Please provide feedback on below Issue Analysis

[gursharankang]

ESSAY QUESTION:
"Parents should not shoulder the full burden of their children’s college tuition. If university students are required to pay for at least a portion of their education, they will take their studies more seriously and, ultimately, benefit more from their college experience."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the position stated above. Support your viewpoint using reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

RESPONSE:
I agree that sharing full burden of college tuition can adversely affect children's mind set and they might not get the pressure needed to excel in studies. If children are given some responsibility to pay part of their tuition, they not only get part of the financial burden but also learn to be responsible and accountable. There are number of benefits of sharing financial burden with children as far as it doesn't take too much toll on their studies. Number of students work part time during school years to pay off part of their tuition and it gives them an opportunity to learn from experience and exposes them to the real world situations and problems. Students who work also understand the value of money and the cost of their education better than the ones who get all the support from their parents. These students know how much time it takes to earn the money required to pay for a single credit course of their education and thus value their education more.

I have seen examples of students coming from struggling families who have no financial support from their parents. This lack of support doesn't discourage them from studying and further give them more enthusiasm to work hard and succeed in life to achieve something that their families lacked. These students get very matured at an early age and truly understand the value of money and the value of education. On the other hand, I have come across families who are very well to do and are willing to fully sponsor their children but more often than not their children are hardly focussed and lack basic willingness to work hard for education. I am sure this could change to some degree if these students were given some financial responsibility.

I once had a long discussion with a group of friends and most of us agreed on an understanding that part of the burden shall be shared with the children and if there is a need to alleviate some of the burden from their shoulders later on then we can always do so. In addition, interest rates for education loans are much lower than other types of credit loans. I would certainly prefer investing money in a place where I will get better returns than just paying of education loans. By the time college studies are completed, I will likely be in a better situation to pay off the loan.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, thanks for posting your essays! Just an FYI that instructors don't grade or give feedback on essays (see the forum guidelines for details).

But I certainly hope other community members respond. Also, if you're in our class, you'll have an opportunity to get essays graded and get written feedback during the course (after class 6). Finally, you can get essays graded by GMAT Write (the official essay grading service from the makers of the exam) - they'll both grade the essays and provide feedback as to how to improve (for a fee). For details and pricing, go to www.mba.com and search for GMAT Write.