Why I Shut Down : Sweet Briar College, The Historic Perspective

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,

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.

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

“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.

“The two-year college has been a distinctively American creation, and nowhere else has it attained such prominence” (Brint & Karabel, 1989). Once commonly called

“The New Liberal Arts” is an article written by Sanford J. Ungar, who is a president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. In the beginning of his article, Ungar wrote, “Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around the liberal arts education has been especially hard hit.” In other words, Ungar means that recent economic recessions have made a huge impact on what people think of going for a liberal arts degree. In his essay, Ungar lists seven misperceptions and how he reacts to them. The most common misperception that Ungar identified is that liberal arts degrees are no longer affordable. The cost for liberal arts education is very expensive while

The nature of the college grading system is open to haggling, or at least that’s what Brent Staples proved. As writer of “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” Brent Staples attempted to shed light on how this is affecting many facets of our lives and no doubt, colleges themselves: “Faced with demanding consumers and stiff competition, colleges have simply issued more and more A’s, stoking grade inflation and devaluing degrees.” (Brent, S. 1998) With colleges turning into proverbial fast food restaurants, some students are wanting more for less, showing how low some universities are willing to go for a quick buck.

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

First of all, the college made the appropriate decision when cutting the 22 classes. The school’s endowment dropped by 20 percent, meaning that their endorsements were not as high as they

During this time of exponential growth in the private for-profit sector, the industry benefited from changes in Federal government policies. The U.S. government saw private colleges as a way to expand the choices in the education market. It also saw them as a way to meet demand for education and to develop a more skilled workforce in the United States (Harkin, 2012). To assist in the expansion of this sector of education, constraints on Federal financial aid were loosened, and accredited for-profits enjoyed increased access to Federal student aid funds (Loonin, 2011).

From the very foundation of Berea College, the school has had the core principles of Christianity built into it. The principle that it is our obligation to work towards alleviating the adversity of all, regardless of the race or class of those who are disadvantaged. Unfortunately Berea College’s commitment to race and class is not always fully expressed by their actions. In order to remedy this, Berea College should put greater effort into its commitment to class and race by creating a committee made up of multiple races and classes, with the purpose of creating programs to help individuals who are disadvantaged by their race and/or class. Such a committee would be tasked with working to understand every aspect pertaining to the races and classes

In an article from The Chronicle Of Higher Education, "America's Most Overrated Product: Education", author Marty Nemko argues that while college may be the best fit for Americans to succeed for a better way of living, it may also be harming us in an economic point of view. Nemko emphasizes his statement by giving percentages and facts (logos) dealing with the way colleges take advantage of the average American. in his way of seeing the situation, Nemko describes how our education is actually getting worse because high school students are not fully prepared for the academic difficulties of college. Furthermore,

Between the 1900s and 1975 the United States experiences growth in many areas of higher education (HE). Various publications, people, acts and legislation influenced change in thought, access, policy, practice, and assessment of HE. From the Civil War Era to the Mass Education Era we witnessed the struggle of African Americans that influenced important legislation, the Progressive Movement and the birth of the Wisconsin Idea, the publication and revision of the Student Personnel Point of View, the President’s Commission on Higher Education, and the passing of the Higher Education Act. All of which contributed to the growth of HE during this time period.

After Robert Zaller explained how the housing market crashed due to a tremendous rise in prices, he said, “Now, looking at the costs of private higher education, typically in the range of $40,000-$50,000 per year, it seems clear that they, too, have become unsustainable” (553). High school students, from their first day of freshman year, are pushed to look into attending a “big” college, which often means the most expensive colleges. The cost of the college is not a top

Community colleges must take charge of their future and reinvent themselves for the twenty-first century. If dramatic changes are not implemented by the community colleges, "they will become shaped and reinvented by strong external social, political and economic forces" (Riggs, 2009, p.3). Also, according to Riggs (2009), other entities and strong forces are on the verge of endeavoring to take control of the future of the community colleges, such as state legislatures, accreditation committees, state and federal educational officials, four-year institutions, local business leaders and voters are all strong forces. Further, these some of the same forces came against the public school systems and they took over. Riggs (2009), suggests to stop pointing the finger of blame; community colleges cannot afford another decade of compositional techniques or persuasive language (rhetoric) when it comes to developing new leaders who will lead the transformation of the community colleges. In addition, the community colleges are blaming the lack of funding, the lack of qualified applicants, board members, unions, state education offices and past practices. However, there is no time to continue to blame and point fingers when there is a need to strategically create a twenty-first-century strong community college academic culture and obtain and sustain a strong operational and fiscal environment to maintain relevant relationships with all stakeholders (Riggs,