Jennie Tillson used the situation/effects questions to develop her problem definition by identifying the problematic situation and examining its effects on specific groups of people.

What is the situation? Over the last ten years, tuition at two-year colleges has risen by 53% and at four-year colleges by 85% (see Quinn). This increase has been paralleled by a comparable increase in family earning for middle- and upper-income Americans, but the cost has risen sharply for poor families (Quinn). Although the availability of financial aid has increased (College Board, cited in Quinn), more aid is coming as loans rather than as grants. And more aid is being given for merit rather than for financial need (College Board, cited in Quinn).

What are the effects? Some students have delayed or given up on a college education. Some have not been able to enroll at their first- or second-choice college or university, a problem that can affect the quality of education they receive. Some are working full-time as they take classes. Some students are graduating with a higher level of debt than classmates from wealthier families. Some colleges and universities have kept tuition lower by increasing class size, offering fewer classes, and hiring adjunct faculty rather than full-time faculty.

Who is affected? Poorer students and their families are affected directly. Indirectly, all Americans are affected because, as it gets harder to attend college, the gap between rich and poor will grow, and higher education will become segregated by income class (see Nyhan).

Because Jennie was trying to approach the problem of increasing tuition as a situation that affected all Americans, the situation/effects questions worked well for her. If she had been trying to identify the causes of the problem, she might have used the agent/goals/actions/results questions. If she had been interested in assessing how serious the problem is and its long-term impact, she might have used the questions that address severity and duration.