Ivory Tower

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 United States needs to look to other nations that have figured out the necessity of higher education to be at an affordable cost if not free. In 2015, college graduates are facing on average just north of $35,000 in student debt (Berman). In part, the government has reduced the federal funding that each college receives each year. Therefore, colleges have constantly raised the

Have you ever had an extraordinary desire for something, only to have someone tell you it is out of your reach? Does that make you try harder, or completely give up? In Professor X’s essay, In the basement of Ivory Tower, (X) he goes into great detail stating how his students have the desire to maintain high academic standards in order to receive a promotion, to further their career, or because it is a job requirement. However, these same students cannot possibly pass their classes due to their lack of abilities. Initially, I found myself believing the author was hostile and unhappy in his career, although, the more I read this article I found myself shifting opinions, and I began to appreciate what a controversial topic college education truly is. Professor X discusses how some students are unfit for college. I believe that college isn’t for everyone. Furthermore, society has set expectations that everyone should attend college. As a society we have lost track of the value of apprentice programs.

Higher education has been known by many Americans as a luxury for only those who can afford it if not being forever in debt with student loans. The price of higher education has been in debate for many years but it still has not ceased to come into an agreement. Should higher education lower its price or is it worth paying for it? As Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus argue in their article “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” there are colleges worth mentioning about how successful their financial management has been correlated with their students success. The issue has also come into attention for Sanford J. Ungar, as he explains in his article “The New Liberal Arts,” although liberal arts education may be have its misconceptions, it does pay for its price. Hence, higher education (whether from a regular university or a liberal arts college) is worth the price, as it prepares individuals for the real world more than any other kind of education, it is an unique time were students are allowed to explore and put their abilities into test and it is the opportunity for many to overcome the many obstacles life has to offer.

There is no escaping the fact that the cost of college tuition continues to rise in the United States each year. To make it worse, having a college degree is no longer an option, but a requirement in today’s society. According to data gathered by the College Board, total costs at public four-year institutions rose more rapidly between 2003-04 and 2013-14 than they did during either of the two preceding decades (Collegeboard.com). Students are pressured to continue into higher education but yet, the increasing costs of books and tuition make us think about twice. Sometimes, some of these students have to leave with their education partially finished, leaving them with crushing debts. It is important to find the means to prevent these

Marty Nemko, in the article, “We Send Too Many Students To College,” acknowledges that colleges have become obscenely expensive and that it is possible to be successful without going to college. Arguing that too many students are sent to college without realizing that it is not imperative, Nemko targets parents in his claims that colleges focus on educating in the cheapest way possible and most importantly, that the advantage of past college graduates in the job market is declining. One of his main reasons is that even though the average college graduate makes more money, hundreds of thousands of students in the bottom half of their high school class do not succeed in higher education. Nemko’s article is the most persuasive article on whether college education still has value as he argues that college is not beneficial to everyone through demonstrations of hyperbole, and figurative language.

A major problem for today’s high school graduates is the rising price in college education. Attending college can add up really fast; it can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year (Barkan 1). No wonder, in Steven Barkan’s book of social problems, issues and problems in higher education take up a full chapter. In this chapter, Barkan states that only 44% of all students who attend a four-year institution is lucky enough to have annual tuitions and fees amount to less than $9,000 per year. The aggravating question is, “why does college cost so much?” Not only is tuition part of the cost of college but also fees housing and meals, books, school supplies, and accessories (“What’s the Price Tag” 1). All tuition covers is the money for academic instruction. Fees are charges for specific services such as, internet access, and then the cost of books and school supplies add up. Additionally, one is not paying just for textbooks but also

College debt is becoming more of a drastic problem in the United States with the rising costs of college tuition. In “Why the Student Loan Crisis Is Even Worse Than People Think” Mark Kantrowitz expresses how the issue of student debt in America is to be blamed by the government’s lack of action. In “Is College Doomed?” Graeme Wood expresses the benefits of the new and innovative univeristy Minerva. A perk about this university is that it includes the cheaper tuition than other ivy league schools because of its lack of all the componenets of an average university. The government needs to be more involved in preventing future college students from graduating with overwhelming debt.

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.

America’s education system has been in a state of distress for the past decade, but garnished headlines recently as the student loan debt crisis reached over a trillion dollars. In conjunction with that, tuition is no longer the only obstacle a student faces when considering their future. As generations come and go, universities have slowly, but surely, been angling their education in a way to favor profit over knowledge. Because of the new direction higher education models are taking, Magdalena Kay questions her readers, “is there a problem with students, with teachers, with administrators, or maybe

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.

In light of the vast and increasing amount of complaints that the cost of college is too “expensive”, although true since the cost of college has increased by an exponential amount since the days such were established, the monetary value of any college in general is built upon various necessities to which these college shall offer (i.e. room and board, books, meal, etc.) (Issue & Controversies). Not only do these main components contribute to the growth of student debt but the tuition of the school plays a part as well. Schools install tuitions within their teaching programs in order to fund for a variety of resources. The teachers for one are the fundamental part of this payment process since most universities attempt to hire and rehire the best staff available to them in order to provide a healthy

Some people go to college and they were not aware of the reality of college tuition and loans. As a result, some students received a piece of paper, diploma, and "debts of $40,000 or more" (qtd. in Nugent). Because Andrew Rossi included the real data and statistics of student debts, it gives the audiences a sense of what they are getting into by going to college. By adding facts and data from different sources, Andrew Rossi toughen his logos appeals.

The cost of attending college has risen drastically over the years. Statistics show that there has been a 260% increase in tuition costs since 1980. The increase in tuition cost equates to an increase in money borrowed to fund higher education. An increase in money borrowed results in an increase in debt accumulated over time. As a result of the rising figures, the economy as a whole has also suffered because of the restricted financial space many graduates find themselves in upon completion of their degree. In this paper, we will discuss college costs, reasons why they have risen, and the best way for students to pay for it.

In the documentary College Conspiracy, it talked about the reality of the United States’ education business which provides nothing useful to learn but just a degree that is worthless. The number of students who graduated from college is so large that the degree become meaningless and does not provide a job guarantee at all. Moreover, this situation will not just affect those students, because there is so much money have been spent on those students, when they can not pay back, the huge bad debt will impact everyone holding U.S. dollar.