Synthesis 1

I struggled with my map because I wasn’t completely sure how I could create a simplistic but informative map, especially with the recurring themes from many of the authors.  I played around with popplet for a while but after my fifth try I realized popplet really wasn’t what I was going for, it looked busy and crowded. So instead I just started playing around on word and came up with what I think is a simple, straight to the point map. Each article is in the top box and under are the topics I found in the articles, the main topic being higher education.  I color coded the topics of each article to show the similarity between the different pieces. And although I found many similarities in the articles, not all of the authors had the same opinion.

First I will share the topics I found in the article Obtaining Integrity by Adrianna J. Kezar. Kezar identified several different ideas on the subject of higher education such as a devaluing of education to maximize corporate profits. Many ideas converged with the other articles. I think the center of attention in this particular piece is that universities are focusing more on profits than the education of their students. The university is becoming more of a large business than an institution of higher learning. Kezar shares that there are advantages to this like an increased amount of funds allowing for university expansion while conversely there are also disadvantages such as staff and professors being unappreciated. Much of the staff is not aware of any finance information regarding the university and many universities are cutting their full time professors and replacing them with adjunct professors or undergraduate students.

Bob Hanke and Alison Hearn authors of Out of the Ruins, the University to Come, support Kezar’s thoughts on unappreciated staff. Hanke and Hearn share many of the same ideas as Kezar but they are also strong supporters of topics like the benefits of crucial studies, the affect the change in higher education has on students, and corrupt research. Destructing Academe: The Birth of Crucial University Studies written by Jeffrey Williams focuses on many of the same topics as Hanke and Hearn but Williams also touches on the idea of complex thinking.  

Williams analyzes the benefits of crucial studies, he shares that learning promotes complex thinking which is also an idea shared by Sylvia Hurtado in her article, Linking the University with the Educational and Civil Missions of Higher Education.  Hurtado shares that students can struggle because of the lack of diversity and complexity of our universities. She then discusses that working with the same race is beneficial to the student’s democratic skills and some campus practices can help students integrate their learning and combine experience with knowledge. Hurtado states that diversity leads to more community involvement mutually benefitting the community and university. Coincidently this supports her primary belief that diversity increases quality education and should be promoted.

In Research and The Bottom Line in Today’s University by Sarah Bonewits and Lawrence Soley, both authors touch on some of the topics that are in other articles like the university becoming a business. Bonewits and Soley state that although yes there are benefits, allowing business in the university can sway the results of research and even be thrown out because it doesn’t benefit the funders. This idea also links back to Out of the Ruins, the University to Come. Hanke and Hearn tell us that research is killing the university; it is no longer a place of education. The authors of both articles agree that it is not beneficial for research to be done if it is not being used for educational purposes. The research is more focused on corporate involvement than in benefiting students. This also plays in to the way higher education is affecting students. Students are missing out on the opportunities that research proffers because of corporate involvement and the universities want for funds. Hanke and Hearn think it is absurd that students have to fight for their right to be educated.  Going back to Kezar's argument that the center of attention for universities has become money, colleges make students less of a priority because they don’t match corporate contributions.  Corporate involvement has corrupted the purpose of higher learning.

In conclusion, all of the articles share the same main topic of higher education and many of the articles evaluate on the same sub topics like the effect on students. The return exchange rate of the cost of a college education versus its overall financial benefit is devalued with heightened educational costs. Students pay thousands of dollars and rack up burdensome debt that extends well into adulthood in order to gain a college degree. Each author has a strong argument but overall money has become the priority and as Kezar shares there are advantages of corporate involvement and the money that comes with it such as university expansion but according to Williams there are also disadvantages like corrupt research. There is plenty of evidence to show that universities aren’t nearly as focused on the education of their students as they once were. Research is not used as it should be, professors are being replaced by undergraduates, and students receive less quality education and increased debt due to the inflation of college tuition.  Students and faculty need to become the main focus once again.

Synthesis 2

The cost of attending college has been increasing substantially over the past years and is still on the up rise. There are many factors that constitute to the high price of not only tuition but the overall cost of attending an institution. Federal grants are being cut and as states keep losing funding and prices keep rising at an extremely quick pace and students have to get loans to pay for their education leaving them with debt that will follow them for years after they graduate. There is quite a bit of research on whether college is really worth the costs associated with it and if getting a degree will really pay off in the long run. Not everyone would agree and say that college is worth the price we now have to pay because we’re stuck paying back the debt from student loans acquired during the process of getting the degree to get the job that will help in the end to get rid of that debt.

The main topic of this research is the high cost of an education and what causes the high costs. The research breaks off into subtopics. Some of the research discusses how the cost of college can affect a student’s decision when picking a school, the lack of society’s knowledge about rising college costs , whether or not college is worth the money that is invested, debt and how it affects students, and how diverse and  low income students can afford to attend a higher education institution. All of these subtopics and the main topic tie back in to the subject of the cost of attending college.

How Does the Cost of College Affect a Student’s Decision when Picking a School

College has become a necessity in order to build a career. Students take into account a lot of factors when picking a school and cost has become a huge one. Some students have the false idea that they can pay less and still receive the same education that would be offered at a higher education institution. Students who come from low income families or who are required to pay for their own education are forced to pick from lower end schools out of necessity which arguably compromises their overall education.  It is becoming more and more difficult to afford a higher education institution.  

