The Soaring Costs of Higher Education: A Comprehensive Analysis Example

Introduction

"Education is the key to success" is a phrase that has been said many times in a variety of contexts. There is also talk of most things having a price to it. Well, those who coined the phrase forgot to add a cost factor to it. The fight against illiteracy around the globe has been integral in changing the standards of living and fighting poverty in society.

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Initiatives tailored to counter the problem of illiteracy in society in various countries often revolve around lowering the cost of education so that it is affordable to all citizens. Education is a very costly undertaking for people in the US, especially college education. This paper covers the background, structure, statistics, and causes of the cost of knowledge in the US.

Introduction and Background

The US is considered one of the countries with a higher than average compared to other countries around the globe. The NCES (National Centre for Educational Statistics) shows that 21% of adults in the US are either illiterate or functionally illiterate (Rea, 2020). Reaching this level required some level of federal and state involvement by committing resources to bolster the education sector.

The sector enjoyed funding from the government, but an increase in the needs of other domains saw that funding reduced and redirected elsewhere. Someone had to cover the difference and in the United States, that someone is the student and their kin (Goldrick-Rab, 2016); not the institution or the government.

The amount paid for studies in college and higher education covers various issues that make up an integrally important part of the curriculum. The core elements that are included in college costs are tuition and fees, boarding and room, books and supplies, transportation, and personal expenses ("Understanding College Costs", n.d.). Tuition fees are controlled and regulated by state laws and federal provisions, but there are allowances for institutions also to include internal issues. A student is allowed to spend as they wish as long as they can afford it, and their spending habits do not interrupt their fellow students.

College Cost Statistics

The average total cost of college in public universities for in-state students is $25,290 and $40,940 for out-of-state students. The difference between in-state and out-of-state students is due to state taxation. Students who pay taxes in the same state as their colleges are in-state and their overall costs are lower.

The difference is considered a reward for their contributions and comes from the tax dollars they pay to the state to support educational institutions in the country (Knight & Schiff, 2019). Students in private universities spend an average of $50,900.

The modal valuation of tuition fees for both private and public institutions in the United States lies between $6,000 and $15,000. On the distribution concerning the cost of college education, states in the South and Southwest regions have cheaper college education programs compared to states in New England and the central areas.

The New England region has the highest in-state and in-district tuition costs with its costs trumping the national averages in the sector. The West region has the lowest college costs in the whole country. The illiteracy index of states in the country also follows the spread of the cost of education. It can, therefore, be inferred that there is a correlation between the cost of college and illiteracy levels.

The worrying trend in the sector is that states or the federal government have not regulated the issue of college costs. Institutions continue to increase the prices with each passing year. The increasing college costs can be attributed to inflation in the economy, but there is more to it than meets the eye. The rate at which it increases is strangely wondered whether there is a principle(s) and justification(s) for the same. The increments can justify the choice of students to take student loans to finance their studies.

While there are increments in the cost of education, the outcome does not reflect the same trend. Between 2008 and 2018, tuition costs increased by 36% while the median income grew by about 2.1% over the same period. The increase of the expenses of a college education has increasingly pushed students to take even more loans which prove hard to pay once the students complete college.

The cost of college has had ramifications that reach far and beyond. An example of the consequences of the growing college education costs is the student loan debt crisis which has now grown to a value of over 1.5 trillion dollars.

Reasons for the Increased Costs of Education

"How did it reach this point?" is a question that people have asked or thought about on different occasions. It is a combination of reasons that have led Americans to where they are at the moment.

The two main reasons are reduced funding from state governments, and the freedom allowed colleges to raise tuition. Other causes include investing in compliance requirements for an institution, investing in scholarly resources, high pricing from colleges that seek to make profits, competition, and the perception of quality.

The increase in population has seen the already stretched resources and facilities in education pushed even further. There have been very little to no adjustments concerning the committed resources by the government. The introduction of a policy that allows a college to spend the tuition money as it sees fit has also brought further complications. There are minimal federal or state laws that regulate the amounts schools charge their students. The aim of deregulate how institutions charge students to study in them. Some of the adjustments in fees can be attributed to inflation and added costs that arise from the additional activities that students engage in during their education.

There is a tendency of human beings to believe in relative quality based on the pricing. It is understood that many people in society consider pricing as being directly proportional to quality standards. It can be the case for some issues and circumstances in life where the cost is directly proportional to the effort input in the activities required to reach the expected goal. Many American citizens would not challenge the academic system and some social structures based on this.

Competition in the education sector has driven up the costs of college. Colleges and other institutions of higher education invest heavily in the facilities they have to improve their overall standing in the classifications it can be rated in (Price-Williams & Sasso, 2020). It takes extra funding for a research initiative to get an added touch of quality and even more to refine outcomes for research programs that may follow the initial one.

College costs in the country are also driven by the type of institution that students enroll in. In general, students who join private institutions as an option to compete in programs they would otherwise not qualify for in public institutions. Private colleges offer them the chance to study their desired degrees at an added cost to cover the difference from students in public colleges.

Conclusion

Higher education in the United States is an exciting domain. The sector includes some of the essential activities that shape the human resources for the various departments of state and federal government. This part of the education sector is responsible for the solutions to existing national problems and planning for the future. College costs have grown acutely in the US compared to other developed countries.

The fact that the education sector is an issue of a state and funding for degrees is based on where students pay their taxes makes it reasonable to charge higher costs for out-of-state students.

The main reasons for the increase in the cost of education in the country are reduced state funding and the allowance of institutions to spend tuition funds as they see fit. Other reasons for the increased costs of a college education are competition, and perceived quality based on the pricing of courses. Some private institutions are charging high fees for students just to enjoy the pride of schooling at the colleges and use its facilities.

Conclusion

Overall, the price has been growing at higher than standard rates and cannot be reflected in the outcomes. At a ratio of about 1:12, the average annual wage for civilians in the United States has grown at a slower rate when compared to the growth rate of the cost of a college education.

References

Goldrick-Rab, S. (2016). Paying the price: College costs, financial aid, and the betrayal of the American dream. University of Chicago Press.

Knight, B., & Schiff, N. (2019). The out-of-state tuition distortion. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11(1), 317-50. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20170499

Price-Williams, S. R., & Sasso, P. A. (2020). The Competition of an American Public Good: Performance-Based Funding and Other Neoliberal Tertiary Effects in Higher Education. In Leadership Strategies for Promoting Social Responsibility in Higher Education. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/S2055-364120200000024015/full/www.amazon.com

Rea, A. (2020). How Serious Is America's Literacy Problem?. Library Journal. Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem#:~:text=This%20is%20not%20just%20a,the%20illiterate%2Ffunctionally%20illiterate%20category.

Understanding College Costs. Bigfuture.collegeboard.org. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/college-costs/quick-guide-college-costs.