Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
You’re 18 years old, and you just finished high school. What will you do with your life now? In the US, many people decide to get higher education. This means they enroll in a college or university. But even going to public institutions can still mean student loans. Going to a phenomenal private institution means even more debt.
How much money does the average student owe in the US? In 2016, the average student loan debt was over $30,000. That’s a lot of money! On the other hand, getting higher education makes it possible to learn cool new things and network with other students. The real question is this: is a bigger paycheck later worth so much debt now?
Dominique asks Gary what he thinks about higher education. Listen to this English lesson to find out his thoughts on this topic!
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Dominique: So, how do you feel about higher education?
Gary: Personally speaking, I think higher education is absolutely phenomenal. It allows you to be able to network with people and to learn a lot of things that you otherwise probably never would have learned.
Dominique: What about all the student loans? What about the debt?
Gary: Yeah…
Dominique: I know someone that got their master’s degree, and they owe a lot of money. Yet, they have this master’s degree, so they were able to get this really good job. But now their paycheck is like they work at, like, a fast food place because the majority of their money is going to pay for that education.
Gary: That’s the struggle that I have with higher education. The costs are so high that even if you get the degree, then your degree doesn’t necessary mean much because you have huge loans. Thankfully, there are public institutions that you can go to and not have these huge debts.
Dominique: What? Where are they at?
Gary: They’re all over.
Dominique: Man, I’ve been doing this wrong.
Gary: Actually, there are some countries that pay you to go to school.
Dominique: Must be nice.
Gary: It’s amazing, right? Man, I’d love to be there. Walk out, and have no debt at all, and have been paid to go to school.
Dominique: Wait, they’re paid to go to school?
Gary: They’re paid to go to school!
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Possessive Adjectives" from this lesson 
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Discussion
Dominique wants to know what Gary thinks about higher education. Gary thinks students should be smart about paying for it. If they’re not careful, they might owe a lot of money, like Dominique’s friend does. Dominique’s friend got a master’s degree. Because of the degree, her friend has a big paycheck, but most of it is used to pay student loans.
Gary tells Dominique that it IS possible to get a phenomenal education without a lot of debt. For example, a student could choose to study at public institutions instead of private institutions. Or a student could choose to study in another country. Dominique is surprised to learn that there are free and low-cost schools all over the world!
Do you owe any money? Is it OK to pay for higher education with student loans?
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