Completing a college degree is not an easy task, as it does take dedication, patience, and plenty of money. Money is one of the main reasons that cause students to drop out and why the dropout percentage is high at most schools. A few suggestions that can be used to retain students in college so that they can succeed is to lower tuition costs, provide guidance counselors that can direct students in the right direction before enrolling, and providing the students a sense of community and making connections. “More than 40 percent of American students who start at a four-year college have not earned a degree after six years. If you include community-college students in the tabulation, the dropout rate is more than half, worse than any other country …show more content…
("How Should the U.S. Improve College Graduation Rates?”. 2016). Paul Tough also goes to mention that a student who succeeds and receives a degree is determined by how much money a student's parents make. Indeed, if a family is low-income, tuition costs are too high and hard to maintain payments. Nationwide, tuition costs range from $3,347 for a Public Two-Year College to $31,231 for a Private Four Year College. Beside tuition costs, there are still fees that need to be paid. The other fees are usually for books, supplies, and possibly housing. Fees vary by each institution. Regardless of which institution the student chooses, the student pays these costs out of their own pocket. (The College Board, 2016). For this reason, students and their families have a hard time in enrollment fees. Tuition fees are high and after enrollment, there are fees that may still come into effect that students and/or family cannot keep up with, resulting in dropouts. This is especially true for students from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Studies have demonstrated that students from poor African-American or Hispanic families are more likely to be first-generation and low-income students compared to families that have more of a …show more content…
Aaron Smith stated that there should be an increase in guidance counselors. Guidance counselors are to guide the students in the right direction. Students are taking courses they do not need because they do not receive proper guidance or direction. "There are schools where they have one guidance counselor for a thousand students." (Ramos, 2016) When a guidance counselor can make a connection with the student, it can help a student be successful in college and attain a degree. This is where the third suggestion comes in to
Education comes at a high price for this generation and not just financially. Going to college can give students plenty of debt with no promise of a job in return, which can set a student father back on their course of life. Young adults trying to start their lives by going to college encounter many setbacks. Today the average cost for a private university is $25...
These days, colleges are seemingly endless money pits. Did you know that in 1970 at a public university, tuition on average was only $2,710? Today, we could only dream of it being so low. Once you start looking at the actual average prices of attending a college or a university, you start to think it’s a joke with how expensive it is. It’s definitely no joke. The annual cost for undergraduate tuition, room and board is estimated to be $12,804 at public institutions and $32,184 at private institutions for the 2010 academic year, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. That means that even a modest education—a bachelor’s degree from a public university or college—will cost at least $50,000. You can find cheaper colleges for example if you attended a community college, but many of those you cannot get more than a two year degree with. There are also colleges with pr...
Tough depicts the college conundrum as a prevalent matter in America’s higher education system, and investigates the cause of this national phenomenon. He describes the college conundrum when he states, “Why are so many American students dropping out of college just as a college degree has become so valuable and just as young people in the rest of the world have begun to graduate in such remarkable numbers?” (Tough 150). He illustrates the disturbing trend of an exponential growth in college dropouts rates in America, even when a bachelor’s degree is seen as a valuable asset, and graduation rates in other countries have considerably risen in comparison. Subsequently, Tough sought to uncover the root causes for this complication. As a result,
Community colleges and vocational tracks are not wrong about the high cost of traditional higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, one year at a public, four-year institution costs upwards of $23,000 on average, while private institutions will cost nearly $10,000 more on average. Coupled with the fact that prices at public institutions rose 42 percent and private institutions rose 31 percent between 2001 and 2011, it’s not a shock that parents and students alike worry about paying for college. However, this won’t always be the case, as this rise in prices simply cannot continue the way it has. Eventually, people will be unable to pay the price that colleges charge. They will either settle for com...
