Importance Of College Tuition

Why does the tuition cost so much more? This leaves college students baffled and stressed about how much money they’re paying and what they’re even paying for.

One often overlooked point about “free” college tuition is that it is not ever free. The money does not just appear out of nowhere. What people normally mean by the statement of “free” college, it means free college for students. If the students are not paying than who would have to pay? The only other option would be the federal government. Right now, Americans owe more than $875 billion dollars in student loans. If the cost of tuition continues to grow at the rate it is, that number is only going to grow. If the federal government were to pay this, it would only further the country in debt.

Two quick questions: How many of you in this class like free stuff? How many of you in this class wish college was free? That’s what thought almost all of you think that way, I thought that way myself until I realized that doesn’t make sense. Growing up my mother always told me the story of her graduation and I can’t quite remember the year she graduated, but she graduated from Troy State University in Montgomery, Alabama. She always told me about the feeling of receiving that diploma as for her being the first one of her family to have a college diploma. With tears in her eyes she told me “Brock I can’t wait for the day you have that feeling”. So when I think about college tuition becoming free two question pose in my head: 1. Could this be even possible for our government to pay off every 4 year institution? and 2. Why would any high school graduate find going to college appealing if it was free.

College tuition is too high. Since the demand for an education and the supply of schools are both high, cost should be low. What we see,

College tuition is very expensive and many people are unable to attend due to the overall cost of tuition, books, room and board. The high price of a college education is unfair to the bright students who have limited resources. These students are at a disadvantage because of lack of funds. The United States should find a way to provide free tuition to all students who want an education.

Just about everyone agrees that college should be more affordable. A century ago high school was becoming a necessity, not a luxury; today the same is happening to college. If college is essential for building a career and being a full participant in our democracy as high school once was, shouldn 't it be free, paid for by public dollars, and treated as a right of all members of our country? The average college graduate comes out of college with at least $60,000 in debt and if they went to an Ivy League should that shots up to upward of $100,000 all this debt before they even get their first real job (“Fast Facts”). This is the burden that students have to worry about and then they only have six months to find a job that can cover they loan payments, which can be as much as a couple thousand dollars a month and most working people can’t afford that. These days it is highly emphasized that the responsibility to educate the poor lies on the shoulders of the government. It should be, considering the significant hike in the tuition fees worldwide. In such circumstances, many intelligent and hardworking students miss out on studying in a university due to lack of funds. This not only demoralizes the student, but also has a negative impact on the society as it loses out on its future professionals.

College tuition is a subject that I am certain is on every college student's mind. The current cost of college has become so outrageously high and so students are graduating college with what you think is a feeling of excitement for their lives starting, when in reality they are entering a pool of stress due to high amounts of debt and no job guarantees. With that being said overly expensive College Tuition is merely taking away opportunities from potential students. According to Collegefactual.com, you will see that 20 years ago the average college tuition for a student at any University was around $6,285 for the room, board, and tuition. Today, according to Niche.com, the average tuition for almost any college is over $30,000 for those same things. Today, this isn't even offered for those same colleges, we don’t even know what is actually causing the raising tuition. At this point in time, we are paying for the name. Just like clothing, we pay more for the “high end” (a.k.a the college name) items. This is an issue that not only affects college students, but people who want a good education. College tuition should be lowered because the average student debt is too high, FAFSA results can be misleading and not high enough, and there is not enough access to college for deserving students.

There are many colleges around the world and most people like to attend one. Students study hard and try their best just so they can get an acceptance letter from their dream college. However, college tuition is not that affordable; college tuition is increasing in price every single year while the yearly salary of a father stays the same or barely increases. College tuition should be affordable to everyone regardless of his or her family status and position. Students should be able to attend a college without being in a debt consisting of thousands of dollars. There are scholarships, grants and financial aid available but that does not help everyone. A middle class family cannot fully afford a child going to a 4-year college and make a living, which is comfortably in residence. A change in college tuition is definitely required for American students and the students around the world to have a better education at low cost.

Increased tuitions are results of a variety of factors. Shrinkage of state budget and low endowments cause by the recession forcing colleges to make up the cost somehow (Lee). The government has increased their support during the recession. For example, in the form of Pell Grants which doubled over the years. Andrew Kelly, director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute, writes “... the increase of federal spending has been completely eroded by the rising tuition prices”(Bidwell). Higher tuition defeats the purpose of the federal government increasing their support.

Each year, college tuition increases more and more, which makes getting a higher education almost impossible for some people. According to Pay it forward written by Catherine Morris tuitions and fees at public four-year institutions has been increasing an average of 3.4 percent each year between 2005 and 2015.

Tuition rates have been on the rise since the start of colleges. In 1988, the average college tuition was about $2,800 for a year of schooling. In 2008, that number had risen 130% to nearly $6,800 for one year; according to Annalyn Censky of CNN Money, if the average income had raised the same amount, median family earning would be roughly $77,000 a year, instead of the current $33,000. Americans are making $400 less on average than they did in 1988 says Censky. Over the past twenty years, college has risen 5% of the median family income from 12% to 17%; private colleges went from 27% to 47% says Economist.com. (1 SV; SV.) Tuition isn’t the only thing rising at colleges: room, meals, books, and other fees are rising as well. (4 SV: A,B,C,D.) This also takes its toll on families as well as the students themselves. Many students

College tuition is an expensive entity to pay for and not many people have the luxury of having college being completely paid for, however, so many people that have previous experience like teachers, counselors, and parents, want students to pursue this expensive entity so their future is brighter. Why is being a college student becoming a luxury that fewer people can afford and attend to? Factors like the actual cost for college tuition, costs for higher education, the working class and their difficulties of paying for other things in addition to tuition, proposals from our government, and tuition remission, is when we begin to see how big of a problem tuition costs actually are. School is an important opportunity that I have taken like many of my teachers, parents, and government have told me to take, but I still struggle paying for it; if school is a value that people should be taking advantage of, tuition needs to be more affordable in order to do so.

The price of college can be extremely overwhelming to incoming students. Many students take the student loan route, as in the 2012-2013 school year, around 10 million college students took out a loan for college, meaning lots of debt. $1.3 trillion to be exact. It’s 39% higher than it was 4 years ago, and like what was said earlier, there is no sign of the price of college going down anytime soon.

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

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.