Are Colleges Too Expensive?

Bowen 1

Evan Bowen

Ms. Nava

Advanced Composition P.3

20 November 2015

Are Colleges Too Expensive?

1. Introduction

1. Background information:

Colleges are a very big part of modern society. Without a college degree the chances of getting the job you want drop significantly, yet each year the prices for college increase drastically. This makes it harder for most people to get a proper degree. If the cost of tuition continues to rise, how will colleges continue to expect large enrollment numbers? The amount of work it takes to pay for college on minimum wage takes too much time and the rise in prices, factoring in inflation, are continually getting larger. Colleges should stop focusing on making a profit each year and should focus more on making sure that everyone can get the education that they want and that they deserve.

1. Thesis Statement:

College tuition prices are too high and need to be reduced because the price of an average public college tuition is too much, the amount of work needed to pay for college on minimum wage is impossible, and students end up taking out loans that they cannot pay off.

1. Reasons that Support the Main Thesis

1. The amount of money it costs to go to a public college now and then

Bowen 2

1. In 1970, a year of tuition at a public university cost $1,207. In the most recent year of data available, 2007, a year of tuition at a public university cost $11,034. (The Simpler Doller, Trent Hamm)
2. This gain in prices averages out at around 6.2% increase per year, which gives you an estimated 2010 cost of a year of education as being $13,216. That’s a 994% increase in the cost of a four-year degree.

1. The amount of work needed to pay for college on minimum wage is impossible

1. Minimum wage in 1970 was $1.45. If a student worked 20 hours a week at minimum wage they would be able to pay off college tuitions before they finished school, without any scholarships or loans.
2. The current minimum wage is $8.05. If a student worked 20 hours a week at minimum wage they would only have 2,576 dollars out of the 7,000 they need for that semester. After working for 4 years they would only have around 20,000 dollars from their job. That is less than half of the total tuition for college.
3. The amount of hours needed to get to around the college tuition price is 40 hours a week. That is a full time job. That is also if you had no other expenses. If you had to pay for an apartment or dorm and needed food and other necessities, it would require even more work.

1. Students end up taking out loans that they cannot pay off.

1.    Student loan debt follows one of every five Americans age 20 or older and roughly two of every three college seniors who graduated in 2011 (Reed and Cochrane)

Bowen 3

1.    Americans now owe nearly $1.2 trillion in student loans. The level of debt continues to rise even though the number of active borrowers has gone down since 2010. And even though millennials are the poster generation for student debt, they don't actually hold most of it.

1. Counter Arguments and Responses to Them

1. 1st Opposing View: Colleges need money to afford all the new technology that keeps coming out year after year.

Response: Taxpayers spent $32 billion on for-profit colleges in the last year. That is way more than enough for a single year of college with still a huge profit left over.

1. 2nd Opposing View: It is what the market will bear, people will pay it because they know a degree will get them a better job.

Response: Just because some people can, and will pay it doesn’t override that most people cannot and end up in substantial debt.