Read the following passage carefully and complete the succeeding three
items III, IV, V. Our Greedy Colleges
(1)Many of our colleges are at it again. As they have done annually for the past
six years, they have begun to unveil tuition increases that far outstrip the
inflation rate. Next year, tuition is expected to rise 6 percent to 8
percent—even though inflation during 1986 was about 1.8 percent. Yale’s
president, Benno C. Schmidt Jr., attributes his university’s tuition hike in
part to "continuing cutbacks of governmental support for student aid." This
assertion flies in the face of the facts. Since 1982, money available through
Federal student aid programs has increase every single year. Overall, Federal
outlays for student aid are up 57 percent since 1980. Since 1980, inflation has
been just 26 percent. That is why the former chairman of the Senate Budget
Committee, Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, recently dismissed the
claim of huge cuts in student aid programs as a "myth." (2)If
anything, increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and
universities blithely to raise their tuition, confident that Federal loan
subsidies would help cushion the increase. In 1978, subsidies became available
to a greatly expanded number of students. In 1980, college tuition began rising
year after year at a rate that exceeded inflation. Federal student aid policies
do not cause college price inflation, hut there is little doubt that they help
make it possible. (3)At the same time that higher education has
been cutting a bigger piece of the Federal pie, it has also received huge
infusions of cash from state governments, from corporations, from foundations
and from loyal alumni. The total increase in higher education spending from all
these non-Federal sources is staggering. Spending for higher education now
consumes about 40 percent of all money spent in America for education.
(4)It is by no means clear that the performance of many of our colleges
and universities justifies this level of expenditure. As I said on the occasion
of Harvard’s 350th anniversary, too many students fail to receive the education
they deserve at our nation’s universities. The real problem is not lack of money
but failure of vision. (5)Unfortunately, when it comes to
higher education, this distinction is frequently lost. Stanford University’s
vague justification for increased charges—"new knowledge is inherently more
expensive"—only underscores the lack of focus arid purpose at some of our
nation’s most prestigious universities. (6)Higher education is
not underfunded. It is under accountable and underproductive. Our students
deserve better than this. They deserve an education commensurate with the large
sums paid by parents and taxpayers and donors. (7)That our
universities are places where students can receive a good education, or at least
learn a lot, I have no doubt. But too often our universities leave education to
chance—a good professor here and a great course there. There is too little real
and sustained attention to education in the broader sense, to making sure that
when our students leave after four years they leave as educated men and
women. (8)It is also false to assert, as some have, that the
Reagan Administration’s student aid policies deprive disadvantaged students of
the opportunity to attend college. In fact, the Administration has consistently
sought to redirect aid to the neediest students. (9)Under the
Administration’s fiscal 1988 budget proposal, all students presently receiving
aid would continue to be eligible for the same dollar amount of aid. One in six
of all college students would still be eligible to receive Federal grants. Those
less needy would still have access to aid in the form of loans.
(10)One particular Administration proposal, Income Contingent Loans, represents
the most serious attempt to improve student aid in 15 years. The loans would
permit repayment schedules to be tailored to a student’s income. A graduate’s
payments would never have to exceed 15 percent of his adjusted gross income, and
he could have as long as necessary to repay. (11)An advantage
of the Administration’s proposals is that they would help make colleges and
universities accountable to the prime beneficiaries of their services—the
students. (12)Because students would pay a market-based
interest rate, they would bear the true cost of borrowing the additional capital
needed to finance tuition increases. Instead of insulating colleges and
universities from such market forces, the Administration’s policies would make
colleges and universities more readily accountable to them.
(13)Higher education clearly provides benefits to society in general.
Recognizing this, the American people have generously provided the tax dollars,
grants and highly subsidized loans necessary to support higher education. But
the chief beneficiaries of a college education are the students. On average,
college graduates earn $640,000 more over their lifetimes than nongraduates do.
It is simply not fair to ask taxpayers, many of whom do not go to college, to
pay more than their fair share of the tuition burden.
In this section, there are ten incomplete statements or questions,
followed by four choices marked A, B, C and D. Which of the following statements is NOT true
A. Colleges and universities in America can’t provide justifiable
education.
B. Colleges and universities can get enough financial support.
C. Students should learn a lot more at colleges and universities.
D. Students don’t learn what they deserve at colleges and
universities.