Ice Hockey Players
23-04-2004, 01:48
Rising costs of higher education are pricing many people out of college life, with many forced to work multiple jobs just to stay in school and others blocked by lack of funds from attending.
The Debate
1. "Look at this tuition bill!" cries @@RANDOMNAME@@, a junior at the University of @@NAME@@ City, one of the nation's more prestigious public universities. "If elementary and secondary schools are free, why are we charged to go to college? Public colleges, nonetheless! All fees need to be covered by taxes no matter how much we have to make people pay! Everyone's entitled to four free years of college!"
[effect]public universities face overcrowding due to an influx of students who couldn't previously go to college
[stats]education increases, taxes increase, rich-poor gap decreases, health decreases
2. "Just four years? That's not good enough for us," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, a seventh-year senior and neighbor of the previous speaker. "People should be allowed to spend as long as they need to in college and have it all paid for...tuition, room, board, books, beer...err, I mean, a computer...people can't all get through school in four years, what with changed majors and the failed class here and there. Throw us a bone; after all, we are learning how to help the nation here."
[effect]a generation of career college students is tapping into a huge tax increase
[stats]education increases, taxes increase, happiness increases, economy decreases
3. "You're going to spend how much on this?" cries @@RANDOMNAME@@, head of the Treasury. "The solution isn't to make college free; we can't help everyone. Some people just aren't college material. However, plenty of people should be in college but can't afford it, and plenty of businesses can benefit from attaching their names to scholarships. All we have to do is encourage businesses to create scholarships with tax breaks as a reward."
[effect]corporations send underprivileged kids to college in exchange for tax breaks
[stats]taxes decrease, economy increases, cynicism increases
4. "Wait a minute, government funding for college?" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@ of a libertarian watchdog group. "For that matter, we need to stop government funding for all education. What do we need education for, anyway? It's not helping the economy; if anything, it hurts it by forcing people to pay taxes. If people want private educations, taht's fine, but public education must stop at all levels."
[effect]only the rich elites can afford education while most kids join the workforce at a young age
[stats]taxes decrease, education decreases, rich-poor gap increases, economy increases
5. "I have an idea," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, head of the Defense Department. "People need college educations, sure, but the military needs trained soldiers. After all, who knows when we're going to have to go to war? That and young people should learn a little discipline. So the plan is, if people need funding for college, all they have to do is join a collegiate military unit and everything's taken care of for four years; after that, they give us four years of service."
[effect]the bulk of the military's membership is recent college graduates
[stats]military spending increases, economy decreases, patriotism increases
The Debate
1. "Look at this tuition bill!" cries @@RANDOMNAME@@, a junior at the University of @@NAME@@ City, one of the nation's more prestigious public universities. "If elementary and secondary schools are free, why are we charged to go to college? Public colleges, nonetheless! All fees need to be covered by taxes no matter how much we have to make people pay! Everyone's entitled to four free years of college!"
[effect]public universities face overcrowding due to an influx of students who couldn't previously go to college
[stats]education increases, taxes increase, rich-poor gap decreases, health decreases
2. "Just four years? That's not good enough for us," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, a seventh-year senior and neighbor of the previous speaker. "People should be allowed to spend as long as they need to in college and have it all paid for...tuition, room, board, books, beer...err, I mean, a computer...people can't all get through school in four years, what with changed majors and the failed class here and there. Throw us a bone; after all, we are learning how to help the nation here."
[effect]a generation of career college students is tapping into a huge tax increase
[stats]education increases, taxes increase, happiness increases, economy decreases
3. "You're going to spend how much on this?" cries @@RANDOMNAME@@, head of the Treasury. "The solution isn't to make college free; we can't help everyone. Some people just aren't college material. However, plenty of people should be in college but can't afford it, and plenty of businesses can benefit from attaching their names to scholarships. All we have to do is encourage businesses to create scholarships with tax breaks as a reward."
[effect]corporations send underprivileged kids to college in exchange for tax breaks
[stats]taxes decrease, economy increases, cynicism increases
4. "Wait a minute, government funding for college?" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@ of a libertarian watchdog group. "For that matter, we need to stop government funding for all education. What do we need education for, anyway? It's not helping the economy; if anything, it hurts it by forcing people to pay taxes. If people want private educations, taht's fine, but public education must stop at all levels."
[effect]only the rich elites can afford education while most kids join the workforce at a young age
[stats]taxes decrease, education decreases, rich-poor gap increases, economy increases
5. "I have an idea," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, head of the Defense Department. "People need college educations, sure, but the military needs trained soldiers. After all, who knows when we're going to have to go to war? That and young people should learn a little discipline. So the plan is, if people need funding for college, all they have to do is join a collegiate military unit and everything's taken care of for four years; after that, they give us four years of service."
[effect]the bulk of the military's membership is recent college graduates
[stats]military spending increases, economy decreases, patriotism increases