Education Costs

It’s not necessarily guaranteed that you will cut the cost of an undergraduate degree if it takes four years to complete. However, According to Lynn O’Shaughnessy, the U.S department of educations statistics on graduation support that there is a guarantee that an individual will cut costs if it is completed in the four years. O’Shaughnessy uses the Department of educations statistics showing that the four-year graduation rate at public colleges and universities was 33.3% and a six-year rate of 57.6%, while private institutions showed a four-year graduation rate of 52.8% and 65.4% for a six-year. Furthermore, O’Shaughnessy fails to provide access directly to any statistics that support her claim causing her audience to not know the date of the research was published. 

O’Shaughnessy does inform her audience of many flaws in the Department of Education statistics but neglects to support or strengthen her initial argument. For example, O’Shaughnessy introduces statistics on that the Pell Grant. The stats show that students are less likely to graduate than students with higher incomes and that 41.2% of Pell Grant students graduated within six years while 55.4% of students who did not qualify for subsidized federal loans or Pell Grants graduated within that time period. In introducing facts and statists on the pell grant O’Shaughnessy introduces the possibility for an explanation of why certain demographics of students have delayed graduation rates. Students who receive financial aid or scholarships may intentionally remain in colleges or universities for a longer duration in order to generate a profit or even supplement an income. 

Here is a visual estimation from The Georgia Student Finance Commission of what standard Hope Financial-Aid may look like:

Additionally here is a visual from the Department of Education on the average aid received for Pell grant:

According to the Federal Student Aid department, the amount of Federal Pell Grant funds an individual may receive is limited to be the equivalent of six years of Pell Grant funding. Furthermore, the amount of  Pell Grant that can be awarded each year is equal to 100%, the six-year equivalent is 600%, meaning a student does not necessarily cut costs by delaying their graduation. O’Shaughnessy does not write from a lens considering other financial aid besides Pell, but consider a student with not only a Pell Grant but also a Scholarship such as Georgia’s very own HOPE; this student may very well profit from their education and enjoy an extended stay in academia. The Georgia Student Finance Commission reported that students meeting all eligibility requirements while attending an “eligible” public college or university receive a HOPE Scholarship award amount, to be applied toward standard undergraduate tuition, up to a maximum of 15 hours, for the specific number of hours enrolled. At 15 hours at Georgia Gwinnett College, the hope scholarship for a student meeting eligibility requirements can receive a standard rate of $1,770 Dollars. This type of scholarship in combination with a grant is certainly a nice chunk of change to be called a Refund Check. 

Just like there’s not a guarantee that every state has a similar program to HOPE, there is no guarantee that finishing a degree in four years will cut costs of an undergrad degree. While O’Shaughnessy’s work certainly introduces a few flaws in the departments of educations statistics that deserve praise; her work also opens her audience up to a fair amount of bias. O’Shaughnessy uses the facts provided by the Department of education to persuade her audience of something that cannot possibly be a guarantee. Even when an author is reffering to statistics it’s important to keep in mind all the outside factors influencing writers’ work so that you’re able to see that facts do not always guarantee that you’re properly supporting your argument. 

“Award Amounts.” Award Amounts, 20 Jan. 2020, apps.gsfc.org/SecureNextGen/dsp_award_amounts.cfm.

“Calculating Pell Grant Lifetime Eligibility Used.” Federal Student Aid, 24 Oct. 2019, studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell/calculate-eligibility.

Tba. “Georgia Student Finance Commission.” Award Amounts for the HOPE Scholarship | Georgia Student Finance Commission, 20 Jan. 2020, www.gafutures.org/hope-state-aid-programs/hope-zell-miller-scholarships/hope-scholarship/award-amounts/.

“Federal Government Publishes More Complete Graduation Rate Data.” College Search & Scholarships: College Decision Resources, www.cappex.com/articles/blog/government-publishes-graduation-rate-data.

How Many Bones

They wiggle, wobble, shake, and sometimes break.  They hold us up, and give muscles structures to push and pull against. Our bones are a vital part of our existence, and as most of us have our bones inside us our whole lives we fail to notice how much they grow and change throughout our lives.

We may think we are born with the same bones as we have as an adult, but this is actually a misconception. “An adult has 206 bones, but a newborn baby has nearly 300 bones in her body. This is because babies have more flexible cartilage (a firm tissue softer than bone) in the body. As the child grows, some of the cartilage hardens and turns to bone, and some bones fuse together.” (choa.org) As we grow and change many processes happen to bone structures to mold and shape them.

Bone remodeling happens on a microscopic level, and is preformed by three specialized bone cells. “Osteocytes, the most abundant bone cells, form a three-dimensional interconnected network throughout the osseous tissue.” (journals.plos.org) They sense anything that happen to the bone such as microfractures and send out a signal to the other two type of cells to repair damages. Osteoclasts are specialized in breakdown removal of dysfunctional bone. Osteoblasts repair and rebuild bone structure as needed. Our body maintains a microscopic equilibrium when doing this by ensuring that no more bone is taken away than being rebuilt.

As we grow older and our metabolic rates slow our bones start to degrade more than they repair. This causes slouching and shrinkage as we age and may even raise medical concerns. It is important to maintain a healthy diet, and to take vitamins for bone health to slow this process. Our bones carry us our whole lives without much of a thought as to the changes they go through. After all if we did not have them we would have no structure.

“7 Ways Kid Bones Are Different From Adult Bones.” Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, https://www.choa.org/medical-services/wellness-and-preventive-care/parent-resources/all/7-ways-kid-bones-are-different-from-adult-bones. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

Arias, Clemente F., et al. “Bone Remodeling: A Tissue-Level Process Emerging from Cell-Level Molecular Algorithms.” PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 9, Sept. 2018, p. e0204171, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204171.