Higher Education is important to society as a whole and to individuals. For an individual, having a degree provides more opportunities and ultimately more money. People who higher education under their belt are an asset to society, according to the College Board Inspiring Website, because they have “higher rates of volunteering, voting and donating blood correspond to higher levels of education as do lower unemployment and poverty rates. Similarly, socially valuable behaviors, such as tolerance for the opinions of others, seem to increase with education.”
Since 1947 Sacramento State has continued to provide these personal and societal benefits, but with the recent change in the economic climate the school is being forced to make some tough choices. One of these choices could end up being whether or not Sacramento State should be sold off to The Apollo Group's University of Phoenix.
If this billion dollar deal were to take place, it could have severe consequences for the future and quality of education at Sacramento State.
The University of Phoenix has notoriously low standards for students and its faculty. Because the university has been so focused on the amount of money that it is making for its investors, sacrifices have been made with regards to class content and teacher qualifications. This is in stark contrast to Sacramento State where recent numbers on the CSUS website indicate that 98 percent of teachers on campus have a PhD.
The University of Phoenix program offers students less options as far as majors goes. Do you want to get your degree in history? You’re out of luck. Also, while the field of communications is offered, students do not have the choice of focusing on a more specific concentration, like journalism.
All the flaws in the University of Phoenix’s program can be seen in the graduation rate. According to the New York Times, “on average across all American universities, the rate is 55 percent” while the University of Phoenix has a meager 16 percent graduation rate.
Along with all of its educational drawbacks, students can expect to pay more money to attend the campus. According to the New York Times,”[University of Phoenix’s] annual tuition and fees as $9,630, about half the average at private four-year colleges and twice that of four-year public colleges.” Even with the increase in tuition fees at Sacramento State, the prices that students would have to pay with University of Phoenix are ridiculous, especially considering what students would be receiving.
The program may work for some students who need a more flexible school schedule, but students who can avoid this low level university usually try to go somewhere that has a more prestigious background. While Sacramento State is no Harvard, the degree that students earn from the university represent hours of hard work from students to complete assignments from professors that know what they are talking about.
If Sacramento State gets taken over by The Apollo Group it would not only hurt students who would currently be attending the university when the transition takes place, it would also diminish the value of the degrees of students who have already graduated from Sacramento State.
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The writer has done a good job of detailing out some of the issues involved.
ReplyDeleteIn spots, the writing could be tighter.
The most persuasive argument is the statistic about graduation rates, which jump out of the column when you read the other issues involved.
And the column ends well.
But like the graduation statistic, it would be better to go into more detail about those items and expand on the writer's analysis of why they are important.