Doing the right thing

Doing the right thing I love my 96 1/2 year old grandfather in-law.   I always learn something from him. You just have to ask the right questions.   I have asked him the difference between staw and hay (dont remember the answer, but it made sense at the time), and how many ears of corn does a stalk produce-one. Great Ralph, as he is known, attended Cornells Agricultural school.   I asked him this weekend more about college.    He came from  a  4th generation  farming family.   I asked him  why he attended college and  he said everybody I knew was going, it was the thing to do.   So then I asked him why Cornell.   He told me that it was between Syracuse or Cornell.   I was thinking that those 2 schools were  close to his  home, but it was more than that.   Both Syracuse and  Cornell offered  close to  a free education  in their Agricultural schools.   (Syracuse eliminated theirs right after Ralph started Cornell). So,  imagine today, some of the  greatest colleges offer  in-state discounts (almost a free ride)  in the programs/degrees needed in  that state or our country (science and math)?   Sure, that sounds idealistic.   If we want to compete with the education in India, well have to do something more than  offer the  exclusive, cost-prohibative eduction we have today.    Why does it cost so much for college anyway? Why does higher education have to be a priveledge, rather than a right?   Shouldnt anyone with the desire to learn be able to attend a college to get that knowledge?   It is time for colleges to wake up and smell the coffee.