Fulfilling the American Dream

By: Kristi Painter

One of the highest privileges of living in America is having the chance to chase the American dream. We live in the land of opportunity where anyone can thrive while living their life with limited restrictions compared to many other countries. Most importantly, everyone is given the chance to attend college in order to begin living the American dream. Or so it would seem. According to the DLC the percentage of students attending college in the US has dropped from first in world rankings to seventh. What could have caused this large drop? I believe if you asked any college student or parent they would know the answer: price. “Over the last five years, the average tuition at a public university has increased by more than 50 percent.” Fulfilling the American dream is not as easy as it sounds. In order to in order to attempt a college degree most students are forced to put themselves into debt at a very young age, not a very good way to start your life as an adult. Unfortunately, many students must choose between skipping college because they can’t afford it and putting themselves into this early debt. Community colleges are available and give students an alternative where it is easier to work a full time job and attend college but unfortunately the schools are not usually given a good reputation in society. This causes many potential students to think that it would not be worth it to attend a community college.

The cost of college is a growing problem in our society which has affected myself along with many other students and in turn the beloved American dream is becoming more and more difficult to reach.

Cultural Diversity

By: Utsav Akhoury

One of the main reasons as to why i decided to come America for higher education is in this picture that I have uploaded, and if one is unable to guess then the answer is Cultural Diversity.
Having healthy relationships with people from all parts of the world is a very admirable quality in a person. The ability to mix with people from different cultures gives one a lot of advantage in the later days of their lives.

Here at Georgia Tech i have had the opportunity to meet different people such as Americans , African Americans , South Asians , Arabic , French and also a Russian. For me, being a person form India where the population of Indians alone is a billion, it was very hard to meet people from various parts of the world but since coming to Georgia Tech i had the opportunity to meet these people and befriending them. I have found out that even though they are from different cultures, they all want the same thing that is building healthy relationships with people.

I have noticed that most of the Indians here at Georgia Tech tend to stick together with other Indians which i totally dislike but it is nice to see that people from other cultures are very friendly towards people from other cultures and this has led me to believe that the issue of disregard towards certain cultures based on skin color or place of birth of its people does not exist anymore.

One can easily say that Cultural Diversity in colleges is one of the most beneficial elements in college life.

All You Can Eat... Anything You Can Eat

By: Stewart Hall

When students come to college, they are faced with many new freedoms and responsibilities. We are told that there are three things you can do in college: sleep, study, and socialize, and we are told that we will only have time for two of them. Unfortunately, this leads us to forget about many of the other responsibilities we now hold as independent young adults. One of the most important of these is our health, and particularly nutrition. When I was at home, my parents would watch what I ate to make sure I was getting the right food and the right amounts. I love to eat, and I love to eat junk food, so when I first got here, I was ecstatic to find that I had 10,000 meals on my buzzcard and that I could eat anything I wanted at any time of the day. However, like many things in college, this was a new responsibility that I would have to undertake.

The most common reference to this among first year students is the "freshman 15". This is a phrase that refers to the weight gain that freshman in college will experience; however, as this article points out, this common topic directs our attention to a very small portion of the nutrition problem. While weight gain could be a problem with the sedative lifestyle of some college students and the all-you-can-eat cafeterias, I believe that maintaining a balanced diet is a bigger issue than over-eating. I have found that the cafeterias here at Tech actually make it very convenient to get a portion of all of the major food groups and important nutrients (they even post nutrition facts for each entree). On the contrary, they also make it very convenient (and tempting) to just eat a hamburger and fries for every meal.

Unfortunately there is no magical solution to this problem. While the dining halls could attempt to enforce healthy eating habits by serving portioned meals, not only would this take some of the freedom that we all love out of college life, students could just eat at off campus locations. The only real solution is for students to pay attention to what they eat and make sure that they get the right nutrients. Fortunately, there are numerous resources on the internet that provide guidelines for healthy eating.

Rising Costs of Higher Education

by Ryan Dettmann

There have been many barriers that face students who seek a higher education. One of the biggest barriers that has faced students striving to reach any kind of higher education is the high prices of enrollment and its continuing increase which is putting students in debt.

This rising cost is a continuing problem, because it weeds out the students of the lower economic classes as well as putting those willing to seek a higher in the realm of possibly being debt of at least several thousand dollars. The cost of degrees have gone up mention in ‘What Does a Degree Cost?’(http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/19/degree) in which the cost for the highest degree in Florida has gone up from $37,757 (2002-3) to $40,645 (2005-6). Student debt is becoming an increasingly big factor, because an increasing number of students are taking out private student loans(http://www.ticas.org/files/pub/Private_loan_data_NR.pdf). There is some amazing information mentioned in the report;
"Private student loans are typically more expensive than federal student loans, with higher, variable interest rates and far fewer options for borrowers in repayment. Even though financial
aid experts agree that these loans should be used only as a last resort, one in four private student loan borrowers in 2007-08 didn’t take out any federal Stafford loans that year. It also doesn’t help that with a sick economy colleges are suffering as well, which in turn increases the tuition for students."

These loans are concerning not only because they have volatile rates, but it puts students into large amounts of credit debt. By the end of a couple of years in college or if the student graduates college, they are in a considerable bit of debt that they are possibly not able to get out of.

The rising costs of tuition and the increase of private student loans makes higher education less affordable and more dangerous, which makes getting a college degree not only to get but also less likely to be a scare-free process on a person’s financial budget and credit score.