plans but would these plans include interest? Although these are great ideas, he does not state who will execute his plan. Bank Lenders or colleges can try to achieve these goals and help students achieve a degree and be able to pay it back.
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Alexander has a powerful and very important comment on a very important issue. If he had simply submitted this to a Tennessee newspaper, it most likely would not have gotten the recognition that it deserved. Also in terms of the desired audience, the New York Times was the best option. He wanted to get his message out to those who would need to hear it, being college students and administrators, or anyone who could help fix this problem. It just so happens that eyes are constantly on the New York Times, and Alexander’s ideas did make it to where they needed to be: In the public eye. “Soul crushing” debt has already negatively affected many people’s lives, and many people still live in debt today from college. Alexander had plans to help alleviate some of these issues, and they needed to get out so that they could start to help fix the system.
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College is a way for people to be able to pursue their dreams even further than what high school prepares them for. The one major problem is that college is too expensive for most people and it can hold others back from doing thinngs later on. There is more emphasis on being able to afford to go to college than actually going to college for their actual reasons. In order for colleges to focus more on their goals there needs to be ways to pay for college or at the very least reduce the price of college. Ways that this could happen would be to have many jobs on campuses so money would be available to those who are wiling to work and to have many scholarships available. Alexander made some great points about what people that have money problems go through but the colleges and possibly higher people would need to consider the benefits of lowering the cost of education. In his proposal, Alexander made valid points that would have the potential of reducing the cost of college because he clearly has plenty of background information on this topic.
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Alexander says that simplifying the financial aid process would help lower income households apply, which is correct. It may seem as if it would be a welcome change but overall relatively ineffective, as Alexander states, but that line of thinking comes from ignorance. The ignorance that breeds such lines of thinking is not malicious, but is simply based in the idea that “low income” means “lazy” or “doesn’t work as much as they should,” when in fact, most low income families are worked to the bone. Making the FAFSA more accessible is integral to support the jump into college for low income families. Simple changes such as availability in different languages, significantly reduced paperwork, and a simplification of language opens up many doors that were previously closed to families who have these issues and simply want the best for their children. Some parents struggle to find the time to do the mountain of paperwork, others aren’t as fluent in english as the FAFSA expects you to be and have issues making it through.
Alexander’s solution is much simpler and still plenty effective. He wishes for the absurd number of 108 questions on the form to be reduced to about 24, which is about a fifth of what it is now. Coupling that with the simplification of language would do everything Alexander claims and more.
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Question 1:
Alexander proposes that the FASFA should be less complex to fill out which would stop the “chilling maze” that keeps many families from applying for federal aid. This would also allow the government to avoid $6 billion dollars worth of mistakes that stop individuals from paying off a student loan quicker. The next thing Alexander proposes is to change the way in which students pay off their loans. He offers two payment systems that would reduce the complexity and time that it takes to pay off these loans. His final proposal is a new system for college programs which checks data to see if students are actually paying back these loans. This would hold the college system accountable and would even reduce the tuition. Congress, the education committee, and other departments within the state/federal government would be responsible for putting these proposals into effect. I believe he provided many efficient alternatives that would reduce student debt and help them pay it off in an effective manner. I believe that while college cannot be free for everyone, there are better ways to reduce the cost. Each of these proposals were well thought out with many great ideas that I think any government official would agree on.
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4.) Alexander’s article is about simplifying the financial aid process to make applying for and getting federal aid easier. He suggests that this can simply be done by making the FAFSA form shorter and easier to fill out. While this would be nice, there seems to be a flawing aspect to this idea. This idea may seem enticing, but it creates the issue of getting an inaccurate expected family contribution or EFC. The EFC determines how much any given family is expected to pay out of pocket for higher education. If the application is simplified, less information about the financial state of the family are asked, possibly making the EFC inflate and chances of receiving aid less favoring. He makes good points and with experiencing the tedious works of the FAFSA myself, I support making it easier, but I feel the issue of proper assessment should still be kept in mind.
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Rachel Jackson
4/24/19
Question: Alexander has several specific proposals for making college more affordable for US students. What are they? Who would be responsible for putting Alexander’s plans into effect? Summarize his ideas. Has he provided sufficient evidence that his plans would achieve their goal?
Alexander points out that students pay on average at least $1,000 a month on student loans and go into major debt as a result of earning a bachelor’s degree. Society and America as a whole push college on high school graduates very heavily without considering that some people cannot afford to go to college. Although our country has some of the best colleges in the world, it is becoming increasingly hard for students to finance their way through the four plus years of education. The author points out that one way to help make college more affordable are to simplify the process of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Many students every year do not fill out the form and miss out on a large amount of free money because they are overwhelmed with fling the form. We must also make it easier to apply for student loan as well as pay back student loans.
