The Rising Cost of College Tuition and its Affect
Jacob Davis, a transfer student at Rollins College went into his Spring 2019 semester eager and excited. Davis was awarded with a scholarship, which helped him be able to attend college with the heavy tuition prices. The scholarship that Davis was awarded was a huge help to him and his family, especially since he lived in California and had to add the expense of travel into his tuition costs.
Davis soon found out that along with his scholarship, tuition had increased by $1,940. With the increase of tuition, his scholarship was no longer much of a help to him and his family. All over America, institutions and Universities are continuing to rise the price of tuition, making it almost impossible for families to pay for college and not put themselves into debt.
Just like Jacob Davis, students are eager and excited to go to school and receive a higher education as well as experience the many joys and exciting moments of college. Although that is the case, most have to pay a price to do so and will continue to have to pay for years to come, especially those who leave college with not only a degree but loads and loads of debt as well.
When most students apply for college, they go into it thinking about which schools they would love to go to, their reaches, their targets, their safeties, and of course, the most recent popular factor, which schools will give them the best package financially. The college process has become stressful to many now in more ways than just one. The price of tuition by the school is sometimes a deciding factor for a student and why they may pick one school over the other. It’s the reason why some may stay in state versus out of state. It’s the reason as to why some may have to pick a school based on location because transportation is yet another added price. It’s the reason why some students may have to commute instead of live on campus because room and board is also expensive. When students apply to college now, many do research on what schools give the best financial packages and what schools award the most scholarship money, being that it is such an important part of deciding on a school.
Over the last couple of years college tuition has become excessive, but for most it is worth every penny. Writers, Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz, found that although tuition is such a hefty price, “the benefits of both a bachelor’s degree and an associate’s degree still tend to outweigh the costs, with both degrees earning a return of about 15 percent over the past decade.”
Since college tuition just keeps increasing by the semester, more and more families tend to keep being affected by this and have suffered from the dramatic costs of college. Since tuition has increased by 213 percent over the last 30 years, families are having trouble saving the full tuition amount for their children to attend college and gain a higher knowledge. Not only do the high tuition prices put the student in debt, but it puts the whole family in debt as well, affecting how they can go about their daily lives. Many middle-class families used to be able to save for the full tuition price, but now that is not the case. Middle-class families who used to be finically comfortable may no longer feel that way because of the rise of tuition.
College has changed in many ways over the past few decades. College costs have put about 45 million people in debt totaling nearly $1.5 trillion dollars. College expenses have become more expensive than the average American’s credit card loans.
Although college tuition has increased so much over the years, people continue to attend and pay for it, which is increasingly difficult. Joe Pinsker conducted an interview with Caitlin Zaloom, author of Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost, to answer that question. Pinsker asked Zaloom “In the past few decades, what’s changed in how families pay for college?” Zaloom answered by first off stating the fact that college used to be a lot cheaper and more affordable for families and the reason for that was because there was more government funding. She continued to say that many of the large educational systems, were free because people believed that a higher education was essential to have. Zaloom states that the shift from families being debt free to putting themselves into debt because of college costs, began in the 1980’s. In her book, Zaloom interviewed hundreds of families herself and talked to them about the pressing issue of tuition and what it could potentially do to their family.
Zaloom in another article was asked “how would you describe the world of student debt?’ She answered by saying that student debt has really taken a toll and transformed the typical middle-class family. She said that for most middle class families it is extremely important to send them to collegeand that has just become harder and harder over the years. Zaloom then goes into talking about how college is pervasive because Americans think that someone’s success can be determined on the fact of whether they went to college or not and then that spiral into whether or not a family is able to pay for their success. Tuition prices affect families all over America, but also families with different backgrounds. Caitlin Zaloom, in this interview states that “women and people of color bear the burden more than their white, male peers. They graduate with more debt. Takes the longer to pay it off. They’re more likely to go into default.”
Parents all over the country will do anything for their children to attend college, but the high prices do put parents in a tough situation. Zaloom explained it as a “trap,”in yet another interview. She found that the college financial process has begun to change and redefine family relationships. While interviewing many families across the country, she realized that families will take risks and give up certain aspects of their ‘middle-class’ life so that their child can go to college. With families making financial risks, it shows just how important education is to the nation as a whole. It shows that people really do believe in a higher education for their children. And it shows that parents want their children to be able to have the same opportunities as they did and attend college just like them even though the price has increase drastically.
It is quite interesting to think about. College and gaining a higher education is so important to many people throughout this country, but is still so unsupported by the government. The reason that college tuition used to be so affordable was because it was supported. A higher education is no longer supported by the government in the same ways that is used to be. Over the past decades, we as Americans have seen college tuition rise by the semester, and soon, college is going to become completely unaffordable for most. Families are putting themselves into enormous amounts of debt and making scarifies for their children to gain a higher education.
In 1972, Congress created something called the Student Loan Marketing Association because they emphasized how important it was to have a college degree and a higher education. The SLMA provided loans so people could attend college. As college tuition has become more and more money the SLMA and other associations have led to financial disasters.
Today, students do understand the burden their families undertake when they enroll their child for college. I have seen, first-hand, students completely making the most out of their higher education. Although it is unfortunate and unfair that tuition has only continued to rise, I think it makes people value their education more and more. Students now realize that their families change their lives around so that they can attend college, and most are more than grateful for that.
It is unfortunate that college has become so expensive. Caitlin Zaloom, in one of her interviews continued to go on about students, their families, and the debt that they are intaking. She says that families are 100 percent committed to a higher education and that the only problem with that is that the education system does not support that commitment. With college tuition on the rise, many people feel as though it is still valuable and worth it to be paying insane amounts of money for a higher education, and I for one agree to some extent. Families all over America are committed to a higher education and will do anything to figure how to pay for it even if it means incurring large amounts of debt. To some, families education is so important that they do not care how much they pay for college, as long as their child gets to obtain not only a higher education, but gain the typical college experience that everyone wants as well.
