Raising Tuition Rates

College tuition has been an increasingly intense topic of discussion over the years. The costs of higher education have been debated by many people, and it has been discussed as to whether costs are becoming too high for students to afford. College has become more and more popular, and now as many as 20 million students attend universities reported by The National Center for Education Statistics (1). The value of a college degree is immense, but college tuition is becoming too expensive for students to afford, and furthering the problem are students’ lack of knowledge on how to pay and earn money towards their college degree.

The ideas of equal opportunities that America was built on has been lost and replaced with a structure of education only being accessible for the wealthy. College tuition is a topic that is on every high school and college student's mind. As tuition costs are constantly rising more college students will face the sticker shock of acquiring a secondary education. Unfortunately, college costs do not just end at tuition and room and board people also have to pay for textbooks, meals, and transportation. The cost of college has become outrageous and students are leaving college with high amounts of debt.

In 2000, the Board of Ursinus College, raised its tuition from $19,331 to $23,460. This turned out to be a 17.6% increase. Surprisingly, the tuition increase proved to be a positive change for Ursinus College. The college received more than 200 applicants than its previous year (Brickley, Smith and Zimmerman, 2009, p. 110). Other regional institutions such as University of Notre Dame, Bryn Mawr College and Rice University also experienced a similar trend once they increased their tuition rates (Brickley, Smith and Zimmerman, 2009, p. 110). The president of Ursinus College deduced that the tuition increase affected enrollment rate (increased enrollment). She simply stated that “people don’t want cheap” (Brickley, Smith and Zimmerman, 2009, p. 110).

Finally and most importantly you need to make sure you are financially prepared to pay tuition for the semester.

Research indicates a steep upward trend in the cost of higher education throughout the 20th century. In recent decades, America has witnessed a widening gap between inflation and tuition. An incoming freshman at a typical college incurs charges for tuition, university fees, books, room and board,

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

“College Prices Soar Again!” “Budget Cuts Cause Even Higher Tuition!” “Higher Education Now Even Less Affordable” These are all statements that have been seen all over the media: newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. (3 SV: SV) Rising college tuition in America has been a problem for years. Many students drop out after a single year due to the pricey costs of tuition. The rapid rise can be attributed to many aspects of the economy, not just a single source. There have also been some propositions of how costs could be lowered, but these have yet to be seen. The United States has gone into a tuition crisis.

Today college tuition prices are rising. Paying for college can often be a stressful responsibility. A college education is very important for many students, but when stressing on how to pay for college gets in the way, it becomes more of a burden. Kim Clark effectively states the rising prices of college tuition in her article, “The Surprising Causes of Those College Tuition Hikes.” Clark states that the cost of attending a public university, even after subtracting out aid and inflation, rose more than fifteen percent in the last

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

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.

The cause of the large tuition prices is elusive. Colleges are unwilling to discuss where much of this tax-free revenue is spent. (Lemann, 45) Colleges usually place the blame of the increases on congressional budget cutters, stingy state legislatures, government regulators and parents who demand more costly student health and recreational services. Seldom spoken of are declining teaching loads, nonproductive research, growing financial aid programs, bloated administrative hierarchies, "celebrity" salaries for professorial stars, and inflated course offerings. (Elfin, 91) Administrators fail to see a limit on available capital, and seem to believe the cost can just be continually handed down to students without any consequences.

Higher education costs have been increasing at a rapid pace, faster than inflation for the economy as a whole, for the past fifty years. It started in the 1960’s when the federal government passed the Higher Education Act to increase the amount of people able to afford and attend college. Regardless of the Unites States Government efforts to increase the affordability of college, federal aid programs have not risen to expectations due to the ever-increasing college prices. To lower the price of college, the government needs to cut back on student financial spending to go only to the lowest income families and create tax incentives for families to start saving up on their own.

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

College is a huge part of growing up. Teenagers are finally “adults;” they eventually move away from home and have their own undertakings. It is a great achievement to have received a diploma. However, this is being hindered by rising tuition prices. Unfortunately, this is the case for thousands of teens across the United States. Students are constantly trying to overcome the inflated tuition prices, but it is simply not working. The inflated cost of tuition is leaving students in debt far into their postgraduate years, potentially hindering their future financial stability and prosperity.

The cost of tuition at colleges and universities in the United States has seen a steady increase over last several decades. Since the 1980s, the list price for tuition has risen by roughly 7% per year, while the inflation rate has averaged 3.2% per year. The effect of this mismatch in the rise of the cost of tuition versus the average inflation rate has had monumental effects on the ability of students to afford a higher education. This, in turn, has forced more students to take out increasingly large amounts of loans, causing for the national student loan debt to grow to over $1 trillion dollars, more than total credit card