Cooper Union, a university comprised of three smaller colleges that specialize in art, architecture, and engineering, announced that they will begin charging undergraduate tuition fees starting with next year's batch of freshmen. This doesn't seem to be all that significant at first, but it's a huge change in this school's history because enrolled students have never had to pay tuition in over 100 years. Students and professors alike feel like this change has stripped the school of its character, but it was one of the only conceivable solutions for dealing with a 12 million dollar deficit and paying off a large loan that the school had taken out a couple years ago. Protecting the school's founding principle of offering free higher education has unfortunately come to cost a lot of money. Students can still enroll at the school for free if they meet a list of needs upon their acceptance, but a couple thousand students will be stuck trying to get loans to pay for their education.
All of this raises an important question... What would be the cost of free college education in the United States? Seeing as how only 30% of American students who start college graduate (source), one of the government's primary concerns might have to be finding ways to make the four years more affordable, even it means spending more money. In 2010, the total cost of free post-secondary education in the U.S. was
estimated to be about 128 billion dollars, and this is significantly lower than the 225 billion dollars the government spent on grants and student loans combined (source). If free education is projected to cost less than what we may be spending on certain programs right now, maybe there is hope for future generations that quality learning can come at a cheaper price. As Cooper Union has shown for a century, great instruction doesn't necessarily have to burn a hole in students' pockets.
In what ways do you guys think it would be beneficial for the country to have more universities that are free, like how Cooper Union used to be? Finland, which ranks first on the global education index, doesn't charge tuition at any of their public universities, so is a free higher education system in America too idealistic?
For the specific article on Cooper Union, please read this.
4 comments:
I feel this is actually really sad. A school who has years and years of believing everyone should get a higher education without a cost has to stop its way. There isn't much to say other than, that's all that can happen. Maybe if the economy gets better and they start to have more money, they can start the free thing again. However, if the school wants to be around for that time, they will have to start finding funds somewhere. Or the teachers can all teach on volunteer basis.
I agree with Bruce, when he says it is sad to see a free higher education institution change its policy after a century. What boggles my mind is that nations like Finland can offer free higher education, while the US is practically overcharging its college students. It's surprising that politics have not yet covered much on the cost of college these days. While the government does offer financial aid, it is still a long way from the free education of some European countries. I believe that America can achieve a goal of making public education free, but it would require massive reform and a lot of public support. Free higher education means a better educated workforce that can be way more productive than an uneducated one, so free higher education is a big deal.
While I can understand how schools in places like Scandinavia can offer free tuition by having the government pay for it, I have no idea how this school was able to offer free tuition for so long. As others have said, its sad that this tradition is coming to an end. Because of price discrimination in who will be paying tuition, the school will probably be able to offer many scholarships to students who can't afford tuition, but still, ending free tuition for everybody probably isn't best for the school. Free tuition has surely helped the school gain popularity, and ending this practice will probably mean the school will have a much tougher time attracting applicants.
As with Robert, I am also quite surprised that the school offered free tuition for over a hundred years. I think the estimated cost for free education is so much lower than what the government spends is because colleges charge more to make sure they have enough funds for both the present and the future. Students take out huge loans because tuition is so expensive which accumulates to that high 225 billion that the government spends. If college tuition was freely provided by the government, then perhaps the price would be more realistic because colleges wouldn't have to worry so much about future costs since the government will provide for it. Also, I think Finland is able to provide free public university tuition because of higher tax rates. People are still paying for college, just in a different form.
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