Is the Increase in Cost of College Fair?
Written By: Cooper Y.
Since the 1980’s, the average cost of college tuition has increased by around 300% including public and private universities. That equates to a school with a $15,000 tuition in the 80’s would have around a $45,000 tuition as of 2020. Families are now deeper in debt than they ever were. Even basic 4 year degrees are now becoming more unobtainable than they were 40 years ago. With this inflation in price, you would assume less students would enroll in a university. The opposite is true. An all time high of 72% of high school graduates, according to TheCollegeRoom.Org, attend a post high school university. With this higher enrollment you’d figure colleges would decrease tuition, as they’d still have sufficient funds with now a higher enrollment. However, as seen before that’s not the case. Confusing isn’t it?
Another problem looms over tuition costs. Even though the cost of college has inflated by 300%, the wage rate and inflation rate has not been consistent with that increase. Since the 1980’s, the inflation rate has only been around 200 percent. By using analysis we learned this unit, we come to the conclusion that college tuition has increased by an unnecessary 100 percent. Now I understand public institutions have grown since the 80’s and thus they would require more funding. However, since the wage rate has only increased by an average 40% since the-once again-1980’s, again that means that college has only gotten that much more expensive.
Students typically take out loans to pay for their post high school education. Only about 11% of university students can pay for their whole undergraduate education out of pocket. Such an increase in college costs has led to more students taking out student loans, and the amounts being even heftier than years before. Students, and soon to be adults, will then have to pay back that large sum over a large chunk of their career. I may not be the most gifted in math but lower college costs-I assume-would decrease the average loan taken out by students and therefore the span adults would have to pay back their loans. And who doesn’t want to not pay as much sooner? Loans come with lots of problems that I’m sure any adult that went to college can articulate, so I won’t get into that. But I’m sure we all can agree that lower college costs would be beneficial to nearly all included. 
Although the recent surge has been outrageous, there are some good reasons why tuition has increased. Since jobs have grown to require higher qualifications, the demand for college has increased. And as we know from our basic supply and demand model, price would increase in that relationship. Numerous colleges are also opening up international branches or expanding their campuses domestically. They need to get their funding from somewhere. These are valid reasons. But not reason enough to increase costs by 300%, or the 100% with inflation adjusting. College should be accessible for those that wish to attend. Our workforce is growing to require a minimum of a bachelor's degree. For those who can’t afford college, this is unacceptable.
Works Cited
Emmiemartin. “Here's How Much More Expensive It Is for You to Go to College than It Was for Your Parents.” CNBC, CNBC, 29 Nov. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/how-much-college-tuition-has-increased-from-1988-to-2018.html.
“Inflation Rate between 1979-1980: Inflation Calculator.” Inflation Rate in 1980 | Inflation Calculator, www.in2013dollars.com/inflation-rate-in-1980.
Maldonado, Camilo. “Price Of College Increasing Almost 8 Times Faster Than Wages.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 25 July 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2018/07/24/price-of-college-increasing-almost-8-times-faster-than-wages/#1fe83b8066c1.
Republiccountykansas. “Republic County Economic Development.” Republic County Economic Development, 4 Sept. 2014, www.republiccountykansas.com/studentdebt12timesmoreexpensive/.
Thompson, Van. “What Percentage of High School Students Attend College After Graduation?” The Classroom | Empowering Students in Their College Journey, 10 Jan. 2019, www.theclassroom.com/percentage-high-school-students-attend-college-after-graduation-1423.html.
I like Mr. Cooper very nice post
ReplyDeleteI feel as though this topic is extremely relevant for an audience of juniors and seniors who are looking at colleges and have to take tuition into consideration. I know that this increase in tuition rings true as even the tuition of University of Wisconsin-Madison is increasing for the year of 2020-2021 from 2019-2020. Since I am going into college next year, I hope that these tuition rates do not continue to rise or else new financial plans will have to be taken into consideration for many students.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the rate from college costs had went up 300%. To even think about that it crazy,like you said in the 80's if college costed $15,000 in 2020 it would be $45,000 which is crazy to think about. I also agree with what you said at the end that it isn't far to the people that can't get the 4 year degree or even get the chance to the things that others can.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this I knew that college tuition is rising and has risen a ton compared with the past but I always thought that it matched the inflation rate, but in reality college tuition has risen by 300% while inflation only by 200%. That is crazy, I understand why college is so expensive in a sense that so many people want to go to college and the demand for spaces in a school with high qualities resources and teachers is high but this increase compared to inflation is off the charts. Reading this article was super informative and really helpful in understanding the increase in college tuition and why it is occurring.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this in that college tuition has become an outrageous amount of money now. When talking about finances with soon college kids, the biggest worry is how they are going to be able to pay for college and the debt they are going to be into. It is also ironic that college is something that most people are almost expected to do after college, and many high schools talk about college a lot. With that increase of expectation to go to college, it is ironic that students are beginning to pay more and more money. This raises the question of whether colleges are increasing the price because they know the students will have to pay it and know that most kids have to go to college to get a good paying job when they are older.
