High Cost Of Higher Education
Many students will soon drop out of college due to the constantly rising cost of higher education. Research shows that both the two-year and four-year education system in the U.S. has experienced a significant increase in college tuition over the last three decades. If this trend is allowed to go on unchallenged, the likelihood of most students being unable to meet the high cost will be very high in the coming years as there are already notable signs of this happening. According to education expert
College Is More Importantbut More Expensivethan Ever Before
A postsecondary credential has never been more important.In today’s economy, higher education is no longer a luxury for the privileged few, but a necessity for individual economic opportunity and America’s competitiveness in the global economy. At a time when jobs can go anywhere in the world, skills and education will determine success for individuals and for nations. As a result, a college education remains the best investment a student can make in his or her future.
- College graduates with a bachelor’s degree typically earn 66 percent more than those with only a high school diploma and are also far less likely to face unemployment.
- Over the course of a lifetime, the average worker with a bachelor’s degree will earn approximately $1 million more than a worker without a postsecondary education.
Studentsincluding many older students juggling work and family responsibilitiesrecognize that higher education is a key to opportunity, and that has fueled a substantial increase in college enrollment rates in recent years. But unfortunately, for millions of other students, our higher education system isn’t delivering what they need, or deserve. In part because of the rising costs of college, too many students are unable to enroll or complete high-quality degrees.
College has never been more expensive.
A New Study Investigates Why College Tuition Is So Expensive
Coins and banknote in a glass jar placed on the textbook. Concept money saving for education.
getty
Over the past two decades, published college tuition has increased in price more than any other good or service besides hospital care. Tuition inflation has risen at a faster rate than the cost of medical services, child care, and housing. While generous financial aid means that students usually pay far less than the sticker price of tuition, the net price of public four-year colleges has still more than doubled since the turn of the century. Moreover, underlying costs at American colleges are the highest of any large country in the developed world.
Preston Cooper/Forbes
A new paper by economist Beth Akers of the Manhattan Institute asks why college tuition is so high and still rising. The proximate causes of tuition inflation are familiar: administrative bloat, overbuilding of campus amenities, a model dependent on high-wage labor, and the easy availability of subsidized student loans.
However, the deeper question is why the market has allowed these cost inefficiencies to persist. In most industries, competition brings down the cost of products over time. The first laptop computer cost over $5,000 in todays dollars, but now laptops with far more computing power can be bought for $200. Why hasnt the same phenomenon occurred in higher education?
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Some Schools Plan To Reduce Tuition Due To Covid
Some colleges have announced plans to freeze tuition for the 2020 school year or not increase it in 2021. Others have given partial tuition refunds for unused fees.
Some colleges have announced plans to freeze tuition for the upcoming school year or not increase it in 2021. Others have given partial tuition refunds for unused fees.
Southern New Hampshire University announced it would slash tuition rates from $31,000 to $10,000 by 2021. The private nonprofit which has more than 135,000 online students compared to 3,000 on-campus students is also offering full-tuition scholarships to incoming first-year students enrolling on campus.
Winthrop University cut its summer tuition by 12%, while American University offered 10% off summer classes. Florida Gateway College let students enroll in two summer classes for the price of one.
But most colleges and universities aren’t budging. From the perspective of these schools, they’re having the same faculty teach the same classes for the same credits. And of course, the diploma won’t be any less valuable if a few of the credits graduates earn were taken online.
College Should Be Cheaper And Not Lead To Endless Debt
Higher education has become corporatized as students struggle financially.
Its tragic that we live in a capitalistic society in which college is a business. Students are working three jobs a day and attending school full-time only to graduate with a $100K-plus debt waiting for them beyond the gates of graduation.
It wasnt always like this, however. There was a time in which the sole purpose of a college was to provide an education. But as part of the status quo, today these institutions are now digging into parents and students cash-strapped wallets to put endless amounts of money into the hands of college CEOs.
Some may contend, Well, why do students buy into the system? Instead of complaining, just dont go.
That is indeed the problem. A college education will make or break you. In order to get a job that can allow you to survive, you must have a college education. Even at that, you arent guaranteed a job after graduation a college degree is a gamble in which you have everything to lose, and potentially nothing to gain.
