Advantages And Disadvantages Of Privatization Of Higher Education

In 1897, there was an average of 256 students in a private institution and 415 students in a public institution (Goldin et. al. 45). In comparison, the average amount of students in 1924 in a private institution increased to 755 students per institution and 2165 students per public institution (Goldin et. al. 45). Both private and public institutions benefited from the increase of higher education students. Public institutions in 1924 had five times the amount of students they had in 1897. Ten years later, private institutions had an average of 859 students, and public institutions had an average of 2790 students (Goldin et. al. 45). This shows that the dramatic increase that occurred from 1897 to 1924 continued in the following

The continuous rising cost of higher education is frequently spoken about today and deserves much more attention then it receives. College tuition for students is a rather large investment and considered to be one of the most expensive to make. As college tuition prices are continuously increasing so is the cost of housing. The average American family is finding it more and more difficult to be able to have a fair shot at affording to go to college. Although there are numerous possibilities, the cost of higher education for student is still too high and implementing a solid accreditation process and examining the student loan crisis happening could help improve a lot of problems.

The topic of this paper is the states’ decreasing financial support of higher education, the reaction and response from institutions who have lost funding, and the creative ways public institutions are locating additional streams of revenue. States have been the primary backer of public institutions, but since the recession states have shown less commitment financially while still heavily regulating higher education. As a result some institutions have had to change their practices while others have challenged their state’s regulations all together. Many have speculated that state funding may never return to its former highs. Rather than make an enemy of the state, some schools have discovered new and unconvential ways of raising funds for their institution.

According to Samuel Flam and William Keane authors of Public Schools: Private Enterprise, the definition of privatize is “...the process of turning over to private companies, programs, services and sometimes properties previously operated and/or owned by a government agency” (Flam & Keane, 1997, p.15). Privatizing of a school service is selling a service of the school district to a private company that runs, maintains and keeps up the service. The school district no longer oversees this service and virtually has no control over what they do but outsourcing this service would cut back on the economic spending of the school. A school service is something that students receive that is provided for them in school to enhance their well-being. In the school system, some examples of services that could be outsourced by a private company are school lunches, buses and janitor staff. According to Joe Argon author of Changing of the Guard, “for schools, transportation, food service, HVAC maintenance, computer servicing and printing continue to be the areas privatized most often” (Argon, 1997). The main issue behind this is finding out if privatizing school services does the school district more harm or good and what happens to the services and students after they have been privatized.

Higher education has a vast history; beginning in the early colonial period and spanning ten generations. With its wide range of history, aspects of higher education have changed as the ideals and reforms of society adjusted. Albeit, the missions and purposes of college have remained the same. In this paper, I will clarify the three main missions and purposes of higher education. Then, I will shift the focus of the paper to the area I would like to pursue in higher education and how it reflects those purposes.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loans have quadrupled since 2004, to $1.2 trillion (Brown). This insurmountable debt is an astronomical problem for Americans today and more so, for future Americans. College tuition has been rising for the past 40 years and will continue to do so exponentially. In an asset management report done by J.P.Morgan in 2014, the firm projects the cost of private universities to be at roughly $90,000, and $40,000 for public four-year universities in the year of 2030 (Badkar). If the government remains dormant toward this issue, college students 20 years from now, will be burdened with an even larger amount of debt.

John R. Thelin called the period from 1970 to 1980 “turbulent waters” for all institutions (Thelin, 2011, p. 317). After the golden age, the industry of Higher Education in the U.S. faced the not-so-bright future with a lot of colleges and universities being shut down. Thelin (2011, p. 337) points out that the institutions could have been prepared to handle the steadily declining enrollment, decreased revenues, decline in funding, stagflation, and rising campus maintenance costs if only they picked on the first signs of upcoming financial crisis when in 1970, the share price of the NSMC fell from $140 to $7 over the short period of time (Thelin, 2011, p. 317). However, the universities and colleges of that time were so confident and relied on “the public image of higher education as a “growth industry” (Thelin, 2011, p. 318) so much, that they were not monitoring the changing situation and thus, were not fast enough in adopting to new conditions. It does not mean that there were many college closings; vice a versa, some colleges grew, opened new programs and applied for research grants. These colleges adopted the enterprise thinking (Thelin, 2011, p. 337).

