I Know I've Already Mentioned This, But It Needs to be Said Again

In class today, the discussion was about all about costs versus benefits. The discussion started with whether or not AU should support WAMU and then it turn to what tuition should be spent on. Answers to both of these questions were very similar. All of the responses to questions about how we should evaluate costs vs. benefits were the same. The logic of the responses directly lead to utilitarianism. Everyone was saying that you should get direct benefits from anything that AU spends money on; that everything that AU does should be only about them. This is the logical conclusions of answers like "We're paying for it, so we should get to choose" ( the idea that you're entitled to certain rights because you can pay for it and do pay for it) and "How does this benefit us?" ( the idea that everything AU does should directly benefit you). These responses lead directly to the language of utilitarianism and selfishness. Do people realize what they are saying when they say these things or are they really oblivious to what their words mean? Do they realize that they are being selfish? Should you really get more rights simply because you can and are willing to pay for them? Are not rights inherent, and not bought? I've noticed that most people do not realize where the logic of their answers lead and that this language of utilitarianism and selfishness is deeply ingrained in modern America.