The Middle Class Struggle
According to the Federal Reserve System, student loan debt has reached an all time high of 1.44 trillion dollars. The problem begins with the affordability of college expenses. While the average cost of attending a 4-year public university is about $9,410, the average cost of attending a 4-year private university is about $32,410 (College Board). What’s shocking is that this only accounts for attending the university and not the expenses of room and board. The question is how would any student, and their families, be able to afford the cost of attending college. Many students will have to resort to taking up loans in order to pay for their college expenses. Although California has the Cal Grant program, the program does not provide assistance for incomes higher than $80,000 (Csac.ca.gov). In addition, the federal financial aid program, Pell Grant, is focused on providing aid to incomes lower than $50,000 (Selingo). As a result, FAFSA and Dream Act provides middle class family with only two options, paying out of pocket or taking up loans to help alleviate the costs. The problem here is that the families of students may not always be willing to contribute to the student’s education, despite their income being counted towards the threshold. So, many students are forced to go for the latter option and go into debt. Although Cal Grant is a great program for many low income families, it does not address the needs of students in the middle class income, household incomes who are barely above the threshold but cannot afford to shoulder the full cost of college without going into debt.
Help for the middle class?
Most attention for financial assistance is too focused on the low income struggle to attend university, while ignoring the struggles that the middle class also faces. In the article, “Can the middle class afford college?”, Jeffrey Selingo states that the chances of a student going to college dwindles as the income of his or her family increases. As the cost of attending college steadily rises, the cost will be less and less affordable for middle class families because they are unable to receive financial aid from government programs. College would still be affordable for higher income families, while financial aid allows college to be affordable for low income families. The question is what about the middle class? According to “Middle-class families are fed up with their financial aid options”, the author interviews Sandy Baum, a senior intellectual from Urban Institute, and she states that realistically speaking, ‘people making $80,000 a year still have financial need. If we’re asking them to pay more tuition, fees and room and board at a four-year college, giving them more help seems reasonable’. Without factoring in the fees and room and board, households, with at least $80,000, are forced to pay about 10% of their income (College Board). This financial aid threshold forces many families to be more likely to take up loans or forgo college altogether. Also, the author, National Economy Reporter Danielle Gabriel, states that the government promotes student loans as a plausible source of financial assistance for middle class students. Although the government offers loans with better interests than banks, most students will still have to pay an average of $30,000 worth of loans regardless of whether or not they find a job after college. In the state of Georgia, the government attempted to counteract the large decrease in middle and upper class students attending college, by providing more financial aid assistance for higher income students (Dynarski). As a result, the amount of middle and upper class 17–19 year olds attending college increased by 8%. This shows that students are more likely to attend college if it was more affordable and if they did not have to take up loans.
This leads to one of the best solutions to the student debt crisis is to provide every student with free college tuition.
How can free college help?
A free college tuition would allow more students to attend college while increasing the opportunities for education that the students will have. According to “To Boost the Economy, Help Students First”, Sheila Bair states that as a college president, she sees that many students have allowed their college debt decide their career. This means that the opportunities and choices that students have are limited to careers that would be most likely to provide a job that allows them to pay off their college debt. While these careers are not necessarily undesirable, the students’ career choices are largely limited to those that may or may not be their passion. As a solution, free college tuition would not limit the student because they would have the freedom to choose their career. According to Bernie Sanders, a free college tuition would benefit the economy and will provide an easier pathway for many students. In his article, “Make college free for all”, Sanders argues that many other countries provide their free college for all of their students which then allows them to become “teachers, architects, scientists, entrepreneurs and more”. This means that the student is not forced to only have thoughts about paying off their student debt after college. What should be on a student’s mind is their passion for a certain career or pathway that they desire. In addition, Sanders also references the GI Bill which allowed many veterans to attend college for free. He states that the GI Bill resulted in “high productivity and economic growth” because of the large increase of skilled workers in the United States . In the article, “A National First”, Andrew Cuomo passes a bill that addresses the struggles of middle class students attending college in New York. Under this bill, about 940,000 people will have financial assistance in order to attend college. New York is one of the first states to offer assistance for the middle class. Despite the many benefits of a free college tuition, many people have argued that free college tuition would not be beneficial to the economy.
