I was browsing around, when I found this article.
It's interesting but scary at the same time. College tuition has been on the rise for years. Tuition has been increasing faster than the average family income. More and more people are having trouble financing college, and they find themselves with huge debts in doing so. Soon enough, if nothing is done, college is going to become an institution for the rich. And, with the recession, colleges are having to raise tuition and fees.
I think that college is ridiculously expensive, especially compared to European countries, such as France. In France, tuition is about a couple hundred per year. The more expensive and private schools might get in the thousands. Of course, this is because French people are a bunch of socialists, and college is funded by the state. But, America really needs to reform its education system to make higher education more affordable and attainable. Our country is already behind when it comes to education.
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I agree and I think college should be more funded by the government to make it more affordable. Althought the idea is socialistic, I think getting more people into college would only help in the advancement of our country. There are way to many people in this country that have all the abilities to attend a good college, but are prevented by the rising tuitions. Of course there are grants and things like that, but you are not guaranteed to recieve them, and even if you do it still will not help enough. And face it, if you know your capable enough of going to a university, who wants to go to community colleg?
(http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/SavingForCollege/AsTuitionRisesFederalAidFalls.aspx)
Check this article out. It is crazy how public universities tuition has been increasing by 6% annually for the last 5 years but there has been reduction in the amount of money that the federal government is giving to low income students. It is just not right that college must be such a financial struggle. Some of the schools I have applied are already in financial debt as it is. Grants and scholarships with the rising tuitions will only make a dent if this continues. I am hoping for the best, maybe our new president can fix the economy.
Dang, socialism does have its perks.
Our economy is going down the tubes right now and in all the wrong places... if only that gas price drop could be applied to colleges.
And quite honestly I had no idea college tuition costs have gone up so much. Instead everyone's been focusing on gas prices and the stock market in recent years. I hope education doesn't continue to be ignored by the media; maybe if they helped advocate for college and school funding, something could happen.
Tuition is crazy nowadays. Especially because the economy is pretty much...dead right now. Did anyone hear about the whole thing about the state schools are now requiring students to only apply to their local state schools. So for us, we could only apply to SF state and SJ state because of the state budget. Even if you apply to socal schools, you probably wont be accepted, which kinda sucks. And I thought college was getting harder to get into as it was...
College is not only now more expensive, but it has become a necessary step toward achieving and maintaining a stable lifestyle. Many of those who do not graduate college are forced to work for minimum wage and earning around 8 dollars an hour does not enable you to live in many parts of the country. During my year of employment at Longs Drugs I learned that most of my fellow employees were not college graduates. Without a college degree your career and employment options are limited. Because a college degree is so vital in ensuring financial success, competition and tuition rates have been progressively increasing. It sucks but its the reality of a college education. Just remember that although San Diego State is not Stanford, you can use your degree and be successful no matter where you receive your college education. Getting into the best most expensive university does not necessarily mean that you will get a job after you graduate. A good UC might be a cheaper alternative to an expensive private school on the east coast. There are options for people who want to go to college, they might not be able to go to the best school that they possibly could, but a college education is not unattainable.
About college in Europe: Yes college is paid for by the government, but only a small population of students even get the opportunity to be eligible for acceptance. Students in Europe are rigorously tested and often do not score high enough to be eligible for a college education.
Another problem is that we are graduating in a time period of American history with the most students EVER graduating. i heard somewhere that the class of 2010 or 11 is predicted to be the biggest graduating class ever, but either way ours is one of the biggest. Which is good, it means there are less drop outs, but it also means there are WAY more people trying to get into college and not only are prices rising but that adds way more competition.
This is definitely going to be a large problem in our society. Now that our economy is in the hole, many people are turning to local public schools, so the competition to get into those schools is much harder. I've seen that most people are looking to instate public schools also because of the price of going out of state to go to school. It is getting much more expensive for private schools to keep running when they are much more expensive than public schools are. I believe that we need to have our government get involved. We have a great deal of problems to solve and we need all of the educated people we can find to help. But, I also believe that we should be able to go to the right college that fits us, not just go somewhere because we have no other choice. College is a large investment and it should be where we want it to be. This also put much unneeded stress on our parents, because we may be suffering, but they provide for us and we don't really know everything that is going on financially. I hope Obama will help us in this problem.
