The $57,000 Elephant in My Head

Jonathan Host, MIA 2009

Four weeks into the program, I can confirm:  SIPA is as diverse as advertised.  In fact, SIPA is diverse in every facet of meaning that the word itself entails. 

The students are young and old, hailing from all sectors: private, government, non-profit, academia, law, military, policy...even medicine.  Their politics and interests rainbow the spectrum.  Ethnically, the student body rivals the United Nations general assembly-- take a 100-paced stroll through the fourth-floor mixing bowl, and you might just overhear conversations in five different languages.  (You know the adage "in a world of 6 billion, even if you're one in a million, there are still 6000 people just like you"?  That doesn't apply at SIPA.  These people are unique.)

As diverse as the school is, it's very difficult to find characteristics that are universally applicable to all of its students.  In fact, I can think of only two.  First, we all came here to do well and good in the world in which we live.  And second... we all paid a boatload of money to do that first thing.

The student's lament over the cost of higher education (and presumably, the massive student loan debt accrued as a result) is so commonplace that it has become a passe bleating that fades into the background of the New York cityscape.  The promissory note is a red badge of courage that we all carry with us as a reminder of our commitment and obligation to become successful leaders in whatever career path we ultimately choose.

The irony of course is that the greater the financial obligation, the more limited the "choice" of career becomes. And not to say that "doing good" and "doing well" are mutually exclusive-- they most certainly are not-- but there are few metaphysically fulfilling opportunities that I know of that can also take care of my six-figure debt.

Yes, SIPA is a professional school. Certainly, the course curriculum is sensitive to the demands of students looking to command a competitive salary upon graduation. However, the administration should not forget that a significant component of that demand is directly correlated to the student debt we assume to attend here.   

We are not the law school, and we are not the business school.  We are the international school, the school of diverse interests.  Financial constraints limit opportunity and threaten the very diversity that makes us unique.  Let's not allow the creeping specter of looming loans to dampen the ambitions that brought us here in the first place.

Jonathan Host is a first year SIPA student concentrating in Advanced Policy and Economic Analysis.  He writes for fun on his blog http://www.snarkybehavior.com