Let’s be realistic
Numerous politicians have argued that a free college tuition would only affect the economy negatively. For example, in the article, “The problem is that Free College isn’t Free”, Andrew Kinley states that a free college tuition would have to come from the money of taxpayers which would force many people to pay more. Although Kinley makes a good point about taxes, free college could potentially increase the productivity in the workforce because more of the population would have more skills that would benefit the economy. Despite paying for more taxes, free college tuition would benefit the taxpayer one way or another because they would have the opportunities to return to college without having to shoulder on the heavy costs of tuition. In addition, in the article, “Free college tuition would only increase inequality”, Robert Birgeneau argues that there are already programs that assist students financially and making college free would only benefit the wealthy. While there are programs that assist low income students, the middle class students are overshadowed and will most likely struggle to afford the increasing cost of college. Most financial aid programs do not address the middle class and will only provide assistance for incomes lower than $80,000. Also, college would be beneficial for all students regardless of socioeconomic status because they would be more likely to attend college due to its affordability. In addition, Birgeneau also argues that Sanders’ proposal of free college would not address the problem of economic inequality because the wealthier would be able to afford to provide their children with resources in order to have a step ahead of other students in the competition of college acceptance. At the current state of education, college is already extremely competitive and many colleges tend to focus on the students who are less wealthy and have gone through a struggle. Many universities accept students with qualities such as leadership rather than just academic standing alone. A more realistic approach to the affordability of college is extending the Cal Grant to higher income families that are unable to pay college completely out of pocket.
Conclusion
Rather than advocating for the complete change in college tuition, altering Cal Grant or other financial aid programs to assist a higher number of students would be more valuable. Student loan debt would decrease because more students would be less likely to take up loans because college would be more affordable for these students. In order to alleviate one of the highest cause of debt in America, college tuition should be free for all students because it would help provide better options for students.
Works Cited List
Bair, Sheila C. “To Boost the Economy, Help Students First.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/opinion/to-boost-the-economy-help-students-first.html>.
Birgeneau, Robert. “Free College Tuition Would Only Increase Inequality.” The Berkeley Blog. U.C. Berkeley, 29 Feb. 2016. Web. 4 Apr. 2017. <http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2016/02/29/why-free-college-tuition-would-increase-inequality/>.
“CALIFORNIA STUDENT AID COMMISSION 2016–17 CAL GRANT PROGRAM INCOME CEILINGS FOR NEW CAL GRANT APPLICANTS and RENEWING CAL GRANT RECIPIENTS, 19 Aug 2015. Web. 17 May 2017. <http://www.csac.ca.gov/facts/2016-17_income_and_asset_ceilings.pdf>
“College Costs: FAQs.” College Board. College Board, n.d. Web. 17 May 2017. <https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/college-costs-faqs>.
Cuomo, Andrew. “A National First.” Medium. Medium, 09 Apr. 2017. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://medium.com/@NYGovCuomo/a-national-first-522fc76c9d3f>
Douglas-Gabriel, Danielle. “Middle-class Families Are Fed up with Their Financial Aid Options.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 May 2017. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/01/29/middle-class-families-are-fed-up-with-their-financial-aid-options/?utm_term=.1b0d66021ce8>.
Dynarski, Susan. “Hope for Whom? Financial Aid for the Middle Class and Its Impact on College Attendance.” NBER. National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2000. Web. 16 May 2017. <http://www.nber.org/papers/w7756>
Kinley, Andrew P. “The Problem Is That Free College Isn’t Free.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/01/20/should-college-be-free/the-problem-is-that-free-college-isnt-free>.
McKinley, Jesse. “Cuomo Proposes Free Tuition at New York State Colleges for Eligible Students.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Jan. 2017. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/nyregion/free-tuition-new-york-colleges-plan.html>.
Sanders, Bernie. “Make College Free for All.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-america-needs-free-college-now/2015/10/22/a3d05512-7685-11e5-bc80-9091021aeb69_story.html?utm_term=.520a950a1145>.
Selingo, Jeffrey J. “Can the Middle Class Afford College?” The Washington Post. WP Company, 08 May 2017. Web. 17 May 2017. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/08/can-the-middle-class-afford-college/?utm_term=.ed5b7be4a859>.
