Abstract: The purpose of my paper is to examine why American students choose to attend higher education institutions in the United States, where tuition is skyrocketing, as opposed to in Europe, where tuition costs are very low or, in some cases, non existent. While privatization of universities in the United States has placed the burden of tuition on students and families, it has increased the availability of resources at universities, which offers students more opportunities to work closely with professors and gain experience in their field prior to graduation. These opportunities also translate into increased employability of students after graduation, and even increased graduation rates in the United States. Works Cited “College Access and Affordability: USA vs. the World.” Value Colleges, www.valuecolleges.com/collegecosts/ . Doerr, Neriko Musha. “Learner Subjects in Study Abroad: Discourse of Immersion, Hierarchy of Experience and Their Subversion through Situated Learn
Argument: My argument sets out to address why American students are willing to pay more for their education by attending colleges in America when they have the option of practically (or actually) free college tuition in Europe. Students from the United States choose to attend universities “at home” instead of in Europe because of better graduation rates and employability due to a more career-focused model of education, despite rising tuition costs that result from an increase in privatization. Counterargument: My counterargument comes from Caitlin Zaloom’s enmeshed autonomy. As we’ve seen, the higher education system in the US forces students to rely on their parents to help fund their education. Zaloom argues in favor of traditional models of European education because it puts less of a financial strain on students and their families. She also uses Germany as an example because of its free tuition. Families who send their students there are only required to support with living exp