Response Essay: The Astronomical Cost Of Tuition

4. List any examples of bias or faulty reasoning that you found in this article.

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.

Over the past decade, it has become evident to the students of the United States that in order to attain a well paying job they must seek a higher education. The higher education, usually a college or university, is practically required in order to succeed. To be able to attend these schools and receive a degree in a specific field it means money, and often a lot of it. For students, the need for a degree is strong, but the cost of going to college may stand in the way of a successful future. Each year the expense of college rises, resulting in the need for students to take out loans. Many students expect to immediately get a job after graduation, however, in more recent years the chances for college graduates to get a well paying job

Thesis: Thousands of colleges across the country have steadily increased tuition throughout the years and Colorado State University is no different. Today I will share with you both the perspective of those that believe tuition increases are necessary and of those against it in order to help form my own opinion on the necessity of tuition increases here at CSU.

“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.

In the article “The Real Reason College Tuition Costs so Much,” author Paul F. Campos makes a deliberative argument that the cost of higher education is not caused by public funding being cut. Campos uses invention, arrangement, and style techniques in order to structure his argument and persuade his audience. His argument also contributes to the general debate in the cost of education because it is in conversation with other texts and researchers. Campos’ argument effectively contributes to the debate on the cost of higher education because he uses invention techniques, anecdotes, and counterarguments in order to prove that a lack of public funding has not caused the dramatic increase in tuition costs.

A very popular topic these days is College tuition. For what seems to be ages, people didn’t give much attention to the cost of tuition. However, in current times theres been a dramatic change. It seems that everyday, several people are coming to the harsh realization of how high tuition has gotten over the years and they wish to see a change. In this essay, I shall attempt to cover a very serious and hard topic. I say that because in the process of finding information for this topic, there are several articles showing examples of people attacking administrations in serious anger. Little to no information was found giving an example of college staff and administration trying to defend or speak up. Before beginning research for this paper, I believed there would have been several arguments made between enraged parents, students, graduates and administration. Though, upon examination I found my thoughts to be confirmed as false for the most part.

Throughout every generation the majority of students, who want to acquire a better paying job in the world, all apply to a college of their dreams. The whole of these students know what to expect from college; education, social connections, fundamental understanding of their respective field, as well as the benefit/hope that they will receive their dream job soon after. However, these students also expect to amass an amount of debt once they graduate as this is a common fear amongst college graduates. In spite of such hindrance in their pursuit of a job, the experience from which they accumulated throughout their college life later benefits them in diverse amount of ways.

According to TED; The Economics Daily, tuition and fees increase 63% since January of 2006. Some people believe that the cost of college tuition is acceptable. However, college tuition cost is too high. They ought to be lowered and made affordable to all. College tuition cost is too high, a high tuition can prevent some students from receiving college education, forces some to take out loans, and ultimately can cause future financial instability.

Furthermore, tuition annual rate has an outrageous inflation relationship with time. In Josh Mitchell and Andrea Fuller Wall Street Journal it states, “Among the four-year schools in the Journal's analysis, the average increase in tuition and fees was greater than 75% in the past decade, outpacing inflation.” (pp9). As college tuition continue to increase, the more individuals will be in debt. While the importance of a higher education increases the chances of becoming successful, more people will gravitate towards higher education knowing that loans will always be an option and having the idea that debt is normal to ensure a stable future. Not only will this start to affect individuals but the government will eventually suffer. Wight Martindale Jr states, “…too much money spent, too little achieved.” (Martindale), this explains how higher education can bring one a tremendous amount of debt with a bunch of stress. He also talks about how it is a bubble, this is a bubble that many students hate to be in. This bubble is known for being unable to burst which is a problem for multiple students because college shouldn’t be about money and stress. The more money the government give out and not receive as much in and they borrow from different countries, the country will stay in debt itself.

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.

Today colleges are growing more and more necessary for attaining a solid path towards a successful career, yet the rapidly increasing cost of tuition is driving students away from their dream of attending college, due to the preposterous amount of money that is now being demanded by colleges across the nation and world as a whole. It is sad to see students being turned away from a successful future due to the money-hungry nature of the universities that dot the globe. More and more impossible it is becoming to have a “rags-to-riches” scenario that used to highlight the American Dream, as if a student doesn’t have the riches to afford a higher education and the tuition that is drug upon its coattails, then our society is doomed to be clothed in rags forever, unless major changes are brought about to restructure and end the indefatigable growth of tuition rates across the board.

The cost of tuition for higher education is quickly rising. Over half of college freshmen show some concern with how to pay for college. This is the highest this number has been since 1971 (Marill and O’Leary 64-66, 93). The amount of college graduate debt has been rapidly increasing also. With limited jobs available because of the high unemployment rate, college graduates find themselves staying in debt even longer. Although grants and financial aid are available to students, students still struggle to pay for their college tuition. Higher education costs are prohibitively expensive because the state’s revenue is low, the unemployment rate is high, and graduates cannot pay off their student loans.

The evidence you gather should be fact supported by evidence and not just your opinion.