This year student loans will grow to $1 trillion dollars, outpacing credit card debt for the first time (Goodman). Inflation is a word that many people have heard of but some might not actually know what it means. Inflation is when the prices of products increase while the buying power of money decreases (“Inflation”). Inflation is something that has always happened and probably always will. It’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it can cause a problem if inflation grows much faster than wages increase. We, as a nation, need to curb the inflation of college costs begin the process of lowering the expense of higher education. In the last 30 years the inflation of tuition and other college costs has risen at an astounding rate. If you take a look at Stanford University you will find that their tuition has grown from about $6,000 dollars in 1980 to over $40,000 in 2012. If other products followed those inflation rates common groceries, like milk, would be close to $15. I don’t know about you, but to me that is absolutely ridiculous. This growing problem can most easily be seen in the large universities like the before mentioned Stanford. The problem of rising college costs has been around for a while, but in recent years it has gotten to a point where it is no longer possible to ignore. It is just getting worse and worse with each passing year with the prices going nowhere but up. The problem of the cost of higher education needs to be solved as soon as possible
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
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.
College costs go up faster than incomes. This is copping out low and middle-class families from getting a decent college education. College is becoming so expensive that it is a dream to a lot of less fortunate people. The tuitions and fees are public universities have increased almost 130% over the past 20 years. Education prices shouldn't increase as jobs and income decrease; that doesn't make sense. For colleges to increase tuition fairly, incomes would have to increase making the average annual income more than $50,000. Whereas, in 2008, the median income was $33,000. That's a big difference. As prices increase, education opportunities decrease. This leads to a decrease in jobs. Ironic because businesses are looking for well-educated employees.
In 1965, the President of the United States Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965. This allowed for many things needed in the higher education system, one of them being low interest loans to students who need financial assistance to get through college. This is where the debt problem begins, but does not get out of control until the most recent past decade. Some of the drastic increase of debt can be contributed to more people going to college, but can also be contributed to state schools receiving less money from their respective states and needing to raise tuition and all other fees to cover the difference. Schools do have other justifiable reasons to raise rates as well, such as utilities, upgrades to the campus upon requests of the student population, employee wages, no one is willing to work
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 too high. Since the demand for an education and the supply of schools are both high, cost should be low. What we see,
The cost of education is sky-rocketing, and no one can deny that. Tuition has consistently increased at rates well above that of inflation each year. Just 50 years ago when someone went to college, it might cost them about $300.00. Now it 's costing people $40,000 to go to college, and that 's at subsidized in-state tuition rates. For more expensive programs, it 's costing upwards of $100,000! For some of
Today college tuition prices are rising. Paying for college can often be a stressful responsibility. A college education is very important for many students, but when stressing on how to pay for college gets in the way, it becomes more of a burden. Kim Clark effectively states the rising prices of college tuition in her article, “The Surprising Causes of Those College Tuition Hikes.” Clark states that the cost of attending a public university, even after subtracting out aid and inflation, rose more than fifteen percent in the last
Inflation has been driving college prices up since high school graduates are looking to attend college. Over 50 percent more graduates are looking to enroll in college than twenty years ago even though the college-aged population has remained the same. Therefore, because there is a high demand for colleges and not enough space in high name colleges, these colleges are able to raise their tuition, and students have no option but to pay for it. This is how inflation works when “you artificially inflate the demand for something and don’t let supply adjust, prices will go up” (Gobry). Currently, the overwhelming demand for a college education has allowed colleges to drive up their prices.
The cost of college tuition is increasing exponentially ever year. Students have to pay for a number of things besides the tuition for inference books, dorms, fees, tutor, etc on top of their everyday living expenses. At this rate college tuition will be far beyond the reach for the average person. The inflation raises numerous of questions. If the recession is not getting better why do schools continue to increase tuition? What can be done so that the college tuition won’t be so far out of reach that the average person won’t get no higher education than a high school diploma.
With this increase in tuition costs it is making a college education more and more unaffordable and putting students in more debt.
“Tuition was free just fifty years ago… Germany has eliminated tuition in the last eight years” (Wiener). This leads people to wonder why our education system has declined. If the United States had one of the best systems and didn't charge for the education, what happened? The education system began changing during the great depression. Due to the depression, many people dropped out of school creating an education gap. While the United States depression affected the rest of the world economy, other countries were able to keep their education rates steady. During the recession, education tuition began to steadily rise due to the exponential increase in enrollment. Since the recession, college tuition rates have risen faster than the economic inflation (Fillion). Why has tuition grown? Simple. Politics. Many universities are constantly upgrading to the next and best technology to woo potential students and faculty. Education is no longer about education to a university. It’s purely about the money. Universities receive more money per person than a community college does, yet tuition continues to grow (Bessen). Community colleges are less likely to purchase the next best thing the moment it comes out. For this reason community colleges often have a tuition of ten thousand dollars or less. “A year of community college is less than food stamps for a lifetime”
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.
As more and more high school students realize this, the increased demand and need for college is going to go up. According to the Lumina Foundation for Education, colleges are realizing students and families are willing to go into debt as to increase their post-secondary education income (Dickeson). What about the others who cannot afford to go this route? Individual states play a major roll in the cost of higher education. If anyone has been watching the news lately, they most likely have seen states facing budget problems and shortfalls. With this being said, it now means most of the problem has been shifted onto the shoulders of the parents and aspiring students. Justification for these outrageous costs is being demanded not only by parents, but also by state and federal officials. According to the College Board, “In the past five years, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges has jumped 35% -- after adjustment for inflation. . . . In the past 25 years, the average cost of tuition and fees has risen faster than personal income, consumer prices and even health insurance” (Block 1). Tuition prices pose a serious problem, especially for families whose income cannot keep up.
The cost of tuition at colleges and universities in the United States has seen a steady increase over last several decades. Since the 1980s, the list price for tuition has risen by roughly 7% per year, while the inflation rate has averaged 3.2% per year. The effect of this mismatch in the rise of the cost of tuition versus the average inflation rate has had monumental effects on the ability of students to afford a higher education. This, in turn, has forced more students to take out increasingly large amounts of loans, causing for the national student loan debt to grow to over $1 trillion dollars, more than total credit card