College Tuition

Tax Credits

Before you aimlessly throw your life's savings at the campus doors of your dream university, take a brief minute to reevaluate your options here. There may be some pinpoints you missed while you were heating up that #instant-ramen. 

It's the most popular question of our generation; "Is college worth the money?" It may be locked in our minds that college is the key to a prosperous future, but unfortunately it is a #fact that a majority of college students are jobless, in debt, and afraid of where their precious degree will take them. Its difficult to determine the value of money at such a young age, especially with the stresses of every day life. If you haven't noticed, fresh college grads are in an overwhelming position, balancing out #debts from high tuition costs. One popular author, Megan McArdle, has written an article that everyone should check out titled, "The College Bubble." This article explains how the average level of student debt is accelerating at a much higher rate than the real value of a college degree. Controversies have uprisen as a result to what the right decision is. To invest or not to invest, that is the #real question. Similarly, John W. Schoen has written his own article, "Why Does A College Degree Cost So Much?" where he lays out the increased price of attending a four year university over the years. Its easy to see the contrast in quality of tuition, as well as how paths have changed after receiving a degree from past generations compared to present day. The #fact of the matter is, combining decreased value of education and an increased amount of tuition expenses have resulted in lesser opportunities for the average American student. 

                   

Michael Fleshman

More than half of newly graduates are unemployed or working in a job that doesn't require a degree. As college students, we are putting in energy, time and money to gain from this so called investment. Unfortunately, some could argue that the investment we are putting into our education contains a much higher consequential cost than what was expected. McArdle states that "Promotional literature for colleges and student loans often speaks as an investment in yourself. Sadly, the student loan debt carried by households has more than quintupled since 1999." We can conclude that it was not really an investment to begin with. One could say you could have saved yourself a hassle by not attending college. 

  

       

Barry Dahl

The noble prize winning economist James Heckman, has analyzed how individual student's backgrounds and levels of ability impact their education. He states that "Even with high prices, you're still finding a high return for individuals who are bright and highly motivated. On the other hand, if you're not college ready., the answer is NO. College is not worth it." Duties of average college students include:

• Full/part time jobs
• Family
• Friends and peer pressure        
• Commute                         
• Social lives 
• Stresses of daily duties
• Tuition costs

Tuition has reached its all time high in the past decade, which resulted in pushing its students in a #negative-zone. 

Mark Kantrowitz

Fact: Tuition costs have more than doubled from the last generation! (That itself should be a leading factor for skepticism). Since the 1980's, the overall cost has risen by 4%. That includes dorm and room, textbooks, and classes. A limited number of well paying jobs have been maneuvering in and demanding college degrees from the inept and unmotivated. This results in more competition for a tighter space. The result? Borrowing money from jobs that a whopping 47% of fresh graduates ultimately won't receive. Only a tiny 10% of the top 1% of families (the higher class) are prepared for this amount of debt. This mainly aims at a specific yet large group of students; the lower and middle class. Numbers like these are unintentionally bringing fear of debt to students and their families. The targeted audience will ask themselves, "Why is college so expensive, and what are we truly to gain?" With the results continuing to be unflattering in this modern day and age, students can only hope that their chips land in the right places. 

"With the total level of student debt 

outstanding at more than $1.2 trillion, parents, students,

 and researchers are now asking: how is this sustainable? 

And why does college cost so much?"

- John W. Schoen

Across the country, college students everywhere are putting their thinking caps on and have started to doubt the system. Costs of tuition have risen not only by what was expected, but by what was necessary. It will be a great accomplishment to see American Students possess a bright future as well as an even more outstanding tuition rate. The time has come to set expectations to the federal and state government about what is truly conquerable for the every day college student. The cost is much too high and puts even more pressure on our daily lives. The time to make a change has come. Feel free to share this blog with your friends and family, and join the fight to change the future of students throughout the country. We can ask ourselves, "Is this a chance worth taking?" The #fact is, us as a student body can make that decision on our own.

                Eda Gozubuyuk is a 20 year old college student currently studying to be an accountant at Northern Virginia Community College. Her passions include debate, blogging, and coming up with new and advanced ways to enhance the future of students nation wide. 

                                               

Johns: They're not as Friendly as their Names

This blog post argues the legalization of sex work in the hope of combating sex trafficking, a idea proposed by the Nordic Model that will ultimately benefit those involved in the sex trade by allowing the selling of sex to be legal, whereas the buying of sex is illegal.

Rachel Moran, author of "Buying Sex Should Not Be Legal"

The Instigator 

 The fundamental cause for human trafficking is money. The "john" (i.e. buyers) is the commercial support of human trafficking. 


Solution

Opener: "Sex work is the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation." "Sex Trafficking is the illegal practice of procuring or trading in human beings for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, or other forms of exploitation."