The US has always been lagging behind when it comes to education. If you look at the work force nowadays, most of the employees are immigrants. That's because the education in Europe/Asia is cheaper, and in most cases, better. Also, it takes a lot less time outside of the US to get a degree. I know a lot of people who have gotten their medical degrees from India right after high school and have come to work at the US afterwards. Maybe that's what's going to happen here in the US...people are going to go to college abroad and only come back for work.
I found this article online:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/
education/2008-04-30-college-
tuition_N.htm
It turns out that even though students are giving more revenue to colleges, little of the money is going towards classroom instruction. So apparently, we're paying more and not getting anything back. I think this is a completely bizarre situation. It's no wonder that the US is ranked 18th out of 24 countries in terms of effectiveness of its education system.
Colleges should be more be more heavily funded by the government because with today's economy it's diffucult to get into the school of your choice. Even if you are accepted, there is no guarantee that you can pay for tuition. I know a lot of people that are just going to a community college for their first 2 years then transferring to like a UC in order to save thousands of dollars. It's pretty discouraging as student to know that getting good grades and scoring high on standardized tests isn't enough anymore. College is already hard enough as it is, but having to worry about the rising tuition fees puts added stress on both the student and their family.
A CNN study rported that tuition hikes ranged from 4.5 percent at Stanford to 11.1 percent for out-of-state students at the University of Washington at Seattle this year. Most schools in the country estimated tuition increases of between roughly 5 percent and 6 percent. The average cost of a Private four-year is $25,143 (up 5.9 percent from last year)
It all seems so ironic. So many intelligent people cannot recieve an education because they simply cannot afford one. What has our society become?
All of us are biased on this issue so of course I am going to say yes you are right and college is starting to get unreasonable. But saying that it might become an institution for the rich... wasn't that how it was before...
Seems to me like a cycle. but I am not looking into with to much detail.
The road to college, in my opinion, is for the rich and the high achieving poor. Lower class students that get good grades and have a decent resume are bound to get in somewhere with a full ride scholarship. For the upper class students, college is easy to afford and accessible. The hardest group of people right now to go to college I think is the middle class. The middle class, American family earns enough to be exempt from any cal grants or need-based financial aid, but don't earn enough to send their kid to a pivate school or perhaps the student's "dream school." The only chance of financial aid that they have is merit-based, which is not at any Ivy League school and is rare at others. I think our country needs some college funding and scholarships for the working, middle class.
The reason college is so expensive is that the government gives out so many student loans so then colleges raise their prices since demand is higher (also inflation).
Same thing happens with houses. If people did not always take out a loan to buy a house then fewer people would buy houses. This would lead to lower prices.
What I think we need are some schools that teach things more applicable to real life. I think a lot of people waste their time and money in college because they are learning stuff that they will never use, just so they can get a degree.
Reading things like this seriously stresses me out. I completely agree with Rachel... the middle class has it the worst. We make too much to be considered for aid and not enough to actually afford college. This is the case for me personally, and it worries me. I was reading an article that stated that this year, the percentage of applicants to CSU's increased 17% from last year. The tuition is going up as well, and enrollment is being cut back due to a lack of funds. It is apparent that CSUs and UCs are receiving far more applicants this year than the last, because fewer students are able to afford private schools. CSUs are the cheapest schools that California has in its college education system (besides junior college, of course.) I do believe the government should put aside more money toward funding for those students who can't afford college. Afterall, our education is vital to the future success of the country.
The more unaffordable universities become the more they push kids into applying to state schools or just going to community college and although there is nothing wrong with that it does seem that the only people that will get a better education at the universities are the people that can afford it and that is not right at all. College should be an opportunity for everyone and the ones that should be at the universities that are clearly on the level of the people attending there will have to miss out and go to community college or a state school where they are not as challenged
i definately think that college is getting rediculously expensive and i think that obama will do something about that but i do not think that college will ever be an institution just for the rich. my oppinion may be a little bit biased because i am scared of anything that has to do with socialism because of the fact that my parents have lived under socialism and they have told me man scary stories of back home like standing in hine for months to see the docter or standing in line for hours to buy some bread
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