 Michael P. Lillis and Robert Guang Tian discuss this is their article, “The Impact of Cost on College Choice: Beyond the Means of the Economically Disadvataged” Lillis and Tian specifically expand on the effect the cost of not only tuition but everything associated with a certain institution has on a student, especially students that don’t have the resources and have to find a way to pay for school on their own. Studies show that the increasing costs of attending college have caused students to take out loans, go to less expensive institutions, or even not attend college. Alexander W. Astin shares some of these same thoughts in his article "The Changing American College Student: Thirty-Year Trends, 1966-1996.". Astin discusses how students have to pick schools with lower tuition because they can’t afford to pay for a higher education institution. Astin also shares how the trends in college students have changed drastically over the past 3 decades. And one of the largest trends is financial concern, tying back to the main topic of the cost of attending college. Lillis, Tian, and Astin all share the same thoughts on how college and the cost of it can affect student’s choices when picking an institution.

Stanley O. Ikenberry and Terry W. Hartle elaborate a little bit on the same topic as well in, "Too Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing: What the Public Thinks and Knows about Paying for College." but they also go into discussing how some families and students really aren’t aware of the cost of college and may be under the impression that the cost doesn’t really have an effect on the education provided at the institution. Ikenberry and Hartle go into discussion about how many people have the false sense that they can attend a college for less and still receive the same quality of education that students who are paying for higher education schools receive. Going back to authors Lillian and Tian, they state that higher education although more expensive may differ from lower cost college. Higher education schools are able to provide more resources than some school without as much money.

Is College Worth the Money Invested

At one point in time people could have gotten away with spending the money for a higher education because there was less of an emphasis put on a college degree in order to obtain a lifelong career. In today’s society it is nearly impossible to make a livable wage without at least a bachelor’s degree. Students are struggling because with the rising college costs they are forced to forgo basic needs. Students are acquiring extreme amounts of debt in a short amount of time at the chance of finding an occupation that will not only provide enough money to pay off the debt but cover a higher standard of living as well.            

Jaison R. Abel, and Richard Deitz discuss the benefits of having a higher level of degree in their research in, "Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Cost?”. Abel and Dietz emphasize the idea that college is worth the costs if you obtain at least a bachelor’s degree. The authors discuss that the economic loss in which the years it takes to earn this degree is made up after college. Author Peralta K. provides evidence of the same information Abel and Dietz share. In Peralta’s report, “Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Cost Fed Study Says”, Peralta shares information on the benefits of college. Peralta does share as well that the cost of college is worth it validating Abel and Dietz.

On another note Richard Ekman goes into the discussion of private, Ivy League, and state education and the difference between them. Ekman shares that Ivy league schools and state schools differ in cost but the education is very much similar if not the same but the price differential comes its own perks because the name of the school can greatly affect job opportunities in the future. Many employers may base the applicant off of the college name rather than the education received. For example, a Harvard law degree holds more value than a state school degree because the name has the ability to determine the quality of an education, factual or not. Ekman also shares that quite a large portion of Ivy League students come from low income households, which is surprising. Due to the ridiculous cost of Ivy League schools some students are able to afford this higher education without tremendous amounts of debt from early commitment programs such as financial aid which is provided by both the government and state.  Ekman shares his thoughts and touches on a few other topics than Abel and Dietz as well as Peralta but all these authors share the same subtopic of, is college worth the money invested.

Debt and How it Affects Students

Students are unable to afford to pay for the costs associated with attending college without racking up debt that has the potential to follow them throughout their life. Students who attempt to pay their way through college can find themselves in debt due to the basic costs of living because they are unable to balance school, and a steady job that pays high enough to pay for things such as housing, food, and transportation. Others take out loans and sail smoothly through college but are abruptly hit with thousands of dollars in not only school loans but interest. These loans can take upwards of twenty years to pay off.  The best opportunity to succeed in education is for students to apply for scholarships or grants and only use student loans as a last resort. There are so many scholarship available for so many different reasons, tying back into how students of diversity or low income households can afford college, there are scholarships specifically for certain races.

 Tracy king and Ellynne Bannon.are the authors of the article,   "At What Cost? The Price That Working Students Pay for a College Education.".  They discuss how most students have to work a full time job to be able to afford school and because of that they suffer with their grades and attendance. Due to the high demands work places on a full time student it can be a waste of time and money because the student is not accomplishing the grades necessary to validate their investment. Students aren’t allowed as much time to devote to their education as they would be if they weren’t having to work.

The cost of college has made it harder and harder for students to afford an education but at this point an education is almost necessary to succeed later in life. College is expensive and can cause tremendous amount of debt that students may possibly be left to deal with for most of their life. Universities have made it very difficult for anyone to attend their institution but research has shown that obtaining a degree does pay off later in life if you get a bachelor’s degree, you are also more likely to succeed with a bachelor’s degree than with an associates degree. All of the authors that have provided evidence to these claims all have the main topic of the cost of attending college, which doesn’t only include tuition but many other expenses like living, food, and transportation. Some of the authors discuss the same subtopics as well like Lillis, Tian, and Astin who all agree that college costs do affect students and their decisions when picking which school to attend. Overall financial concerns in students has increased over the past 3 decades.

Ekman, Richard. "Myths and Reality about U.S. Higher Education." Vital Speeches of the Day 79.12 (2013): 392-96. 1 Dec. 2013. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Abel, Jaison R., and Richard Deitz. "Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Cost?" Current Issues in Economics and Finance 20.3 (2014): 1-12. 1 Mar. 2014. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Peralta K. (2014) “Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Cost Fed Study Says”. US News and World Report. Feb. 19, 2015.

Ikenberry, Stanley O., and Terry W. Hartle. "Too Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing: What the Public Thinks and Knows about Paying for College." American Council on Education, 1998.

Astin, Alexander W. "The Changing American College Student: Thirty-Year Trends, 1966-1996." The Review of Higher Education. Vol. 21.2: Association for the Study of Higher Education, 1998. 115-35. 

Lillis, Michael P., and Robert Guang Tian. "The Impact of Cost on College Choice: Beyond the Means of the Economically Disadvataged." Journal of College Admission. 2008. 4-14.