GOW Action Project

Throughout the past few years, the cost of college tuition has been an issue discussed prevalently in the media. According to an article from just this past Tuesday, (source: investopedia.com) student loans now exceed $1 trillion, and I have heard more than once that indebtedness is the leading cause of college dropouts. Hearing statistics like this, along with movements like Occupy Wall Street have left people declaring that the cost of education is too high in our failing economy. As seniors in high school, we know better than anyone that it can be scary going to college – not because of the workload or moving away from home, but because of the overwhelming price tag. Because of this, for my Grapes of Wrath Action Project, I decided that I would like to contact an establishment of higher education and question their price of tuition. After the considering my options, I decided to investigate the SUNY system because although their tuition is less than their private school counterparts, I will likely be attending the University at Buffalo this fall. Not sure of where to start, I began searching the SUNY and UB websites to see if my question was already answered through their information. Although I searched their websites, I could not find any information on the process of determining the price of tuition, not even under a page labeled “University-wide Policies & Procedures.” So, I looked for a way to contact the Board of Directors of the system (who I did learn was responsible for tuition through the SUNY website) and was able to find both a phone number along with an e-mail address, although both general and directed to offices rather than to people of authority. Nevertheless, I sent them an e-mail asking how the price of tuition is determined for each SUNY school and what goes into the process. I also asked who is in charge of the process and how I can get in contact with them directly. Also on the SUNY website, I found a form in which you can send a message to the general SUNY office right on their website, so I sent another e-mail through that asking for the same information. After not hearing back from these e-mails for a few days, I was not surprised. (When I previously e-mailed people within the SUNY system about other matters, it took almost two weeks for them to send me a generic, “copy and paste” response.) So, I decided I would contact the University of Buffalo – this time by phone – thinking maybe I could get to the mother through the baby. I called a number given on their website for the financial aid office, and was greeted by the infamous generic voice telling me to press 1 for so-and-so. After a few of these prompts, I was put on hold (hold count: 1) and told that a representative would be with me as soon as possible. I waited about four minutes until a lady answered, and I asked her, “I was just wondering, why is tuition the price that it is currently? Like, how is that number determined?” Her answer was, “one moment” and I was placed on hold again (hold count: 2). This time I waited for about three minutes before a different lady answered, and I asked her the same question. Her response: “one moment” and I was put on hold again (hold count: 3), this time for about 3 minutes also. When someone answered, it was yet a different lady! I guess the second lady told her my question though, because she asked me to explain what exactly what I wanted to know. After repeating my question, she told me that she could tell me the price of tuition, but that she was not sure of how it is determined. I asked who I could speak to that would know the answer, and she volunteered to go and ask her supervisor and get back to me. I was put on hold (hold count: 4) but only for a minute this time. When she came back on the line, she told me what her supervisor had told her: “Because we’re a state university, our tuition is determined by the state. We don’t have anything to do with it at all.” To me this sounded like the whole idea of a smaller section of the system blaming a larger group with in the system, reminiscent a “it’s not us, it’s them!” sort of attitude (or, should I say, a “well it’s not us, it’s the bank!” sort of attitude). She then gave me the addresses to UB’s website and the SUNY website, telling me that maybe they would help me. However, although she did not give me the information I was looking for and I already had the information she did give me, I was surprised because she seemed to genuinely care, which is hard to portray through a phone call. Through her tone of voice, she seemed authentically sorry that she could not give me an answer to my question and tried her best to give me the resources that might help me – and I appreciated that more than anything. After this failed effort, I decided to contact the SUNY system office directly and called the phone number listed on their website. I was greeted by another one of those voices telling me to press 1 for so-and-so, and put on hold (hold count: 5) for about 3 minutes until a representative answered. I asked her the same question I asked the UB office. She seemed confused at first, and told me that the price is currently $220 per credit hour. I tried to explain to her that I did not want to know the price of tuition, but the reason why it was that price. What exactly determines the cost of tuition? I received the answer: “uh… a lot of factors.” (Not so helpful.) So I questioned, “What kind of factors? Can you name a few?” She said very general answers such as location and population, with a lot of "um's" in between, and I could tell she was frustrated with my question, like she thought it was silly and a waste of her time. After questioning her some more as to who was in charge of the whole process and how I could get in contact with them (she recommended their website, which I had already tried), I started receiving a lot of “yes” and “no” answers from her. She made it clear in her tone of voice that she wanted to get me off of the phone as quickly as possible. Not getting anywhere, I said good-bye and hung up feeling frustrated and disappointed. No one was able to get me in contact with people of actual authority that could tell me why the cost of tuition is what it is. After directly talking to four people and being put on hold five times, I am still left waiting for a response to my original e-mails and not sure of where I could go from here.

I think that we were assigned this project so that we could experience the kind of frustration that the tenant farmers face in the Grapes of Wrath. When being kicked off their land, they ask the question of who is responsible – who can they shoot? But they receive no real answer. It’s not the tractor driver, it’s the bank. It’s not the bank, it’s the East. By doing this project, we could live through a similar experience and empathize with the tenant farmers in the novel. The people at UB told me that that it was not them, that it was SUNY just like how in the Grapes of Wrath it’s not the bank, but the East. Everyone tends to point their finger instead of taking responsibility. Also, in both my own experience and the experience of the farmers Grapes of Wrath, it was impossible to go straight to the top of the company to find answers. You had to start at the bottom and try to break down the layers of authority, which was exhausting and close to impossible. This shows that although the ideas presented in the Grapes of Wrath are reflective of the Dust Bowl, the same ideas and frustrations are still applicable today. I may have experienced it on a much smaller scale than the farmers, but I think the same feeling still holds true and it’s a great demonstration of how great literature is timeless.