ReplyDeleteI find the point that you brought up near the end of the bottom line workforce needing bachelors degree ringing alarmingly true. With such an increase in skilled and educated workers, that provides a surplus of laborers due to the lack of skilled jobs for those people. Those people are then forced to work in fields that do not relate to their degree, and are rather low skilled jobs. Pretty soon there will be no need for unskilled labor, because why would you hire an unskilled laborer over a educated skilled laborer.
ReplyDeleteThis is a topic that is very relevant to us as seniors and juniors. For some people I know that the cost of some colleges have made them not want to continue their education after high school. The cost of a college education is very daunting and most people are unable to pay off their debt. Considering that a bachelors degree is slowly becoming the minimum education needed for a job, I think that it would be better to make that education more affordable.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to think about just how much the college price has increased due to the changing economy of the US. I understand that colleges do need a fair bit of funding in order to function, but having the cost increase by this much doesn't really make sense.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if in the future, the gap between college tuition and the salaries out of college will become distant enough that we see a burst in the number of people attending college. Will this lead to an increase in trade school attendance, or will it cause a larger amount of unemployment with a decrease in specialized workers. Personally I think the education market will reach equilibrium and decrease in price after the extortionate prices overstay their welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said in class that you wrote a great piece, you weren't wrong. I think it is critical that you brought up the lack of increase in wages when talking about the rising prices of college tuition. The other question I have is where is that money going? I understand that running a campus is expensive but the number of scholarships from the school has also gone down so I have a gut feeling that this is based on greed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ryan. Colleges receive a lot of money, not only from tuition but also from alumni donors. Then on top of that the public colleges receive government funding too. There is only one reason for why colleges are raising tuition, and that is due to wasteful spending. Income is only half of Profit or loss statements, the other is expenses. And it doesn't matter how much you raise one if the other keeps on increasing too.
DeleteThe most important part of this post is the comparison between the increase in college prices and the stagnancy of wage rates. Years ago, college was merely a couple hundred dollars, but now, applications themselves are around the same price. I think another point to bring up is the social implications of education, that if you don't attend college and put yourself through complete and utter financial abuse, that there are only a select few types of available jobs with a sustaining salary. Great post, Coop!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is absolutely insane how much college prices have gone up in the past few decades. As you mentioned in your post, even though there is a large increase in prices when compared to inflation, there is still a record amount of people attending college. I wonder if the amount of people who attend college will plateau and then start to plummet if college prices keep increasing at the same rate as they are now. This brings up the question of whether that would force colleges to drop their prices in order to encourage people to attend again. Would this be the only way to reset college prices back to a reasonable standard?
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone really takes the time to think about how much the college price has increased due to the changing economy of the US. Ofcourse the colleges need a fair bit of funding in order to keep everything functioning, but having the cost increase by this much doesn't really make sense.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading your post, I don't think that I fully realized how much the cost of college has increased over time. This makes me think of some of my extended family that claim that the kids of our generation tend to be lazy and not willing to get a job to help pay for the expenses associated with a higher education. I would definitely claim that this is untrue, as many people of our age have jobs, it's just not realistic anymore to have a job for the summer to cover the majority of your tuition. Colleges should not be ran for profit and money should not be the determining factor on whether or not someone pursues a higher education.
ReplyDeleteThe price of college just keeps increasing and this is insane to me! A hard concept is the higher income job, the more degrees you need. This results in more years in college, and more money. This is hard for kids who were not raised in a very wealthy community because most debt does come from college, and families will be working to pay off that debt for a long time. This is hard to consider because many people are still paying off their college debt in their 50's! However, there is many scholarship and grant opportunities you can apply for to help deduct the cost of college, but that requires a lot of work that high school students do not necessary want to be doing during their last months before they leave off for college.
ReplyDeleteAs you implied throughout your article, every aspect of the economy is having a repeating effect on costs and wages, such that yearly incomes increase as the workforce requires higher education more frequently causing college tuition costs to increase. Obviously, parallel with inflation, these amounts will only continue to increase as time goes on, which leads to looming question- when will this stop and how large can these incomes and payment become before they're unbearable? A posing issue that will most likely become more prevalent in the years coming is how we can slow down or even prevent these dramatically increasing rates surrounding college tuition.
ReplyDeleteDid you hear there is a 12 word phrase you can tell your partner... that will trigger deep feelings of love and instinctual attraction to you buried within his heart?
ReplyDeleteBecause deep inside these 12 words is a "secret signal" that fuels a man's impulse to love, idolize and look after you with all his heart...
=====> 12 Words That Fuel A Man's Love Impulse
This impulse is so hardwired into a man's genetics that it will drive him to work better than before to do his best at looking after your relationship.
In fact, triggering this dominant impulse is so mandatory to getting the best possible relationship with your man that once you send your man one of these "Secret Signals"...
...You'll instantly notice him expose his mind and soul for you in a way he never expressed before and he will identify you as the one and only woman in the universe who has ever truly attracted him.
This topic is very relevant to me as a high school student, and it gives me good insight on what to expect. Colleges are taking on the mindset of a business, striving for more profits. This greed of colleges is easily met by the mass of students applying. For all big colleges every year they are forced to reject a large number of students, so the demand is there. Not much really changes when they raise tuition. For example, UW Madison has about a 53% acceptance rate, that gives them a lot of room to raise tuition without taking huge hits in terms of students wanting to apply.
ReplyDelete