Hyperlink: http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/legalize-sex-work-not-sex-buyers/ 

Alaiyah Leslie is a student attending Northern Virginia Community College majoring in Liberal Arts with the aspiration to become a journalist.

America Restricted

America Restricted

Image by AK Rockefeller

            Gun Control America’s latest hot topic of controversy. My name is Austin I am a college student and it is my opinion that people’s main problem with assessing gun control is that they don't look at both sides, and that they fail to realize what gun control really represents to Americans or at least myself which is Freedom. So today I am going to be doing just that, I will be going to analyze both sides of gun control giving a detailed break down before I conclude with my own opinion on why I am against gun control.

The Fight Against Guns

Image by Elvert Barnes

              Author Baldr Odinson writes in his article "School Lockdown Drills Are This Generation’s "Duck And Cover"" about how his children and schools are impacted from gun violence that has resulted in an increased number of lockdown drills and has led schools to start to train students how to defend against gunman. He makes some crucial points in regard to the psychological impact gun violence has on children at schools Odinson says "The last time my daughter's school had a lockdown drill, she was in an after-school activity with a mixed-age class of kids, mostly younger than her.  Many of them were confused and started to cry, traumatized by the image in their mind of an armed lunatic coming toward their room."

              Odinson continues to discuss the impact of school shootings throughout his article and at one point points out that since 2013 around 150 school shooting occurred. In addition he mentions that according to a study by The Trace over the course of two weeks 100 lockdowns took place. Near the end of his article he discusses his solution for gun control would be to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and have people paying more attention to stopping shooters rather than waiting for incidents to happen.

And The Fight For Guns

Image by Alan Cleaver

          Author David Kopel's article "Would You Be Safer If Guns are Banned" features analysis of how effective banning guns would be in the United States, as well as talking about effective uses of guns and the importance of them. Kopel discuss that while New York and Washington D.C. have extremely limited guns laws that almost prevent the citizens there from having guns. Even with these laws Kopel says "Washington D.C. is the "murder capital of the United States" supporting the idea that gun control is not the answer. Kopel discuss how guns are often used effectively for self defense talking about how disarming americans would not work because there around 80 million gun owners already and would provide criminals an opportunity to attack Americans. Kopel says " Given a choice between obeying the law and being able to continue to defend our homes, our families, and our lives -- millions of Americans will gladly break the law."  and in addition mentions that during the Rodney King riots when police abandon people people had nothing but guns to defend themselves. One part of his article stands out over everything though and it is very important in my opinion. Kopel says "America was born as an armed society. Guns are an integral part of our traditions and remain essential for the preservation of our safety and our liberty."

Why I Am Against Gun Control

The reason I am against gun control is because it is our right to bear arms according to the second amendment in the constitution. While Odinson does make some good points in regard to the impact that gun violence has led to in relation to the increased school lockdown drills. In my opinion the benefits of having guns out way the downsides and the fact that even residents of Oregon where a recent shooting took place according to Marisa Gerber's article "Oregon sheriff wrote 'Gun control is NOT the answer,' and residents agree" still want to have the right to own guns. Whether gun violence continues or stops I think that the American people and myself will always want to have the right to bear arms. Cause in reality I think it is more than the idea of having a weapon. In my opinion it is what separates America from the rest of the world we are the country that most people around the world most likely associates with a country that citizens are able to own guns. I think overall it really does go back to Kopel statement about "America was born as an armed society. Guns are an integral part of our traditions and remain essential for the preservation of our safety and our liberty." cause why take something away that had such a big role in the foundation of our country it just doesn't make sense. However this is just my opinion on the matter, I hope you have enjoyed this analysis on gun control.

Think before pulling the trigger: A Reaction to Walter Scott Shooting

This blog is about racial profiling and how the police officers execute African Americans without giving the law a chance to decide whether the suspects are guilty or not.

Gravel_image by PRSA-NY

Where Do We Stand Today?
The law decides if one is guilty. The judge based on the law decides whether a criminal should be executed or not; not a police officer . The Civil Rights Movement happened for a reason, yet in 2015 we are still struggling with racial profiling. We live in the United States of America, yet we don’t think of each other as Americans. Some people are racist and some others claim that they are not, yet they distinguish certain groups of people from others.  Incidents like Michael Brown’s death and the shooting at Emanuel A.M.E., which was an absolute hate crime, are good proof. The supporters of racial profiling argue that blacks commit more crimes than whites, and believe that police is not racists, and they are only doing their job.  They claim racial profiling contributes to less crimes happening in society; however, I believe that generalization is not right, and not all African Americans are criminals. The fact that black people commit more crimes does not justify the execution of possible suspects by police. 

