Breaking News -- College Is Unaffordable for Most
One day soon most Americans won't be able to afford college educations.
According to a new report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education:
"Published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation, while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade, and students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families."
"Historically during downturns, states make disproportionate cuts in higher education and, in return for the colleges taking them gracefully, allow them to raise tuition," Callan said. "If we handle this recession like we've handled others, we will see that this gets worse."
Loans have financed this runup in tuition, but for how much longer? They are unsecured debt. As one commentator asked recently, "How do you repossess a student loan - attach a tow hook to some delinquent student's brain as he exits the college library?"
And no shock, the burden falls disproportionately on the poor. If one year at a public university costs more than half of the income of the poorest fifth of the population, that's no meritocracy.
Kevin Carey of the think tank Education Sector pointed out in an important Washington Monthly) piece last month that "colleges could use technology to lower costs and thus student prices, but they won't until the terms of competition change. "
It's up to families, schools, and young people to change the terms of competition by earnestly seeking alternatives. And it's up to educators and lawmakers to provide those alternatives. As Carey predicts in the coming years ever-more families will turn to public colleges, improved online education, shorter degree programs, overseas education, or even pass up college altogether.
Unpleasant, but maybe necessary. Already the dropout rate is 44 percent at best.
Follow Anya Kamenetz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Anya1anya
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Speaking as a College Grad from a big state university in 1988, and as a current full-time science professional and Professor (part-time) at a local Community College,..
My introductory biology class this last year was about half 18-20 year olds, mostly damned bright and dedicated to learning, most of which were attempting to pile up some course credits to transfer into a full time University AND working 30-40 hours / week.
If I had had to work this hard (and I did work ~20 hours/week back in the mid 1980s), and take on the debt load these guys had to, and complete the coursework
If we are going to make it as a major world power over the next couple of decades - the current crop of college grads are going to be the ones providing the brain & muscle power to do it. We need to make sure that we give them the opportunites.
I am looking at going back to school to pick up my long delayed post grad degree, but I may end up holding off on that unless I can get a great assistantship which will cover most of my expenses as well as give me a tuition waver.
Or I could go to school in Canada [I am a Canadian expat and therefore qualify for citizenship tuition rates] which would be about 1/10th the cost and just as good if not better in quality.
Hmmm. If only I wasn't married.
I'm kidding honey. Put down the frying pan.
this is the real problem with lack of education being unaffordable:
http://www
http://www
http://www
http://www
corruption in the administration
now UC wants to increase the number of out of state students(they pay more)
and Gov Terminator wants to raise taxes
being a resident in california is pointless
Oh, for heaven's sake. Why don't you think outside of the box? How much should a college education really cost?
0
That's right. A big, fat ZERO is the only correct answer. Everything else is just putting plasters on open leg arteries.
The Paradox of easy money guaranteed student loan allows University's to inflate their costs well beyond inflation rates. Graduating hoards of students into a bankrupt position will quell America's flexibility and creativity. If you are 80,000 dollars in debt upon graduation you are enslaved to the corporate banking system, it is a horror for our youth with your degree comes the loss of your freedom welcome to state sanctioned indentured servitude.
Thanks for your post. I owe $85,000 in student loans, mostly from getting a graduate degree. I'll spend the rest of my life paying this off. I make $30,000 a year in this economy and don't tell me to go look for a better job. I live in Michigan, where even hospitals are laying off people.
Go look for a better job... in another state. You are too close to ground zero of this implosion.
That's the DUMBEST thing ever! Yeah, you, who cannot afford to LIVE where you are now, are supposed to spend god only KNOWS how much money and quite your job, pack up all your stuff, move, on your OWN DOLLAR, to a location where you MAY or may NOT have a job when you get there, and hope that you're not homeless for too long once you get there!!
What did you major in?
Colleges are just like any other business. The board is stacked, the directors pay themselves handsomely, and "research" projects are often times a lot of hype with no over sight and a pure loss of funds. We call it a higher education, but our standards are so low it's unfathomable.
Here you go, kid, right out high school and on the hook for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. All for a (globally) subpar education. Go on, go to work in the convenience store along with every other American "disenfranchised" because businesses like to hire/ outsource to foreign countries (India, Japan, etc.) who's version of higher education outshine us like no one's business.
