Essay Sample on Effects of Tuition Costs

Introduction

Research has revealed that the cost of college tuition costs, or rather college costs in general, has gone up by more than 25 percent over the past ten years (Hess, 2020). Moreover, studies show that during the period between 1978 to 1979, academic years, it id cost around $7,680 per annum to attend a private college & approximately $8,250 per annum to attend a public college (Hess, 2020). However, by the year 2008 to 2009 academic year, the same costs had risen to approximately $38,720 and $16,460 for private colleges and public colleges, respectively (Hess, 2020). Currently, similar costs have grown to $48,510 for private colleges and $21,370 for public colleges (Hess, 2020). From this data, it means that the costs have risen by close to 25.3 percent for private colleges and around 29.8 percent for public colleges (Hess, 2020). The biggest questions or rather concerns, in this case, are, therefore, whether the costs of college tuition are worth it, how it has changed or increased in the past ten years, and how this has affected the livelihoods of both the students and parents as well as their families as a whole.

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Due to the increased costs of college tuition, student debts have become a national concern (MITCHELL et al., 2020). From this fact, many Americans have raised questions about whether college school life is worth the cost. According to the data analyzed by CNBC Make It from The College Board, college costs increased over the past decade, and they analyzed how much it increased, including tuition, board, room, and fees (Hess, 2020).

Cuts in Higher Education Funds

There has been a lackluster in state funding, which as contributed very much to the rise of college costs. As from the year 2008 to 2018, the tuition fee at four-year public colleges on average displayed a rising figure in all of the 50 states. The increase (on average) in tuition at the institutions is approximately by 37 percent whereas the net costs have increased by 24 percent (which includes factors such as grants and scholarships); this is according to a report in 2019 from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Hess, 2020).

In the CBPP report, an analysis is done of the state funding for published in-state public college costs as well as higher education costs from the school of the academic year 2008 to the school of the academic year 2018 (Hess, 2020). According to three researchers, namely Matt Saenz, Michael Leachman, and Michael Mitchell, higher education funding has not rebounded to pre-recession levels in a majority of the states, which is the reason behind the rising costs of college studies (Hess, 2020).

Moreover, it is also true that from the school of the year 2008 to that of the year 2018, 41 states did spend less per student after the inflation adjustments (Hess, 2020). Also, over this period, the states did spend 13 percent less on average per student, which is about $1,220 (Hess, 2020).

A number of states having the highest drops in spending per student have paused a significant increase in tuition costs (Hess, 2020).

For instance, in a state such as Louisiana, the published tuition for the public four-year universities and so colleges since the academic year 2008 has since doubled (Hess, 2020). In other states such as Arizona and Alabama, the increase in tuition for public colleges as well as universities is over 60 percent (Hess, 2020). On a similar note, higher education funding per student has risen in nine other states, namely Alaska, Illinois, North Dakota, Wyoming, Hawaii, Wisconsin, California, Montana, and New York, since the Great Recession (Hess, 2020). However, the average tuition for public colleges has still risen across all 50 states.

On the other hand, many other factors contribute to the rise in college tuition, including the cost of living (Hess, 2020).

Cost of Living

Even though state funding is a leading factor to increased college tuition, other factors such as the cost of living, which includes healthcare costs, infrastructural costs, retirement costs for both staff and faculty, among other expenses, also play a significant role in increased college tuition (Hess, 2020). The cost of living has had a steady increase over the last several years. For this reason, the college students are directly affected by the rise since many of the students are forced to move from their homes so they can live in or around their campuses (Hess, 2020). This is due to the proximity since they cannot travel long distances from their homes to school then back home and also due to other personal or health reasons.

Moreover, an increase in the cost of living affects how colleges pay their employees or rather invest in their employees. Healthcare costs, for instance, have increased steadily over the past decade, as well as the costs that employers pay (Hess, 2020).

Another factor contributing to the increase in college tuition is the exorbitant spending of colleges on frivolous luxuries like hot tubs, climbing walls, & lazy rivers for their students (Hess, 2020).

