Rising Tuition Costs

Let me start off with the fact that I would not be where I am without a Pell grant and the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship.  The Pell grants are aimed at giving aid to low-income families that would not be able to afford the gradually increasing college tuition costs. While reports show that in 2010, 6.3 million college students received Pell grants many are starting to believe colleges are just raising tuition costs to make up for the difference. As stated by Sandy Baum, the senior policy analyst at The College Board “The average size of a Pell Grant has increased over time, but it is this increase in use of the program that explains most of the increase in expenditures. Because college prices have risen more rapidly than grant levels, Pell covers a lower proportion of total college expenses than it did a decade ago.”

 With the present college student taking an average of 5 years to complete college it brings me to believe that college is going to end up being impossible to afford for low-income Americans. Over the past three decades the tuition rates have increased by double the inflation rates bring up the question, when will we be able to get the prices under control? Right now the Obama administration is attempting to raise the top amount that Pell grants can be issued for, which as of now is $5,710. But if this mandate is approved will it still be counterproductive like the current attempt to lower tuition costs? Probably, which is why something should be done to put a “price control” on college tuition costs, keeping increases sustainable for all incoming students.

The Rush To China

This month BMW recorded its sales in China have grown by 70% from the same period last year (12). VW, the largest European car maker, announced Friday that their profit has more than tripled from the previous year, and being as China is now their leading market its safe to bet they had a lot to do with it. Marius Baader, head of forecasting at the German Automotive Industry Association researched that his organization expects total new car sales in China to grow 11 percent this year to 12.5 million vehicles, even after a growth of 34 percent in 2010.

But Mr. Baader also states “it is very difficult to continually top these very high growth rates.” Mr. Baader along with many others in his field are noticing many factors that could lead to an automotive bubble comparative to what is noticeable in the United States. With almost any auto company you can possibly think of converging on the Chinese auto market a KPGM analyst wrote “The industry may have to brace itself for some casualties.”  This is idea is based on a variety of reasons: one in particular is Chinese officials discouraging car ownership by removing buyer incentives and limiting new registrations because of high traffic and pollution issues.

As more and more auto companies invest in the Chinese market to avoid the risk of being left behind in the emerging market the warning signs become more apparent. As environmental standards become stronger though Chinese companies will have the upper hand in the race for electric cars which are already in production there, greatly limiting the effect of foreign car makers.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/business/global/28iht-cars28.html?pagewanted=2&bl

A World Without Fresh Water May Not Be That Far Away. . .

                Drilling for natural gases has been under a lot of fire lately about many different issues such as creating earthquakes, but a new debate has arisen concerning the millions of gallons of water being used to extract the gases. The process for drilling for natural gases involves pumping high volumes of water and other chemicals into rock at high pressures to release the gas. That all sounds good to me but what happens to the water that is now contaminated with chemicals and gases once the drilling is done?

Following pressure to fix this problem, drilling companies have started trying to recycle the water being used yet in the past 18 months less than half of the water used has actually been recycled. This may seem like a big problem but is not the biggest problem, which is the water left behind. As the water is being removed it leaves behind a salt or sludge highly concentrated with radioactive material and other contaminants dangerous to people and all other life if it reaches the waterways. Reports have shown that in Williamsport, PA. Between 10-40% of water injected into the ground will resurface in the next 2 weeks. “The wastewater that comes up from the well will likely increase to some degree in many contaminants such as salts and possibly radium and other radionuclide’s with each new fracking, but the data is very limited on this issue so not much is known,” said Radisav Vidic, an environmental engineering professor and drilling expert at the University of Pittsburgh(33).

Over the past year over 50 millions of gallons of contaminated water is unaccounted for because of weak government regulation of fracking and with the information Radisav has researched this can cause the environment massive problems. I believe that without changes in legislation to get regulations on this recycling problem our water supply will not last long and many have the same view and are getting the research to prove it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/us/02gas.html?pagewanted=2&bl