Police is Not Innocent 

According to Ron Hosko, President at Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, the police are being blamed and the media and politicians are taking advantage of Michael Brown’s shooting for their own benefit by making a big deal out of his anniversary.  He claims that they are giving people a false picture of the shooting, “regardless of the facts.” Really! So the police are actually “doing their job” by killing innocent people. Like Michael Slager, an officer from the North Charleston Police Department who was absolutely “innocent” when he shot Walter Scotts eight times in his back and killed him when Scott wasn’t even armed. Let’s just not forget that Slager changed the crime scene so he could get away with the murder.

Two months after Scott’s murder, another African American was shot and killed by the police again. Officer Ray Tensing shot and killed Samuel DuBose after a traffic stop. The dramatic and life-threatening story that Tensing told in his report did not match what actually happened in the video, which was recorded thanks to his body camera. Joe Deters, Hamilton County Prosecutor, called Tensing’s action “asinine” and “senseless.” It is such a relief to know that there are still people like Deter in law enforcement who do not call the police “innocent” and believe that “this should not happen.”

Not Everyone is a Criminal

According to FBI statistics, more crimes are committed by black people than by white people.  Some people use these statistics to justify why police apply greater scrutiny to minorities; however, that does not mean that every single black person is a criminal. In every race, there are good people as well as bad ones. Some black people commit crimes, but so do white people. The police should not generalize and discriminate against minorities. They should not assume that all blacks are “Guilty before proven innocent,” as Keesha Beckford says.  The mentality of “Shoot them before they shoot you -- because those people can hocus-pocus that phone, can of Skittles, bottle of soda into a weapon faster than you can say ‘nigger,’” is wrong (Beckford.) 

Don't Shoot!
The job of the police is to capture suspects, not to execute them, even if they are guilty. Walter Scotts, Michael Brown, Samuel DuBose, and many others were shot when they were not even armed. The police have no right to shoot someone who is not armed and does not apply violence against them. Dealing with an African American does not mean that the police's life is in danger, especially when they are running away or their hands are up in the air.  The law decides whether or not a criminal should be judged, sentenced, and executed; not the police officer.  

This post is written by Hasti Khalili Hossein Abad who is currently majoring in Science at Northern Virginia Community College. 

Excessive Force : Policing in 21st Century America

In this blogpost, I want to discuss with you about excessive police brutality and what is my opinion on this topic.

Do police officers have the right to treat people by force because of their badge?    

People don’t have to judge you or treat you differently because of your religion or because of your skin color, especially not the police; they should be more aware and understanding. However, this has been going on for decades and there is nothing that can be done. Police Officers are considered dangerous minority, because sometimes their only decision to solve the problem is through violence. How can you ask for help from someone when they end up hurting you instead of helping you, they consider you dangerous mostly because of your skin color and religion.

As you can see from this video this African-American Student was disturbing class verbally and the police officer reacted by slamming her down. There are other ways this police officer could have handled this situation. He could have kicked her out of the class, informed her parents, even suspend her from school for a few days.

Michael Brown an unarmed teenager was shot by a police officer on August 9, 2014. His body was left uncovered for over 6 hours. Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy who was shot to death by police in November 2014. No warning was given to Rice as he was shot in close range and he was left to die while responding officers stood by. Freddy Gray was allegedly arrested for possessing an illegal switchblade, he was transported in a police van in Baltimore, Maryland on April 12, 2015, he died a week later because of injuries to his spinal cord. Injuries he sustained while he was in police custody. Those are just a few of the incidents that had happened recently to African-Americans.

“A widely publicized report in October 2014 by ProPublica, concluded that young black makes are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than their white counterparts”

 Wihney and Kille are both Harvard scholars who have a background in law and this makes them credible sources,  they utilize facts to further prove their point that minorities are targeted more often than white people and that excessive force and deadly force is employed against them more than white people. 

“Authorities and white citizens alike may stereotype minorities as dangerous and prone to criminality”     

Holmes and Smith argue that white citizens believe that the minorities are considered threatening. This theory suggests that minorities threaten police officers because they feel like they challenge them and therefore they are more likely to use excessive force.

Holmes and Smith explain it is logical for the police officers to use excessive and even deadly force against minorities. Their argument is effective in that it provides their audience with a clearer understanding of how easy it is for police officers to employ deadly force.  

In this video, there are graphic pictures and videos of police using excessive force and it's horrifying to know that the police, people we trust, are acting so aggressively towards the minorities.

Previous research suggests that there is still so much to be done by every police department, the FBI and the Department of Justice to reduce the instances of police brutality and use of excessive force, because it is getting worse by the day.

In my opinion I think that the police should trust the people around them no matter what their skin color is and no matter what their religion is. If they keep using excessive force, the minority will feel that the police are untrustworthy and that they shouldn’t be trusted, the video of the girl being slammed to the floor just because she was verbally disturbing class opened my eyes.

Maryam Alkubaisi is a student in Northern Virginia Community College. She is majoring in Computer Science. She is not afraid to learn and try new things. She loves to be up-to-date with everything, from news to technology.