Student debt and tuition are topics that most of us are quite familiar with, but few of us like to talk about. Even if your parents are paying for your college education or you have thousands of dollars in scholarship money and awards, there is something emotionally draining about clicking more and more of your money away each month on your U-Bill.

To state the obvious, college is expensive. For what purpose are we spending thousands of dollars each year? That answer, too, seems obvious. The hopeful end result of all this spending is a degree (and through that degree, a job), right? Perhaps your preferred college didn’t have your program, or you’ve followed Iowa State Athletics from childhood, or are partially in college just to participate in the “college atmosphere” of binge drinking and partying. Regardless, the one-word answer to that critical question why are you here is usually the same: education.

So when you think of all of those dollars you are spending on tuition and student fees, it would be comforting to think that they are singularly going towards that education. Realistically, you know that isn’t true, when you look at State Gym or other recent expansions or edifices constructed on campus. Though many of these renovations or constructions (such as those done in Curtis Hall) are the result of donations, why is it that so many donors focus on aesthetics over quality of education? For me personally, the faulty prioritization of spending doesn’t really hit home until I step inside a class taught not by a professor but a graduate student.

Too many “basic” classes (such as introductory level statistics or chemistry labs) are delegated to these unpracticed, over-burdened individuals. That isn’t to say that graduate students always make unfit teachers. I have had and heard many stories of students who are simply fantastic teachers, better able to relate to and explain concepts to students and more than knowledgeable on their subject.

For many students, these college lectures are a practice arena for what they actually want to be doing in the future: teaching college students. Those students often seem more collected and passionate about teaching their class. However, no matter how diligently a graduate student attacks this challenge, the potential repercussions of having a less-practiced instructor remain.

Even if the class being taught is a simple introductory level course, there will always be students who don’t grasp it as easily. Even those who do understand the material can be disadvantaged by the lack of a “real” professor.

The argument that professors are too concerned with their research and publications than lecture and instruction is one often echoed on campus. However true that may be, instructing is part of their job description. The disproportionate emphasis on publication over instructing has in turn led to a sad lack of attention payed to the actual education of college students. Even though tenured professors are required to both teach and research, students (even graduate students) should be required only to learn, but unfortunately find themselves having to teach in addition. In many cases, instructing might be an important skill for graduate students to learn, but throwing them into full classrooms with limited assistance seems almost cruel.

The most potent counterargument is that Ph.D. professors, especially the “celebrity” professors who generate interest, are a costly investment. Each of these professors who maybe only teaches a couple classes a year requires a full annual salary. The addition of more professors would be an undeniably large expense. But it seems ridiculous that the item with which we are stingy is the item that should be of utmost importance.

It seems a simple thing, to ask that our money goes towards the supposed ultimate purpose of a university. This is especially true when its such a vast amount of money, trapping many students in decades of debt. I do not pretend to be an expert on the financial operations of our university, but from a general perspective, it seems that Iowa State’s priorities need to be rearranged.

The gym facilities are wonderful, and the newly constructed or renovated buildings are easier on the eye as students walk across campus. But these are things that fall behind the importance of the “quality” education on which we all spend so much time, effort, and money.

For every story of a magnificent student instructing a class, there is at least one of a conversely unprepared graduate student who disadvantages the students taking the class. Admittedly, there is more to college than the classes. But as far as what the university should provide, education and professional instruction should take an indisputable lead.

Sure, lectures and homework aren’t all there is in the college experience, or even in a college education. Regardless, instruction and professor availability should be at the top of the list. Spending gratuitously on a new gym seems a fine idea when you think about how convenient and accessible it will be. But when the distant goal of a college degree is harried by negligent prioritization and the deployment of graduate students as teachers, it becomes harder to sign yourself into vast student debt.

Hailey Gross is a sophomore in English from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.