Conversation 5

April 15, 2014            

Anastasia has been having a hard time applying to TCU.  She has never dealt with a college application like the ones in America.  In Russia all she had to do to get into a university was send in her grades from high school.  That was the criteria for getting accepted to schools there.  She did not have to put down involvement, write essays, or any of the horrors that come with applying to college.  It was confusing for her, but not near as confusing as her financial aid application.

            She knows she cannot afford most colleges in the U.S. and had to apply for financial aid.  She did not know what to do or how to do it.  This application is confusing for Americans.  If Americans have a problem with an application based on American money and taxes, Anastasia must have been entirely lost.  She wishes it were as easy to go to school in America, as it was other places.  She has a friend from back home that got into a school in Germany and gets to attend that for free.  Anastasia is jealous of her friend because if she gets into school in America, she will still have to find the money to afford it.

            We discussed free education again.  She was worried that American Universities would not take transfer credit from her Russian university.  If this is the case she would have to go to school for four years here instead of two to complete her undergraduate degree.  This would mean paying for two more years of school.

            After our conversation, I began to think of how flawed the American university system is.  Society tells us that a college education is the way to become a successful, intelligent person.  Universities make themselves difficult to get into and then expect students who have done the work and put forth the effort to get into the school to pay their large tuition and housing fees.  Many students have to take out loans, because they cannot afford the high costs college and do not receive enough aid to pay for it.  These loans trap students and many people are left with this debt for decades after they graduate college.  If America does want to educate our best and brightest, it should not be so difficult for students to get the education they deserve.