You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Students should pay the full cost for their own study, because university education benefits individuals rather than society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer
Some people believe that students should not receive help with the costs of their university education. While graduates may benefit individually later in life from the opportunity to pursue a successful career, I would argue that the government should provide funding for students.
In many cases, it is true that students benefit from their university education in terms of future salaries. Headhunting corporations compete with each other to offer attractive employment to graduates. Graduates can expect to have better job prospects than non-graduates, enjoying higher pay and good promotion opportunities. They will, therefore, be more likely to live in prosperous neighbourhoods, with an enviable lifestyle. For example, in the USA college graduates may earn two or three times as much as an unskilled worker.
However, I consider that there are two important reasons why students should not pay the full cost of their university education. Firstly, they acquire skills which are useful, and sometimes essential, to society as a whole. Doctors, scientists and engineers are obvious examples, but other professions should not be forgotten, such as teachers, artists or philosophers. Secondly, if students have to pay for their education, they may be forced to pay off a huge student loan when they graduate, or they may have to work their way through college. In the latter case, their studies will suffer, and some may fall behind with their studies or even drop out of college.
In conclusion, I disagree that students should pay the full cost of their university education. Although in some cases they benefit individually from having a degree, they also contribute to the prosperity and well-being of society and, therefore, deserve some financial support while studying.
279 words
Vocab Highlights
to pursue a successful career: to have a series of jobs in a particular area of work, with more responsibility as time passes
to provide funding for: to give money to enable something to be done
headhunting: connected with the activity of finding people who are suitable for top jobs and persuading them to join a company
job prospects: the chances of being successful and having more opportunities at work
promotion opportunities: chances to move to a more important position in a company or organization
prosperous: rich and successful
enviable: something that is enviable is something that is good and that other people want to have too
to acquireexperience/knowledge/skill: to gain experience/knowledge/skill by your own efforts or behavior
to pay off a student loan: to repay money borrowed in order to study at college or university
to work your way through university: to have a job when you are at college/university in order to help to pay for your studies
to fall behind with your studies: to improve more slowly in studying than other people so that you fail to learn the course material at the necessary speed
to drop out of college: to leave college or university without finishing your studies