Are College Costs Still Worth It?

Seyed Ali Askari

Dr. Constance Farley

ENG 102

31 March 2016

Are College Costs Still Worth it?

        On Thursday, August 22, 2013, President Obama made a speech at the University of Buffalo to delineate his plan to make college costs reasonable. When, in a developed country such as the United States, an issue comes to the governmental level, it is obvious that the issue is vital for the most part of society. There is no doubt that education is needed to have a better quality of life for nearly all people. These days, a degree is necessary to get a well-paid job in the US. Also, it is clear that education costs are not affordable for all people in this country and, in addition, they are still continuing to increase every year. Given that education is desired and college costs are rapidly rising every year, the question becomes: are college costs still worth it?

        There are several causes of inflation in college costs. First, “public higher education institutions are facing financial constraints due to tighter budgets from the federal government”. Second, they are confronted by inflation in the cost of living and other materials that have many effects on their costs. In addition, one of life’s basic economic principles is that increased demands for a product raise its price. There are more and more students who enroll in the colleges every year. Conceivably, the combination of these three facts results in a tremendous inflation in higher education costs.

        Both the demand to attend a college and the college tuition have been increasing continuously over time. According to “Trends in College Pricing 2012” from The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center report, “Average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities increased by 31% beyond the rate of inflation over the five years from 2002 03 to 2007 08, and by another 27% between 2007 08 and 2012 13” (10). The same report stated, “In the decade between 1990 and 2000, the number of full-time undergraduate students increased by 14%, from 6.9 million to 7.9 million. In the following decade, the number increased by 44%, from 7.9 million to 11.4 million” (29).

        Colleges’ tuition increased in the academic year of 2013-2014 as well. The College Board’s statistics in 2013 show $110 more in “average published tuition and fees for full-time students at public two-year colleges” (“Trends 2013” 10).  This is a 3.5% increase from $3,154 in 2012-13 to $3,264 in 2013-14(10). The same institution reported that “average in-state published tuition and fees at public four year institutions grew from $8,646 in 2012-13 to $8,893 in 2013 14” (10). When studies about past and current situation on colleges’ cost illustrate a non-stop increase in tuition and fees, it is clear that this process is continuing to our future.

        Even though the cost of higher education is expensive, the benefits of it for an individual’s life and for society far outweigh the costs and therefore government and educational institutions are making sufficient effort to make it affordable.

        There should be some reasons for this rising in the number of demands for attending college, despite the increasing cost of it. There should be some benefits for families and students in education to make it priceless and valuable for them. When people think about the benefit of higher education, improved financial prospects are the number one benefits for people and for the larger society. “On average, each year of education and each credential add measurably to an individual’s earnings. During their working lives, typical college graduates earn about 66% more than typical high school graduates, and those with advanced degrees earn two to three times as much as high school graduates.” This aspect of benefit is not limited to individuals only; society possesses some financial benefits from its highly educated individuals, too. Increased revenue of average 80% more taxes from the typical college graduate than the typical high school graduate each year is enough to prove this fact.

        After financial benefits of education, health benefits come next. The College Board in its report for 2013 stated that highly educated people tend more than others to have health insurance from their employers. According to the previously mentioned report, “In 2011, employers provided health insurance to 55% of full-time workers with high school diplomas, 69% of those with bachelor’s degrees, and 73% of those with advanced degrees”. Also the same report stated that, high educated adults tend to be less “obese”. Healthier individuals make the society healthier.

        The U.S government has been aware of education benefits for society as well as individuals. The College Board’s report for 2013 stated that four-year college graduates donate their time to organizations more than twice in compare of high school graduates and it added that among individuals ages 25 to 44, there was a 32 percentage point gap between the voting rates of four-year college graduates and high school graduates”. Government has to consider the whole society and plan to make colleges affordable and accessible for all people in different ranges of income. In fact, some efforts have been done by the government to fulfill that desire. One of the recent efforts to control the costs of colleges is President Obama’s proposal to rate the colleges according to several factors. The rating would be tied to financial aid. “Under this new proposal, students could still attend whatever college they chose, public or private, but taxpayer support would shift to higher-ranked schools. Also, Tamar Lewin in the same report in the New York Times wrote: in his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama said, “he was putting colleges on notice that if tuition did not stop rising faster than inflation, financing from taxpayers would drop.” And in 2013’s State of the Union speech, he recommended “Congress to consider affordability and value in awarding federal aid, and followed up with a policy plan recommending that those measures be incorporated into the accreditation system. President Obama, as a leader of the United States, knows the importance and benefits of higher education in society, so he tries to invest in the younger generation, who are going to make the future of the country.

        In addition, college institutions are trying to support the students and decrease tuition and fees. For example, in this matter is the University of Maryland Pathways Program. This program helps applicants, who do not have financial resources to pay college tuition, to decrease or “eliminate” their debt. Also the “Debt Cap Program” in the same college, lets in-state students who want to graduate in four years to graduate with no more than $15,900 in debt”.          Harvard University, as a private organization, did not ignore the concern about high cost of education and tried to make it affordable for students and their families as well. In its new effort, applicants whose families’ annual income is less than $65,000 pay nothing toward the tuition costs and those with income between “$65,000 to $150,000” pay zero to 10 percent of their annual income. This program allows 20 percent of Harvard University’s students to pay zero dollars for their college tuition.