Making College More Expensive
The Unintended Consequences of Federal Tuition Aid by Gary Wolfram In the article Wolfram communicates that the federal government is spending tens of billions of dollars in providing federal aid to student that are in college, through many actions like grants, loans and tax programs. But there is still yet to be evidence that suggest that these so called programs or policies have helped to decrease student loan debt and provided an aid to those attending college. Wolfram mentions that the federal government this year has purposed that federal tuition aid on college cost will undergo a phase where federal assistance will slowly die down. Wolfram states that the federal government will try to create a legal structure
Neill provides data on the increase of amount of students working full-time and part-time jobs during their education. She shows how this has been increasing since the 1970’s and more students are having to work while attending college to pay for expenses. This source also helps demonstrate how a shrinking middle class is affecting college students because low-income students need to work during college. It also provides more evidence on how increasing tuition is affecting students in general.
Matt Taibbi argues in his Rolling Stone article titled “Ripping Off America: The College-Loan Scandal” that the government is the primary source to blame for today’s appalling inflation rates on increasing student debt. Additionally, he argues that the reason the tuition is so exploitative and unfair, is because it was created to benefit two groups. The first being, “…colleges and universities, and the contractors who build their extravagant athletic complexes, hotel-like dormitories and God knows what other campus embellishments” (Taibbi). Next up, the other group that gains from the current system is the government. This is because, “…the government actually stands to make an enormous profit on the president 's new federal student-loan system, an estimated $184 billion over 10 years” (Taibbi). Further, Taibbi goes onto to state that students often have no idea what they are signing up for with student loans, because not all students have access to the same information. Finally, Taibbi mentioned that “because of the poor job market, young people may have less of a chance than ever to actually get a good job commensurate with their education” (Taibbi). This means that with no degree, students have no chance, but with a degree you are forced down a road of high risk, and at the end you are likely to be left with a ton of debt.
“An ignorant population is the blind instrument of its own destruction” -Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan liberator of Spanish rule. Educating ourselves will improve the life quality in our population through increasing equality among the people. Therefore, it will develop a stronger country.
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.
In the article, The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much by Paul Campos (2015) explains the motives why college tuition rose so much over the last decades. In the years where baby boomers went to post-secondary education they had summer occupations to be able to afford college, but after a few decades, the funding that was open to the public for institutions were reduced. Consequently, cuts were in-forced, the forms of higher education have been rising year after year. Furthermore, over the last twenty years more people have been going to college, for example, since 1995, the number of scholars that have enrolled in graduate and undergraduate curriculums have amplified by approximately fifty percent. Also, the earnings of professors have
Finally and most importantly you need to make sure you are financially prepared to pay tuition for the semester.
As touched by Barone, it can be inferred that the many attempts to aid American people was one of many causes to this situation. Furthermore insinuating that the amount of government intervention may as well caused this college bubble. Things such as the federal grant program which “…gives money to state and local governments to spend in accordance with set standards and conditions” and also the foundation of School Program which funds “… programs for public education in the state of Texas” must be carefully supervised (Scott 361). It is essential that the government takes action to take care of its people, but there must be an extent. The college bubble has been predicted to pop for some time now. The situation has gotten so bad that the “…total college enrollment has fallen by 1.5% since 2012” (Vedder and Denhart). The price is increasing at a substantial rate and it seems like it is not slowing down. “Even more alarming than the rate of tuition growth is the blistering increase in total outstanding student loans, which grew 511% since 1999 to $1 trillion” (Piereson). One trillion dollars is an enormous amount of money and is way too high for loans lent out. At this rate, there will be no money to give out since there is not more money to lend. Even though
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,
The state of California has long been reliant on the University of California system to provide its resident companies with skilled and educated business, technology, and science leaders. Highly regarded as one of the top educational systems in the world, the University of California boasts a high number of distinguished and respected faculty members in almost every field of study. However, while most private colleges and universities have learned how to streamline their processes in order to better respond to stakeholder needs, public educational institutions, such as the University of California, have not been willing to control their bureaucratic growth resulting in a rise of tuition rates and a decline in the level of student satisfaction. In her article for the TIME magazine, Kate Pickert writes that as recently as November of this year the University of California has approved a plan that could raise tuition rates by up to 28% (Pickert). Pickert also points out that the tuition rates at the University of California have more than tripled since 2001. The University of California has blamed the increased tuition on the state of California budget cuts caused by the economic downturn of recent years. However, a closer examination of the University of California faculty and administration data makes it obvious that the higher rates of tuition are cause by the inability and
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.
Introducing free college tuition would have a positive impact of The United States, even so much as two year associate’s degree would have a hung impact. Free college tuition would give hope to the families which can’t afford the cost of tuition. Fran Cubberley states in his paper “The reality of Free Community College Tuition” that “1,300 students who completed our entry process through course registration ultimately dropped out before classes were underway. One of the major reasons was they could not pay their tuition.” Cost for tuition is huge factor on why people don’t attend college. Just think of all the amazing talent that the world is missing out on because people don’t have the money to attend college and get a degree or
In her article “A Lifetime Of Student Debt? Not Likely”, Robin Wilson discusses how expensive a college education has become. Wilson notes, “It used to be that, 10 to 20 years ago, if you went to a four-year public institution, had a low to moderate income, and worked a reasonable amount part time in school, there was enough aid. And public institutions were better financed, so you could come out with no debt. That same student now would have to borrow to get their
The hot topic amongst people entering college is student loan debt. With the average debt at tens of thousands of dollars, many people shy away from college, or at least do not get a full degree. As a result, many politicians have preached plans to make college free, and thus bring an end to student loan debt. However, those on the other end of the spectrum find themselves hindered in jumping aboard the free college mania, because, after all, nothing is free, everything comes at a price. And as they soon learned, what a price indeed. In fact, in order for the universities to pay staff and accommodate the student body without tuition being on the shoulders of the students, state taxes would have to be increased on the entire taxpaying population.
In 1976, the average cost to attend a four year public university was $2,175; today, the average cost to attend a four year public university is $25,000 (Snyder). This means it is 1150% more expensive to go to college in The United States today than it was 30 years ago. This obviously would create a problem on how we as people are going to pay for our higher education. Today college has become almost a necessity to have a satisfactory life, and with these rising prices some individuals believe student loans are the only option. There are many reasons as to why the prices have risen, but the one undeniable fact is that this has created a problem within our country. Which, is known as the student debt crisis, and it has been on the rise the past couple years. This problem is affecting people all around the United States, and is causing multitude of problems for them all because they wanted to pursue higher education. Wanting to better your opportunities by bettering yourself is not something that needs to be punished, and sadly that is what is happening. This problem is something that needs to be fixed for the sake of Americans and our economy, but will also take time and a multitude of steps to correct.
Situation number two is a positive externality. A positive externality is when a third-party benefits from an economic transaction. It’s also called “free riding.” This is where an individual uses a benefit without having to pay for it. I believe all states should provide free tuition. If more people had the chance to go to school to better themselves then the economy would rise significantly. The crime rates would decrease, less stress, more productivity in the workplace and more equal opportunities. Without the stress of paying for tuition, students can focus on learning instead of struggling. The society as a whole would be better off, with overall better decision making and thinking. All this talk about better opportunities for everybody