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Mr. Alexander is responding in a national newspaper, one in which any person can respond in. If you want your writing to be heard/read all across the nation, you want someone higher in education to see your work and for them to go out and try to make a change, or if you want legislators to see your work and let them do the work, then I work submit my to a newspaper that is one of the most viewed papers in the nation. Just because he is from Tennessee does not mean he cannot react to a statement or action done in another state. Also, he is a senator, which means it is his job to combat issues, if it is within his own state, another state, or a national one. It does not have to be an election year for senators to take a stand on issues; you can do that whenever he/she wants to within their term in office. I believe that Mr. Alexander’s intended audience is for those individuals that are looking to go into college, parents who want to take a stand on this topic, and for legislators to take action to hopefully pass legislation to help ease the college tuition payment process. What is he trying to accomplish with this essay? I believe it is for legislators and for those with the same opinion to take action on this crippling issue.
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Question 1:
Alexander believes that the first problem with going to college is the immense debt. He believes that there should be fewer questions on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. He also believes that there should be an easier way to pay off debt. He proposes two main ways to make it easier to pay off loans and debts. Both of these ways include simply deducting a monthly cost from the borrower’s paychecks. He believes more people would be willing to setting up payment plans were no more than ten percent of their paychecks would be given up to pay for their loans each month. His other plan consists of a set amount of money being taken out of their paychecks; like mortgages. Alexander also believes that every school should have an accountability system, in which they access the number of students who are actually paying their loans back. When no one from a particular school is paying loans back the school would stop offering financial aid.
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Easing the burden: Lamar Alexander on financing a college education
Q: Alexander has several specific proposals for making college more affordable for US students. What are they? Who would be responsible for putting Alexander’s plans into effect? Summarize his ideas. Has he provided sufficient evidence that his plans would achieve their goal? Why or why not?
A: Alexander states that the average students pays at least $1000 a month on loans and go into a tremendous amount of debt before receiving a bachelor’s degree. Society likes to push college on graduates tremendously without understanding that not many are able to afford college. Even though the U.S. has some of the best colleges/universities, it is very difficult to pay for the tuition and fees for these universities. There are different ways to get free money to pay for college such as scholarships, grants etc however, this doesn’t mean that your cost of attendance will always be $0.
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Question 2
After reading Alexander’s article, it is very clear that he feels the process of paying for college and FAFSA are both complex enough to steer students away from attending college or trying to obtain financial aid. His intended audience is the federal government, people that are applying for college or financial aid, and the bank systems that are in charge of college loans and debt. In this essay, Alexander has hopes to reduce the amount of stress and debt that comes with college loans, as well as simplifying the process of filling out the FAFSA form. I think Alexander brings up great points, and his possible solutions to college debt are great steps in a successful direction. I think that Alexander decided to post this because he, in addition to numerous college parents and students, has noticed that the amount of debt our former college students is in is ridiculously huge. I understand why this is published in the New York Times because this is not only a local issue, or even state-wide, this is a federal issue that needs to be addressed soon. I think Alexander is a very proactive politician, and he should be applauded for his attention to real issues that are affecting our nation.
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Lamar Alexander has several specific proposals for making college more affordable for U.S. students. The first proposal he made for making college more affordable for students is to reduce the number of questions on form 20 million families fill out every year to apply for federal student financial aid. He states that eliminating this unnecessary complexity is the best way to help more low-income students to attend college. The second proposal Alexander made for making college more affordable for students is to replace the complicated student loan repayment system with two options, both with monthly payments deducted from an employee’s paycheck. The other repayment option would be a standard 10-year repayment plan, with equal monthly payments, like a mortgage. The last proposal he made for making college more affordable for students is to create a new accountability system for college programs based upon whether students are actually repaying their loans. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat of the Senate’s education committee, will be responsible to complete work on these and other bipartisan proposals during the next six months.
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Question 1: Alexander has several specific proposals for making college more affordable for US students. What are they? Who would be responsible for putting Alexander’s plans into effect? Summarize his ideas. Has he provided sufficient evidence that his plans would achieve their goal? Why or why not?
Answer: Alexander starts by proposing that the number of questions on the form to apply for federal student financial aid be reduced from 108 to two dozen. This idea would not be as effective as actually informing students of how to apply for FAFSA. The rest of his ideas and plans are more well thought out and effective. His other proposals not only help to reduce the cost of college, but to help these students pay it back in an effective manner. We believe that both the federal and state government should offer more scholarships to students for their achievements in high school. This will help to reduce the stress that is placed on student, as they will have less to pay. Some of his plans and ideas are worth a try but others like the FAFSA do not make sense.
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