While according to another report from public policy titled, “Pulling Up the Higher-Ed Ladder: Myth and Reality in the Crisis of College Affordability,” cuts in funding higher education contribute to the 79 percent increase in college tuition (Hess, 2020).

From the report, it is estimated that college tuition increase due to the costs of construction activities is only 6 percent (Hess, 2020). Only 5 percent of tuition increases were caused by administrative expenses. The costs are those associated with hiring part-time as well as full-time staff in sectors such as admissions. Based on the fact that colleges are expected to still sort through record-breaking numbers of applications, an increase in the spending in these sectors is an anticipated outcome (Writers, 2020). Students are being placed in difficult positions due to the steady rise in costs of college tuition, which is still expected to rise even more going into the future (Writers, 2020). Another factor is that due to the competitive economy in recent times, college education is vital for any American citizen or any other person across the world intending to prosper and cope with the ever-changing world (Writers, 2020).

Effects on Students and Families

With the rising costs of college tuition, many families have been hard-pressed to cope with the situation (MITCHELL et al., 2020). Tuition costs have shifted from states to students over the past several years forcing many families to spend their extra money due to their declining or rather stagnant incomes. The fact is a contrast to the period between the 1970s and 1980s, where both tuition & income grew at a faster pace than inflation (MITCHELL et al., 2020). However, in the late 1980s, tuition costs started to grow much faster than income and were the turning point that resulted in more families struggles to raise college tuition.

From the year 1970 to 2015, the average public college tuition (inflation-adjusted) has gone up by about 281% compared to median household income, which has risen by just 13% over the same period (MITCHELL et al., 2020). Over the same period, contrary to median households, the incomes of the top 1% of families have risen by around 186% (MITCHELL et al., 2020). From this fact, it is evident that tuition costs have outpaced the income growth of even higher earners. Tuition costs increased for more than 34 percent from 2008 to 2015 academic years, whereas the median income grew for only about 2.1 percent over a similar period (MITCHELL et al., 2020).

As the costs of college tuition increase, this harms both the students and their families, especially families with low incomes. The rapid rise in costs of college tuition in a period of declining or weak income growth has negative impacts on students, their families as well as the national economy in general. The shift in college tuition costs has several effects on the livelihoods of students and their families in many ways, some of which are discussed below.

The costs of college tuition hinder some students from enrolling in colleges (MITCHELL et al., 2020). Although the recession did encourage many students to enroll in colleges, the rise in tuition costs has since prevented further enrollments into higher education for many students across all the 50 states over the last few years. The rapid increase in tuition costs makes it hard for students who cannot afford it. Therefore as the tuition costs rise, more students cannot afford to enroll and thus the increase in the number of students who do not enroll for college education (MITCHELL et al., 2020).

Another effect is that the rise in tuition costs may harm students of color as well as reducing campus diversity (MITCHELL et al., 2020). The increase in tuition costs does jeopardize campus diversity for public four-year colleges; thus, the students of color are less likely to enroll for higher education learning as the costs go up. Moreover, low-income students are less likely to enroll in colleges since, from recent studies, it is established that increases in college tuition have the biggest impact on students, particularly from low-income families (MITCHELL et al., 2020). Finally, the increases in the costs of college tuition may force low-income students towards enrolling in less-selective public institutions, which reduces their future earnings (MITCHELL et al., 2020). For this reason, students from low-income earners are pushed not to apply for high-class colleges but rather for cheaper public institutions, which reduces their chances of future success in terms of their earnings.

Conclusion

Since the introduction of the recession, the states have cut the funding for higher education. The cuts in funding partially did reflect the decision of policymakers in relying overwhelmingly on spending cuts instead of revenue rise to cater for the losses in revenue. Maybe a balance in both the spending cuts & increases in revenue might have reduced the need for cuts in funding of higher education. The reduced support in funding higher education has affected the states’ campus systems. For public colleges, they have both pared back academic opportunities and significantly increased tuition. The steep increase has been done in ways that might compromise higher education quality as well as jeopardizing the success of students. In the same case, students are being forced to pay more for the increased tuition and thus being pushed to take more debts.