Redesigning College Education

College has become a norm in today’s society so much so, that the average costs of higher education are not really discussed. A public two-year in-district college was $3,520 for a full-time undergraduate student in 2016-2017 (Baum 68). Baum also declares that a public four-year in-state undergraduate tuition was $9,650; a public four-year out-of-state college cost $24,930; a private nonprofit four-year college costs $33,480; and a for-profit college cost $16,000 for that same school year. (68). Across the nation, figures will vary because of the obvious geographical region differences, but also because of price discrimination. Price discrimination allows institutions to discount their prices for a lot of students (Baum 79). Institutions do this based on individual student circumstances, and it segments the market. Institutions

Compared to just 10 years ago, in-state public university tuition has risen a dramatic increase of 40% — about $2700 (“Tuition and Fees and Room and Board over Time”). At the university level, in-state college is the cheapest option. However, in regards to the inflation of the decade, only 15%, university tuition is substantially higher for families today (“Archived Consumer Price Index Detailed Report Information”). Students and families are now paying a 25% higher price for in-state college than those just 10 years ago. Consequently, this has

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

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,

Since 1974, tuition has been on the rise and has reached new heights. One reason why tuition is increasing is because of “the state governments’ unwillingness or inability to raise per-student financing” (Davidson). The government is spending less on college and moving those funds into other categories, such as the military. Furthermore, colleges are spending less on each student than they did during pre-recession (Fox). Even after the recession, the government is continuously cutting more and more from education funds. As the government cuts more from education funds, tuition cost will steadily increase to compensate the loss. Tuition increased from 1994 to 2015 is depicted in the graph on the next page. Drawing a conclusion from the graph, it is possible that if this trend continues, public colleges will approximately reach the same price as private colleges one day. The amount of financial aid given is unable to meet the needs of lower income students,

One of the culprits hindering higher education for Americans is the tuition rates. A report by the Delta Cost Project indicates that if tuition had grown in pace with inflation, the average tuition at in-state public colleges would only have been $2,052 in 2010. The actual price of tuition was around $7,500, and it is increasing at around 5% per year, about twice as fast as the rate of inflation. Whereas everything else in the economy doubles in cost about every 32 years, college costs have been doubling around every 15 years. In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled How the Changing Market Structure of U.S. Higher Education Explains College, the author, Caroline Hoxby, states that universities have little incentive

The rising cost of education in Texas colleges started in 2003 when the deregulation was lifted. Then, soon after, the Texas State legislature cut the education budget because of a drop in the economy in 2008. The cut in funding and the removal of the deregulation law allowed colleges across Texas a way to recoup lost resources by raising the cost of tuition. The raising cost of tuition has limited the amount of attending students from graduating in the expected time frame, left students in debt, and has denied the chance of countless others from attending the college of their choice. This essay will reflect on supporting evidence to demonstrate how the increase of cost of college tuition over the past 10 years has affected future and current student enrollment.

So it’s not that colleges are spending more money to educate students, it’s that they have to get that money from someplace to replace their lost state funding; and that’s from tuition and fees from students and families (Sanchez 1). While most institutions tried to keep costs down, some took advantage of the public perception that a high tuition means a quality education (Sanchez 2). The problems that students face now are rising tuition, increasing loans and lacking financial aid to compensate. The fastest growing income for public colleges and universities in our country is tuition. Most students must take out loans to make it through college now.

Financial barriers for higher education has climbed over the last ten years. Today, over 40 million Americans have student loans. Of these 40 million, most individuals are struggling to maintain payments on the loans (Hillary for America, 2016). Since 2004, the tuition for in-state colleges and universities has risen by about 42 percent and with the recent Great Recession, states have continued to decrease spending on higher education at a rapid rate (Hillary for America, 2016). It is estimated that states are only contributing around $1,805 per student, which is estimated to be 20 percent less than what was contributed only seven years’ prior. The federal government in

In recent years, the soaring cost of college tuition has angered many students and parents, leaving many wondering where they will come up with the funds to pay. While college is still a pretty sound investment for most career paths, the cost of an education has outpaced general inflation by almost double, leaving many families simply unable to shoulder the fiscal burden without incurring large amounts of debt. How did we get to where we are today? A big part of it has to do with how colleges themselves have changed and the ways our cultural outlook on higher education has evolved. More students than ever are heading to college, and expect better resources from schools each and every year. But have colleges gone too far? Part II.A discusses the history of congressional acts that have over the years increased federal educational spending while showing how college tuitions have drastically gone up. Part II.B examines how the continued investment in college at current and future prices will affect society. And Part II.C assesses different countries debt problems, why they are not in as much trouble as the U.S. and what we can learn from them.

In the recent past, the cost of post-secondary school education has rapidly risen in America. An adjustment of the financial aid that comes from both state and federal governments indicates that the cost of university or college education has surpassed that of health care and even inflation (Casselman, 2012). Some of the facets that have led to the increasing costs are state and federal revenue shortfalls and wrong use of cost offsetting. A recent article published in the Wall Street Journal indicates that students across America are plunging into more debt due to loans taken to pay their college education. Considering that America has experienced severe shortages of employees in the science related courses, rising costs of higher education continue to create more concern. The issue of cost has also featured in the current American primaries with presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton discussing the possibility of cheap or even a free college education. On the same note of costs, the following paper is a review of an article by Baum, Kurose and McPherson, ‘An overview of American higher education’, published in the journal of the future of children.

A surging $1.2 trillion in student debt and rising rapidly in tuition is the critical issue America public universities face today. These student debts and rising tuitions are caused mainly by administrative hiring and pay or expensive building projects on campuses. When public universities are spending money toward expensive building projects, this does not help with making tuition cheap to attend a certain university, instead it’s high.

Given the ongoing state of education in the United States, one may argue that it has largely shifted its focus from being an institution that focuses on the development of academics and future societal leaders, to one that focuses on financial and bureaucratic growth in which students have become the consumer and the businesses are the universities. This shift has in turn, contributed to an enormous rise in educational debt for US college and university students (Jason Houle, 2014). Houle (2014, p. 53) also states, as cited in (Federal Reserve Board, 2010), that for many students attending a college or university has opened the doors for them to also accept a 1 trillion dollar debt—a debt that has surpassed the credit card debt placing

Everyone at the table did research into the issue of state funding for higher education by looking at state budget numbers as well as looking at studies published by education-focused think tanks such as the National Education Policy Center and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. When we debated the issue, many of us noticed a horrible trend of decreasing

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, college education has been available for everyone and anyone who is willing to develop their knowledge regarding a specific professional field. Currently in the United States, the percentage of high school graduates going to college has increased considerably: 68 percent in 2011 compared to 49 percent in 1940 (Menand, 2) and the record high set in 2009 with 70 percent of total high school graduates enrolled in college ("Bureau of Labor Statistics"). Notwithstanding, it has come to the attention of many that the college tuition and fees have been increasing at an accelerated rate. According to The New York Times, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 (Lewin, 1). This