As a college student approaching her senior year, I see this occurring firsthand. I see classmates who are lucky to get an hour of sleep because they are working tirelessly in order to get that diploma. I see younger children wanting to go to college abroad but are forced to stay back because their parents simply cant afford it.
There are scholarships, they say, a college education can be funded.
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College Tuition Cost Essay
A simultaneous groan can be heard across the country by every college student as a new semester begins. Everyone knows how expensive college can be and a lot of students fresh out of high school dont have enough money to pay for it. In 1980, when taking into consideration the cost of both private and public universities, the average four year college tuition cost was $23,000 . Recently, the average four year cost can be $70,000, and the average debt per student is $27,000 . Because
College Affordability And Completion: Ensuring A Pathway To Opportunity
“By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”
President Barack Obama
Creating a clear path to the middle class and ensuring our nation’s economic prosperity means opening the doors of higher education to more Americans. Today, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require education and training beyond a high school diploma. Yet nearly half the students who begin college in this country don’t finish within six years. And tuition continues to rise, putting college out of reach for the very families that need it most to join the middle class. A generation ago, America led the world in college attainment of young adults now, we rank 13th. The Obama administration is committed to restoring our world leadership in college completion and ensuring that every student has access to an affordable and high-quality postsecondary education.
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Support For Higher Education In The Fiscal Year 2017 Budget
The 2017 budget continues on the path of helping to ensure that students can attain a postsecondary credential without taking on more debt than they and their families can afford. It also supports an ongoing shift toward focusing on student outcomes in higher education, and, in particular, completion, so that both students and the nation can thrive in the global economy. As a result, the 2017 budget includes proposals to address college access, affordability, and completion:
The Advantages Of Online University
With technological advances, online universities are proliferating. Online universities require less overhead costs. Therefore, they are almost always cheaper than traditional schools. However, there are even some that are totally tuition-free.
Founded in 2009, Shai Reshef started the University of the People with the mission to offer an affordable and quality education to anyone around the world. Students from over 200 countries and territories have been in attendance of the online programs.
We have degree programs in Computer Science, Health Science, Education, and Business Administration.
Thanks to a wide network of volunteers and professors from renowned institutions around the world, the education offered parallels that of a traditional American university and is accredited as such.
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Colleges Need To Pay More Professors
Just as it costs money to learn, it costs money to pay teachers. Higher education is a labor-intensive industry, and productivity gains come slowly, Hartle said.
“The primary mechanism for delivering higher education at most institutions are highly educated people,” he said. “Acquiring and recruiting highly educated faculty and staff costs money, especially in jobs with significant demand outside academia.”
Hartle said the sorts of things that could lower these costs â such as larger classes, more adjunct faculty and fewer full-time professors, shorter hours, and fewer books in the library â were immensely unpopular with students, parents, and the public.
“Colleges spend much of their money on staff and compensation, so they have been experiencing an increasing cost of health insurance and other benefits,” Ma said, adding that while university tuition allocations vary by institution, most use a large percentage of tuition to pay professors’ salaries.
Vedder believes the percentage of university budgets used for instruction has fallen over the past 50 years.
“A typical university around 1970 would have allocated 40% directly for instruction, mostly professor salaries,” he said. “Nowadays, it’s more like 30%.”
With more part-time faculty members, universities can dole out lower wages and benefits, saving money for noninstructional full-time roles and a smaller group of tenured faculty, whom they can try to attract with higher salaries.
Low Income Families Must Spent The Vast Majority Of Their Income On Unmet Need
Net Cost of College, After Grant Aid, As a Percentage of Family Income
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study . Percentages are for dependent students attending college full-time for a full-year
The marginal impact of removing that unmet needwhich would be accomplished by debt-free collegeis actually quite progressive.