See Lucy Bernholz's Profile
This is where we really need bailouts and stimulus packages..
The way things are now, if I had a child graduating from high school, unless he or she was brilliant beyond belief and had nearly a full ride scholarship, there is no way in hell I'd be sending them to college.
I would be sending them to trade school for welding, or electronics or any number of manufacturing jobs because our country's future is not in the casino called Wall Street, but in the manufacturing sectors of main street.
Representatives of a recent job fair in our area noted such a need by their attending employers.
You would be denying your kid a life of economic security for no better reason than not having the slightest clue about the state of the US manufacturing industry?
Wow... I wouldn't want to be your child, for sure.
If your child does not get at least a masters degree, doctorate would be better, he or she will not be able to compete in the 21st century. It's really that simple.
Actually, that's not really true! I've been pushing my children into the trades and/or military for w while now. Try to get a carpenter in Chicago right now. You're paying them at least $50/hr! Try to get a plumber or electrician anywhere! You will pay more than $100/hr for the privilege! I'm not saying that they are getting all that money, but they ARE getting a fair portion of it!
Here in California we have the advantage of a huge Community College system and a big Cal State system.
My daughter went two years to a Community College and then to San Diego State. She worked 20 hours a week the whole time and paid her own tuition, books and living costs. She lived at home for the first two years - not exactly the way most high schoold kids envision higher education - but she saved and was motivated. She has less than $3K in student loans.
So it can be done, but it takes a fair amount of self-direction.
This is "breaking news"? Where have you been for the past couple of decades? Obviously, not hob-nobbing with the common folk.
Wouldn't it make more sense for grants to go to POORER students rather than more affluent students???? I know, I know, we live in America and that's just not the way that we do things, but.....
Absolutely not. Why not? Because there are a lot of non-privileged students who actually care about their education and who are smarter than their more well-off peers (because they take their education seriously). The only way to make sure that the less fortunate do not completely re-make the face of higher education is to make sure that they have a harder time paying for their tuition. Got it? ;-)
As I said, I know, we live in America and don't do things that way...
It would make the most sense to give EVERY student a free education.
Not completey on the same page as you here KTM - nobody should get a complete free ride.
Exchange a college education cost at least at State Universities for work in communities, like a new WPA, or some Americorp-like program. Make those that want to get an education do something along the way to pay it back.
As the 'proud' possessor of Student Loan debt, and of other older loans I have already paid off - I would have jumped at the chance back in the 1980s to work off some of the debt I acquired - and gain job experience at the same time.
Require some sort of Government or Community Service of all students - even the rich ones that CAN afford to ride their legacy into Haaaavad.
It does occur to me that most college freshman would be better served to have a couple years of experience before they enter college. Get rid of sports, fraternities etc. Attend college locally. Why would a sane person pay $20000 tuition at a noted private school when they could pay $2000 at the local state school?
Why a sane person would waste the two most important years of their student life on anything but going directly to a really good university is beyond anyone who has been to a European institution. No experience in the world can help you with what you need to learn during those two years. What is more important, though, is to get EVERY student a paid research job after those first two years, so they can see what their field really looks like while they are still learning the theory.
But, I am afraid, Americans will not understand this and make it increasingly harder for their kids to get a first class education. Who needs, that, after all, when Walmart has the shelf stacker position for you at minimum wage and without health insurance?
Most college freshmen have no idea what they want to do or what their intended profession (if they have one) is really like. Many are not mature enough or have the study skills to succeed. Most of the kids who leave college in the first year do so because they give up, not because they are not intelligent enough.
So an 18 year old who spends time in the military or in some other service isn't wasting time. Some kids take a few years to find themselves and rather than fail in college they should have the chance to succeed in another way first.
The last time I heard, my nephew was up to seventy some grand in debt. What the tally will be when he finishes his masters is beyond my willpower to guess. I just hope that piece of paper gets him one good paying job.
How exactly is this breaking news? College has always been unaffordable for most. That is why there are all sorts of loans that are needed. Anytime you need to borrow money to obtain something - it is unaffordable. Period.
The conventional wisdom is that the loans are an investment in greater earning power.
If that ever changes, colleges will be in for a big let down.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
