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April 1, 2004
GUEST BELI-BLOGGER BRADLEY W.: THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Are students ready to pay? Every year the cost of higher education climbs by at least 5%, usually capping at about 12%.
The cost of a 4 year private higher education is currently, on average, $26,854 each year. -- US News and World Report
By 2020, the cost of a 4 year higher education degree at a private school will be well over $196,000. Does this figure scare you? It scares me! Just imagine, graduating from college at the age of 22 with over $100,000 in debt from student loans. Mind you, your given sometimes 30 years to pay it all back, but to have this much debt, comparable to a home mortgage, is borderline insane at such an age. Even with the increase in available financial aid, they are just LOANS, not handouts. It must all be paid back. My belief is that higher education is more and more aligning to the corporate enterprise, pressuring students to slave away in a profession to pay off loans that never frees them to creatively pursue their profession. Not all professions come with a $80,000 a year salary, and even if it did, the student loans combined with a mortgage and attempting to live a fruitful life lead to virtual poverty (not literal).
Is their a creative solution here? What would you do in 2020 to afford such an education? Is going to a state university, which is almost half the cost, more valuable or less valuable to you? Some nations provide higher education at state universities for free (tuition) to their students. What would you do?
Posted by at April 1, 2004 1:34 PM
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Harvard actually has eliminated the cost of tuition for their poorer students, although admittedly, their endowment is large enough that they can support that. One does have to wonder why the cost of education is rising much faster than everything else. Maybe the private institutions are trying to hire the famous--which would mean paying higher salaries.
As for myself, I did once consider going overseas so I didn't have to pay tuition, but that ended up not happening when I got scholarships and grants.
I can totally relate to this - those figures are ridiculous! I went to a private school with a 20k+ price tag my first year in college. Thank goodness admissions were need-blind. If admitted, the school guaranteed 100% aid package. However, going to an elite school as a poor kid from rural Minnesota posed unforeseen status stressors. It's not easy being one of a handful of students admitted that weren't wealthy. Let's face it, higher SES students fare better academically. Their parents can afford to live in better school districts, have access to better education, and are more likely to seek/value a private college education. Transferring to a larger, public university my second year (which possessed equivalent, if not better, academic opportunities, imho) was a true blessing for me. How ironic that there I actually had to take out loans - the private school aid was completely in the form of grants and scholarships. As an adult student now taking continuing ed courses at the local university, I suffer sticker shock every semester when I receive the tuition bill. What amazes me the most is how financial aid is awarded. It truly seems that the middle class suffers the most. The very poor are rewarded with extensive federal and state grants. Not that I disagree with that, but it is sad to me when a child's parents' income level disqualifies them from receiving aid, yet it isn't enough to afford the price of even a public university education. Then they are forced to take out excessive loans and are saddled with a huge debt at graduation, as you pointed out. I certainly don't have the answer. I would love to see higher education available without charge to all citizens; or perhaps after serving an equivalent period in a national volunteer program, as some politicians have proposed.
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