The Higher Education System Of The United States Essay

In today’s world, whether or not higher education should be free to the public has definitely become something of a debate. Should every citizen have an equal opportunity to achieve high in college? Some believe college should be absolutely free to everyone and anyone,

Higher education through colleges and universities has been going on for hundreds of years and can be dated back to ancient Greece. In the United States, it was long the second option for those wanted more knowledge and a better paying job. In recent years it has become increasingly more expensive, and more necessary to make a living wage. This has raised the question of whether or not college should be free. While current system for college payment is flawed in many ways, eliminating its costs would not solve the problem, and instead, create more.

Among these is the continuation of the cycle of debt in American commercial society, the hierarchy of differing higher education institutions and cost, and the resulting socioeconomic and racial inequities in college demographics. Both an examination of the current trends and figures and a closer look at a real life example show the troublesome state of higher education and its effect on our commercial society.

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.

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

To let in some light about the topic; Average debt in the US is at very high rates. “Studies show that there is no better short-term or long-term investment for the rest of society than higher education” (Page). College is expensive, let's make it more affordable. “This topic Deserves an open mind and a balanced exploration of the potential benefits, drawbacks, and alternatives” (“Should”). No matter the topic there is drawbacks. With free tuition there are not many to talk about. “As of the 2013-2014 school year, the countries with tuition-free public higher education included: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, The Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey and Germany. Free college, in Europe especially has proven to be a popular idea” (“Should”). Other major countries are successfully improving with free college tuition. US students want to add America to that list.

The article on ‘An overview of higher education in America’ reviews the financing, students and institutions of higher education. They provide a general picture that reflects the changes that have taken place in higher education and America and the public policies that predict its future. The

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.

This journal article written by William Zumeta in April, 1992, is an extensive argument to suggest state policymakers would be wise to conduct research to maintain healthy colleges and universities to address the increasing demands of demographics and economics at state level. In addition, Zumeta suggests the private sector should be included more in state planning and addresses the effects of the public sector tuition policies. According to Zumeta, “The goal of state policy in higher education after all must be to serve the broader public interest as fully as possible with limited resources.” Although this journal article is dated, Zumeta and his colleagues challenged state policymakers to include the private sector in forming appropriations

Now all types of institutions - public and private, two year and four year, non-profit and for-profit-are vying for the same pool of students, public funding, research grants, and prestige. In the process they are creating a fierce competition that is slowly chipping away at higher education’s commitment to servicing public needs. (Couturier, 2005, p. 87)

Free higher education has a deep history to consider. Higher education has been around in the United States since 1636 with the creation of Harvard University. With the opening of Harvard University in 1636 it paved the way for Higher Education in Colonial America. Today there are still nine colleges and Universities produced by Colonial America that still operate today: Harvard University, William and Mary University, Yale, Princeton, Columbia University, Brown College, Dartmouth College, Rutgers College and the University of Pennsylvania. The

In point of fact, until fairly recent times, the United States had a virtually free system of public higher education. Of course, public kindergarten schools all the way up till high schools are free and based off of the taxpayer 's income. In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Act in order to administer an equal educational opportunity for students. “Named for its sponsor. . . Justin Smith Morrill, it granted each state 30,000 acres for each of its congressional seats. Funds

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

An Overview of American Higher Education (Baum, 2013) focuses on the evolving definition of a “college” over the past fifty years. Over this time period, colleges have made changes from focusing on academia discipline to job preparation (Baum, 2013). The expected length of time to obtain a college degree as change as well. The term college encompasses four-year tracks, community colleges, certificate programs and half-time attendance, where a degree can be achieved at your own pace. In the 1960s America’s competitive edge was declining on a national scale and this encouraged a push for a more educated America. Furthermore, the expanding variety of post-secondary education opportunities grew from the idea that access to higher education should be more available, finically and geographically, to the population (Baum, 2013).

Higher education is optional, but to enter a respectable career, one must continue their education in order to achieve his financial and/or personal goals. Teenagers who attend college use their extended schooling to further obtain knowledge. The primary objective of higher education is to enhance one’s abilities for his future. A student can learn from school in numerous ways, but liberal education is not a way to attract students into further and higher education. However, students can learn a lot more through experiences that have affected their personal lives. I agree with author Mike Rose’s theory that education needs are reached to obtain a higher academic level by teaching students information that can be related to their personal