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Why is Higher Education Inaccessible for Most Americans?

Written in 2015 and still well grounded in 2021, Hannah Appel and Astra Taylor, students of City University of New York School of Labor and Urban Studies, refer to college as a sort of industry, one that specifically targets low-income students and single mothers as “ideal customers.” The authors continue their metaphor on the “college industry” and how it sells tickets to the American Dream in which the low-income buyer receives a middle-class life in return, trick free (or so the industry wants you to believe). Over the last 30 years, the tuition for college in the United States of America has increased by approximately 1,200 percent. College or University, often associated with the idea of high class and or upward mobility, hides the ugly truth of wealth disparity. With student loan debt quadrupling from 2003 to 2013, Appel and Taylor beg to ask, what college does and for whom does it do it for? The duo takes issue with for-profit institutions, stating“Much of the American public does not understand the difference between for-profit, public, and private non-profit institutions of higher learning. All three are concerned with generating revenue, but only the for-profit model exists primarily to enrich its owners. The largest of these institutions are often publicly traded, nationally franchised corporations legally beholden to maximize profit for their shareholders before maximizing education for their students. While commercial vocational programs have existed since the nineteenth century, for-profit colleges in their current form are a relatively new phenomenon that began to boom with a series of initial public offerings in the 1990s, followed quickly by deregulation of the sector as the millennium approached. The Bush administration legislation then weakened government oversight of such schools, while expanding their access to federal financial aid, making the industry irresistible to Wall Street investors.” (Appel and Taylor) Likewise, Appel and Taylor add: “While the for-profit business model has generally served investors well, it has failed students. Retention rates are abysmal and tuitions sky-high. For-profit colleges can be up to twice as expensive as Ivy League universities and routinely cost five or six times the price of a community college education. The Medical Assistant program at for-profit Heald College in Fresno, California costs $22,275. A comparable program at Fresno City College costs $1,650. An associate degree in paralegal studies at Everest College in Ontario, California costs $41,149, compared with $2,392 for the same degree at Santa Ana College, a mere thirty-minute drive away.” The authors demonstrate that while there are means to achieving the American Dream by way of higher education, lack of research or just plain confusion can lead low-income students down a never ending cycle of debt for years to come without an end in sight. The ideology that college or university is a way to “get out” of poverty and create a successful life with a beneficial career needs to be uprooted and disbanded indefinitely. It is absurd to create the notion that A) all students who want to are able to attend college or university and B) are able to do so without total and utter financial grapple to stay remotely afloat. Not to mention, the authors find that “Graduates of for-profit schools generally do not fare so well. Indeed, they rarely find them-selves (sic)  in the kind of work they were promised when they enrolled, the kind of work that might enable them to repay their debts, let alone purchase the commodity cornerstones of the American dream (sic) like a car or a home,”

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The Myth of the American Dream

I wanted to paint something that encapsulated the prompt: “Myth of the American Dream.”

Of course I had to feature Lady Liberty, the most iconic symbol of American freedom besides the flag. She is crying a diamond tear, insinuating the disconnection between wealth and happiness. Likewise, her mouth is covered which implies the silence the country has on many pressing issues. Behind her, there is a New York Times article on Covid-19 in the U.S.. Our country’s response is arguably one of the greatest modern failures.

Instead of stars on the flag, there are dollar signs. This is quite obvious, as material success is highly valued in the scheme of the American Dream.

The flag is also inverted, which is meant to symbolize the often backwards rhetoric of American nationalism.

Lastly, I used magazine ad clippings to spell out: “It was just a dream,” implying that the American Dream was never attainable, it was simply just a dream.

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“National Anthem” Music Video by Lana Del Rey

National Anthem off Lana Del Rey’s album, “Born to Die” is the gender-bent version of The Great Gatsby featuring themes of lust, money, and power. The music video depicts Lana and A$AP Rocky as the Kennedys, whom many consider being one of the American dynasties. The video has hazy imagery of the “good life,” parties with cigars and free-flowing alcohol, sailboats in the summer, and diamond jewelry.

The first line of the song: “Money is the anthem of success, so before we go out what’s your address?” Lana literally begins the song by stating that the American Dream, or the National Anthem, is a materialistic ideal hidden under a veil of so-called personal success. Lana then sings the lyrics: “tell me I’m your national anthem,” insinuating that she wants her lover, A$AP Rocky, to value her love as America does its wealth. Further lyrics like, “take me to the Hamptons, Bugatti Veyron,” suggest that Lana has become addicted to the rich life and wants to be a trophy wife for her lover to cherish even more.

The beautiful imagery makes it hard to see the troubling undertones of the lyrics until the ultimate assassination of A$AP (JFK) when the audience realizes that the American Dream is fleeting, along with material success.

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“Famous” by Big Time Rush

Do you want to
Ride in a big limousine?
Tell me do you want to
Take a little bite of the fame machine?
If you wanna be discovered
And end up on the cover of every star-studded supermarket magazine


You can do it
Stick right to it
It could happen tonight

You wanna be famous (famous)
You wanna be the one who’s living the life
You wanna be famous (famous)
You wanna be the one who’s taking a free ride

Do you want to
Cut to the front of the line?
Baby, do you need to
See your name in lights just like the Hollywood sign?
Come on, we gotta work harder
Fight the fight together
Take it to the top
We’ve got the winning team

It’s your moment
You can own it
It’s the American dream

I was listening to a throwback playlist in my car when “Famous” by Big Time Rush came on. The lyrics referencing the American Dream instantly caught my attention and I decided to take a deeper dive into the lyrics. The band equates the concept of the American Dream with fame, fortune, and ultimate stardom. While this may have happened to the (non)fictional band, it demonstrates that the concept of the American Dream has been skewed into something of overnight superstardom, rather than hard work leading to success. Likewise, this is many children’s first time even hearing about the American Dream in a way that caters to their age group. Understandably, this is merely children’s programming but is it appropriate to equate a once-in-a-million event (becoming a superstar overnight) to a concept many Americans actively strive for?

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Inclusivity in the American Dream for Disabled Americans

Tik Tok user, Imani Barbarin (@crutches_and_spice) is a disability blogger, content creator and public speaker. Barbarin uses her Tik Tok platform to educate Americans (and everyone else for that matter) on how to dismantle their own forms of ableism and become a better allies to disabled people.

Barbarin frequently tackles topics of “inspiration porn” and its harmful impacts, as well as the failures our government has created for the disabled community for many years.

As I’ve been following Barbarin’s content for months now, I came upon the realization that the American Dream is not inclusive as it should be, or as it was designed to be. From the snowstorm failures the south currently living through (due to the lack of preventative infrastructure and accessibility for disabled people) to the destructive effects on disabled people under capitalism, the American Dream was not created for everyone as it should have been.

The disabled community is deserving of dreams that do not boil down to their inspiration to able-bodied people. For the American Dream to really exist in its purest form, there needs to be more effort made by everyone in making it an inclusive concept.