Students Demand Financial Aid

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Issue #209
Students Demand Financial Aid
Author Rajlworld
Editor Sirocco
Date added April 2007
Subject education
Main category (?) tax rate
Number of options 4

The Students Demand Financial Aid issue is about government financial aid for college level degrees. Instead of naming a specific university, this issue carefully was worded to reference a "top university", thus making this issue fairly generic and appropriate for more nations. However, the second option specifically references a minister of "Education" which might imply that nations have a specific department or organization responsible for education named "Education". This issue also makes a reference to ancient Maxtopian poetry, suggesting that there once was another nation or civilization of Maxtopia.

Issue

Students from many universities in @@NAME@@ are protesting about the rising financial cost of studying at university and are demanding that the government provide more financial aid to students.

Debate options

  1. "We need money now," screams @@RANDOMNAME@@ a student from one of @@NAME@@'s top achieving universities. "All these tuition fees are just too much! I need that money to spend on books, study materials, accomodation, and alco- well, uh, you get the gist of it. All these fees are doing is preventing people from poorer backgrounds achieving their potential. The government ought to pay for all university expenses. After all if nobody went to university where would all the doctors and teachers come from?"
  2. "OH GOD NO THE EXPENSE!" screeches @@RANDOMNAME@@, your minister of Education before eventually calming down. "No, no. This is not a good idea. Do you know how high the tax rate is already without introducing something like this? We should be making tuition fees higher if anything. University is a privilege, not a right, and only the elite should be allowed within those walls. And by elite, of course, I mean rich."
  3. "These young people are the greatest resource our nation has," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a famous demographer. "If you're going to discourage them from going to university then you're cheating our nation out of its potential. What I suggest is government-funded loans to students from poor families. That way we can have the best of both worlds without the expense. Admittedly, some may still not be able to afford it but here's no pleasing some people."
  4. "Why bother with universities anyway," says refuse collector @@RANDOMNAME@@. "These students could be working and earning a living instead of wasting time and money learning things with no point whatsoever. Who needs to know about ancient Maxtopian poetry, huh? Who would hire you for that? There are plenty of jobs out there, so why don't they go and get one? I'll tell you why: it's because they are lazy. I propose the government close all universities in @@NAME@@ and make people get a job after they leave school. With all the money saved from closing down universities we can have a well-deserved tax cut too."

Domestic impacts

Option 1

The following game text is added to nations choosing this option:

?

It is believed that the first option significantly increases taxes

Option 2

The following game text is added to nations choosing this option:

universities are populated by the spawn of the upper classes

It is believed that the second option ...

Option 3

The following game text is added to nations choosing this option:

?

It is believed that the third option ...

Option 4

The following game text is added to nations choosing this option:

?

It is believed that the fourth option significantly decreases taxes.

United Nations impact

There are a number of United Nations resolutions that deal with education, and several of these resolutions deal with the rights of citizens to a college education. However, since this issue is relatively new (first appeared in April 2007), UN resolutions dealing with education have had more time to impact nations than this issue has.

The resolution, Free Education, called upon UN members to give all people under the age of 18 a free education. This resolution did not specify if this mandate was for a standard primary education or if it included college level work. However, the resolution was repealed in March 2005. In November 2005, the IT Education Act called upon nations to provide older children with access to computers and information technology through existing government education programs. This issue is still consistent with the IT Education Act resolution, as the resolution did not specifically target college programs. In May 2006, the Rights of the Disabled resolution specifically requested that nations see to it that all disabled persons shall have the right to an education comparable to that of their non-disabled peers, suggesting that disabled students may be entitled to government aid programs.

In August 2006, Gruenberg's UN Educational Aid Act was adopted by the United Nations. Like many of the previous UN resolutions, this resolution focused on the right of children and young adults to an education. The resolution also specifically mentioned adult education universities. However, unlike many of the previous UN education based resolutions, this resolution used weaker language to suggest that nations create programs that could aid people who might not otherwise be able to afford a higher education. The primary mechanism implemented by the resolution to further this goal was a UN Educational Advancement Fund, which was funded by voluntary contributions from national governments. This fund could be considered an alternative resource that nations debating this issue might consider.

Additional materials