My opponent makes two points. First, more financial aid will make a Brown degree more affordable. Second, more financial aid will increase diversity on campus.
First, we both agree that "(college) education should be affordable." However, my opponent never examines why college is expensive. College is expensive for two primary reasons. First, tuition is high because of universities' extravagant spending on non-essential projects. Second, tuition is high because of government loan programs, which give universities no incentive to cut costs.
If we want to reduce the cost of college, we have to reform the purpose of college. A college does not exist to provide its students with state-of-the-art gyms, catered dinners or a multitude of student services. A college exists to teach. Unless we return the University to the sole purpose of teaching, tuition will continue to increase year after year. It is unlikely that even significant increases in financial aid could keep pace with the rapid yearly rise in tuition. Unpopular as it would be, slashing costs is the effective way to reduce the cost of college. My opponent takes the cost of college tuition as a given and asks, "How can the university cover more of tuition for students." I take the cost of college as inflated and ask, "How can the university reduce tuition?"
My opponent's next point is that increasing financial aid will make Brown more "diverse." Specifically, she argues that diversity "has the potential to transform the discourse on key issues within the university as well as to address historical injustices and work for social change." This is rhetorical pap with no meaning. If "diversity" really were such a valuable goal, my opponent would be able to name specific, concrete benefits of diversity, rather than vague, empty phrases such as "social change," "discourse on key issues" and "social injustices." I am for affordable education for the talented regardless of racial or economic background. My opponents' position leads to more expensive education with an outdated emphasis on race.
