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Blog #2: Scouting the Territory

So far, I have decided to continue with my topic focusing on the demographics of college students in the United States and in Europe in comparison with the cost of higher education. I have thought this topic is particularly interesting from the beginning, but even more so since working on the analytical essay, where I have explored the types of students who attend college and receive financial aid in the United States. I have yet to refine this topic into a more specific idea, but I am sure that I will pursue something in this area.
My exploration began with a Google search: "college in Europe vs US." This lead me to many results, mostly blog posts from a student's point of view or from college review sites. A search for "higher education in Europe vs US" showed me many more of these blog posts, as well as a research article, which will definitely serve as a great source from academia. After a few more searches, I found that the most useful terms to use were "university," "university system," "education system," and "higher education" in combination with the US and Europe or the names of various European countries.
I found a few scholarly articles which seem important for my exploration of this topic. The one I found from my Google search is called "Higher Education: Europe vs. USA" by Dr. Andrzej J. Gapinski from Penn State University. This article explores the education system in both locations, as well as the effects that higher education have on the society and economy in each. After using some of the same terms on Google Scholar ("college in Europe vs US"), I came across a vast variety of articles on many different topics within this idea. While I did not read all of them closely enough to determine whether or not I will use any of them for sure for my final paper, I did come across a few that seem exciting and worthwhile to look at. These include: "Community College/Cluster Connections: Specialization and Competitiveness in the United States and Europe" by Stuart A. Rosenfeld and "Quality assurance in Europe and the US: Professional and political economic framing of higher education policy" by Rhoades and Sporn. Even from just a glance at these articles, I already know they will be helpful for my topic because they focus on college itself along with the effects higher education on society. A quick Amazon.com search of "college in Europe" left me with only one good result: "College Beyond the States: European Schools That Will Change Your Life Without Breaking the Bank" by Jennifer Viemont.
An interesting idea (I would even go so far to consider this a borderline controversy) in regard to this topic is whether or not free tuition in Europe will get you the same quality of education that people pay thousands upon thousands for in the United States. While I've noticed that the general consensus is that the education is of the same quality, there are just a few people who disagree.
The resources I found that I think will be most helpful are ones that I mentioned earlier on in the post. I think the most helpful will be the Gapinski article, because of how structured it is in describing the type of education and its effect on society.


Comments

  1. I read through the Gapinski article and it looks useful.

    One thing you will have to think about is what particular angle you want to take on the topic. The one you mention of students from the US possibly studying in countries where they have basically free tuition is interesting. A quick search on "americans going to college abroad" turned up several articles on places students can go to get practically free college -- including this one:
    https://studentloanhero.com/featured/6-countries-with-free-college-for-americans/
    I'd be curious to know if more students are pursuing that avenue these days, as tuition here continues to rise. And it would be a very interesting and unique project. It's amazing to think about how many international students are flooding the US because of how our increasingly privatized schools are working hard to recruit them -- and those students pay "out-of-state" and international fees that are a real boon to public colleges.

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