Week 3 - Bryan Ngo

Week 3:

Bryan Ngo

ASA 002

A01

It’s an interesting thought: education as a for-profit institution. It’s strange that an institution whose primary goal is supposed to education students is actually accumulate a larger profit margin. In the documentary, it was noted that some international students pay up $60k for their education per year here at UCD in addition to domestic tuition going up ever so slightly. International students pay over three times more than domestic students despite the fact that they eat the same food, sleep in the same rooms, and take the same classes. So why do these international students have to pay so much? This is a difficult question to answer as it requires us to follow the bill. What we do know as a fact is that admission rates are continuing to increase by the year, especially at UCD. This is especially bad for the culture of education on campus. A combination of increased costs for a degree, cramped classes, longer waitlists, and greater competition for jobs will further marginalize students.

An increase of cost will push more and more low-income students away from getting degrees at prestigious universities; it won’t even be an option for students who come from less fortunate socio-economic background. Regardless of that fact more and more students are still being admitted each year. Are the average test scores of all these students lower to fit a larger admission quota? I’m not sure, but I do know that admitting more students means longer waitlists, cramped classrooms, and more competition with jobs and research opportunities.

Question:

One general theme going on within other industries, like tech for example, is inclusion and diversity. The University of California claims these increased admission rates are actually to help diversify all the UCs. Given that a large percent of students of minority groups come from less fortunate backgrounds, how is increasing tuition helping diversify?

References:

[Vy Nguyen]. (2017, Jun 5). ASA01 Final Project: International Admission. [Video FIle]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE0lJvYuoP0

UC & UC Davis. (n.d.). Retrieved October 06, 2017, from https://grad.ucdavis.edu/diversity/uc-and-ucd