According to the article “College on Credit” written in “The Economist” journal, student debt over the years has risen tremendously. In the course of 10 years, student debt has sky rocketed from $41 billion to $87 billion in 2009. Certain states decisions to increase the tuition fees to help heal their own budget troubles will only worsen this economic crisis. The article further states how borrowing will continue, if students are unable to pay the tuition. Due to limited government funds, the ever so increasing number of students wanting to borrow loans resort to private sources.

According to the article “College on Credit” written in “The Economist” journal, student debt over the years has risen tremendously. In the course of 10 years, student debt has skyrocketed from $41 billion to $87 billion in 2009. Certain state’s decisions to increase the tuition fees to assist heal their own budget complications will only worsen this economic crisis. The article further states how borrowing will continue, if students are unable to pay the tuition. Due to limited government funds, the ever increasing number of students wanting to borrow loans resort to private sources.

During this time of exponential growth in the private for-profit sector, the industry benefited from changes in Federal government policies. The U.S. government saw private colleges as a way to expand the choices in the education market. It also saw them as a way to meet demand for education and to develop a more skilled workforce in the United States (Harkin, 2012). To assist in the expansion of this sector of education, constraints on Federal financial aid were loosened, and accredited for-profits enjoyed increased access to Federal student aid funds (Loonin, 2011).

Between the 1900s and 1975 the United States experiences growth in many areas of higher education (HE). Various publications, people, acts and legislation influenced change in thought, access, policy, practice, and assessment of HE. From the Civil War Era to the Mass Education Era we witnessed the struggle of African Americans that influenced important legislation, the Progressive Movement and the birth of the Wisconsin Idea, the publication and revision of the Student Personnel Point of View, the President’s Commission on Higher Education, and the passing of the Higher Education Act. All of which contributed to the growth of HE during this time period.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loans have quadrupled since 2004, to $1.2 trillion (Brown). This insurmountable debt is an astronomical problem for Americans today and more so, for future Americans. College tuition have been rising for the past 40 years and will continue to do so exponentially. In an asset management report done by J.P.Morgan in 2014, the firm projects the cost of private universities to be at roughly $90,000, and $40,000 for public four-year universities in the year of 2030 (Badkar). If the government remains dormant toward this issue, college students 20 years from now, will be burdened by an even bigger pile of debt.

In the 1980s a first-year college student could attend a public four-year university for $2,500 and a private university for a little over $5,000. Although, most of these universities are offering the same mediocre education from the last three decades; the cost of tuition has more than tripled for public universities and for private universities, it has gone up a staggering 85%. Canada holds an average educational cost of 5,974 and England follows with an estimated average cost of 5,288. In spite the tuition in the United States being more than twice that of its allies; the main problem contributing to the continuing rise of tuition are the billions of dollars owed in both federal and private student loans. Unfortunately, out of 15 countries the United States held the number one position when it came down to the cost of a higher education (including books, fees, room and board).With that being said, I will thoroughly explain in the following essay how student loans have affected the cost of tuition, compare US tuition to other countries, and analyze the average spending budget for most universities that prove to influence the rise in tuition.

What the writer is basically talking about in this article is the importance of change in certain aspects in the education system that could help improve higher education in the U.S. He starts with identifying the problems and outline certain solutions. He has aimed it towards both students and the U.S government, to try and raise awareness. This would be done by recognizing the concerns of students and making the government aware of them. His purpose of writing this article is to initiate or lay the roots to possible change in the system. He identifies flaws in the system, relating them to actual problems faced by students and finally trying to make the government aware, so they could take particular action. The writer identifies the government’s plans to improve higher education by helping students pay for their loans, however he believes that focus should change to finding cost effective ways of educating. He supports his statement by giving solutions, like the adaption of new technologies to make education less costly. ‘To this day institutions have taken technology as an added cost, rather than means to increase productivity and reduce costs’. Another solution the writer puts forward is specialization, meaning that universities should only specialize in particular fields

The tuition increases have come in response to the lack of federal funding to universities, leading them to find their own way to provide for their upkeep. “Recent increases in university tuition fees are part of a new entrepreneurial trend in higher education in which institutions are expected to generate more of their own revenue” (Quirke). The universities have decided that since they can no longer look towards federal funds to fuel their costs of maintenance and revenue, they must find a new route towards attaining much needed funds, and they have chosen to