And again, if you look at the debt levels of graduates, its pretty clear that were asking more of underserved students than we are of anyone else:
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Students Might Have More Freedom To Choose A Major They Enjoy
Whether it is the influence of parents or knowing you need to pay loans back as quickly as possible, current students are often guided toward practical majors that have a more lucrative post-graduation income. If shelling out thousands upon thousands of dollars is no longer a factor, parents and students might feel more relaxed about studying for majors that dont necessarily have a large paycheck associated with them. Interest and enjoyment from a field of study goes a long way in helping students stick with it and avoid burning out.
Lowering Tuition Costs To Zero Increases Student Success
One-off tuition discounts can help send students to college during the pandemic. But bigger moves toward college affordability could be coming. Twin crises student debt and the educational opportunity gap make college affordability an increasingly hot political topic.
Free community college could increase college enrollment by 26% and the number of degrees awarded by 20%.
One of the biggest ideas in education policy free college has gained widespread support over the past five years. Free two-year and four-year college plans typically show federal and state governments splitting the bill.
Just as the growth of federal student aid encouraged college enrollment and broadened the educational choices of disadvantaged students, free-college plans promise to improve diversity in higher education. A working paper from the Federal Trade Commission projects that free community college would increase enrollment by 26% and increase the number of degrees awarded by 20%.
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The Feasibility Of Free College In 2021
Expansive proposals for college affordability have never had so much support. President-elect Joe Biden currently touts a free-college plan in which the government subsidizes the lion’s share of college tuition and states make up the balance.
An overarching free-college plan would represent a major shift in U.S. education policy, but one that has been previewed on the state level. About half of all states already offer some form of free college tuition.
A divided Congress may stall calls for free college in 2021, though widespread student debt forgiveness could be on the horizon.
Despite popularity among policymakers and U.S. adults, free college may have a hard time passing a divided Congress. Students and families could see debt forgiveness first. Biden has been vocal in his support of a Democratic proposal to cancel at least $10,000 of outstanding federal student loans per borrower .
Prominent legal battles over debt held by students who were defrauded by their colleges prove that federal student loans may be legally discharged. Moreover, research that highlights the disproportionate impact student loan debt has on Black students and their families is fueling an increased desire for change. Writing off existing debt will only be a short-term boon, however, if the ongoing cost of college isn’t reduced.
Everyone Wants To Go To College
“The demand for higher education has risen dramatically since 1985,” Vedder said. “Once demand goes up and nothing else happens, that will raise prices.”
According to the Department of Education, US colleges expected a total of 20.4 million students in fall 2017, about 5.1 million more than in fall 2000.
“The rewards for college have expanded and grown from 1985 to a little after 2000 and sort of leveled off in the past decade,” Vedder said.
The increase in the student population indicates that the advantages college offers outweigh its overwhelming costs.
“There’s a fear of failure if you didn’t have a postsecondary education,” Vedder said.
And yet, he said, the “advantage of a degree today is less than it was 10 years ago, because of the rising cost.”
“The return on investment has fallen,” he added, “and 40% of kids don’t graduate within six years.”
Still, it’s a vicious cycle of supply and demand. The more students who want to attend college, the more the cost of college increases, and the more students borrow money.
From 2000 to 2012, the percentage of students who took out student loans jumped to 60% from about 50%, according to a report by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The report also found that they began borrowing more money too â the median cumulative loan amount rose to $20,400 from $16,500 in that time.
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Doing More To Focus On Student Outcomes
Cost and debt are only part of the storywe need increased focus on student success.
Addressing growing college costs and debt is absolutely critical. Many more students need access to vastly more affordable and quality higher education opportunitiesincluding tuition- free degree options. For too long, though, America’s higher education system has focused almost exclusively on inputsenrolling students in collegeand too little on outcomesgraduating from college with high-quality degrees. We must reset the incentives that underpin the system so the focus is on the outcome that matters: completing a quality degree at a reasonable cost. Otherwise, we will merely be finding better ways of paying for an unsustainable status quo.
The most expensive education is one that doesn’t lead to a degree.
While graduating with high levels of debt is holding too many borrowers back from reaching their full potential, the even more damaging outcome is for students who take on debt but never complete their degree. In fact, students’ ability to repay their loans depends more strongly on whether they graduate than on how much total debt they take on.