Long ago, receiving education was once something only the rich could afford; it was a luxury. Nowadays it is open to everyone, but many students enter college only to discover that they are underprepared, and in turn they become disenchanted. David Leonhardt’s article, The College Dropout Boom, addresses the issues that are apparent in the education system and how it contributes to the gap between the upper and lower class while Access to Attainment by Abby Miller, Katherine Valle, Jennifer Engle, and Michelle Cooper calls to improve access to college education for today’s students. This is incredibly important because many students either drop out or never attended college and in today’s time, having a Bachelor’s degree has become a requirement
In today’s society there is a lot of pressure on students to make this huge payment to go to college, and due to an ungodly amount of money being thrown into universities students feel as though they will be handed a degree in return but that’s not the case at all. In the article “Let’s clarify the ‘College Worth It’ Conversation” by Andrew Kelly he gives the statistics that 45% percent of college students do not finish their degree. High schools need to better inform students interested in furthering their education with these statistics. This can be extremely eye opening to students who think college will be an easy journey with low expectations. I have learned that the more effort and participation I put into my education the more enjoyable and worth the money it seems to
If you are not paying completely for your college tuition, then your parents are helping and or you took out loans and eventually have to pay them back. Seeing how most college freshman are 18 or even 17, means you do not have much money saved if any at all and your parents are stuck paying for everything you need, going to college for more than four years or even at is going to cost you, or should I say your parents. Undergraduate loan borrowing crossed the $100 billion edge in 2010 and aggregate loans surpassed $1 trillion U.S. dollars a year ago. “This (student loans) increase has put a disproportionate burden on students and their families—hence loans. The median household income for a family of four is about 24,300 in 1980, 41,400 in 1990 and 54,200 in 2000. In addition to the debt that students take on there are few statistics on how much parents pay and how they pay it” (Williams 2006). It's not advanced science. It's the economy, Undergraduates and laborers looking for more schooling are obtaining lots of cash through government and private advance projects to help take care of the continued raising expense of school and preparing for careers. Much of the time, parents in charge of the undergraduate loans are in or are close to
Graduating from high school is a proud moment in every student’s life. They must prepare what comes next for them whether it’s to get a job, start a career, or pursue continuing education. The cost for a college education can be overwhelming. There are many factors that play into the cost of going to secondary education. College tuition, fees, books, supplies, transportation, personal expenses, room and board. These expenses can vary for public community colleges and four year universities, public or private universities, and state residents or out of state residents. Community college tuition can range from $1,000-$12,000 for state residents and $4,000-$30,000 for non-residents. Four year college tuition can range from $4,000-$16,000 for state residents and $10,000-$35,000 for non-residents. Private four year institutions can cost as much as $25,...
For most families with teenagers applying for colleges there is one main question―what will it cost us? According to The College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2013–2014 school year was $30,094 at private colleges, $8,893 for state residents at public colleges, and $22,203 for out-of-state residents attending public universities. Although these numbers are averages, the actual costs of colleges are widely varied. A sad truth about this is that many students and their families don’t even know where all their money is going. Normally the money is paying for tuition; fees; housing and meals; books and school supplies; and personal and transportation expenses. As showed in the average cost of college, usually a school has a lower tuition for in-state residents and a vastly higher tuition for ou...
Steve Cohen shows the disparity between the rising cost of college and a family’s capability to afford it. Cohen explains “Tuition has risen almost 1,200 percent in the last 35 years, and the sticker price for many four-year private colleges and out-of-state public universities exceeds $250,000.” Moreover, he goes on to say that even at public universities, it is about $80,000 for four years for tuition and other college related expenses. Later in his article, Cohen explains how this leaves middle-class families in a very uncomfortable situation. The parents or other money-making entities in the household want their student to go to college and earn a degree, but now there can be an element of stress in figuring out how the fees will be paid for. Furth...
backgrounds, is greater than ever, access and opportunity in American higher education is more complex and a lot less optimistic. Also, the majority of jobs requiring a college education doubled over the past 40 years (Carnevale, Smith, Strohl, 2010). While half of all people from high-income families have a bachelor’s degree by age 25, just
Colleges have become extremely expensive to the point where students drop-out or are unable to attend because of financial issues. With no more money issues, students can focus solely on the schoolwork without the idea of paying back excessive fees back in the future. They would become more focused in their studies with the idea that they will not be broke graduating from college. Although others argue that money fees create an incentive for students to work for their money, it leaves many unfortunate ones with the inability to attend any schools. By having no more tuition and material fees, students
Rep. Dick Zimmer predicts that at the current rate of rising college costs, by the year 2000 the average price tag for attending a four-year public university will be over $50,000 and the average four-year cost at a private university will exceed $104,000. (College costs continue to climb, 14) During the years between 1970 and 1994, the consumer price index increased just under four times, but the average cost of tuition, room, and board at four-year public colleges went up nearly five times, and private college costs rose almost seven times, from just under $3,000 to over $20,000. According to the U.S. News Cost of College Index, the average middle-class worker must now labor 95 days to pay for a year at an average private college. Two decades ago, it took slightly more than half as long to pay for the same education. (Elfin, 90) By 1994, the average four-year cost at a private college was over three times the typical family's annual income. (Reiland, 59) However, The College Board recently announced that US college tuition and fees for 1996-97 increased at nearly the same rate as they had in the previous year, adding that the more than $50...
Having the college experience is everyone’s dream, especially High School students who are ready to get out into the world and explore. College is very important for furthering someone’s career, but no one thinks about all the costs and the stress that comes along with college. Tuition fees and costs are increasing more and more each year. Now days it feels like you have to be a millionaire just to attend a good college and get a good degree in what you were attending for. There are some students that do not have a lot of money and live on very little things with their parents, but indeed are very smart and have a 4.0 GPA. Those students are the ones that are unable to attend college if they cannot afford it. College tuition is too expensive,
A college education has become the expectation for most youth in the United States. Children need a college education to succeed in the global economy. Unfortunately for the majority of Americans the price of an education has become the equivalent to a small house. The steep tuition of a college education has made it an intimidating financial hurdle for middle class families. In 1986-1987 school year the average tuition at a private university was $20,566 (adjusted to 2011 dollars) while in 2011 the average cost was $28,500 for an increase of 38.6%. Similarly in public universities there has been an increase in tuition: in the 1986-1987 school year the average tuition at a public university was $8,454 (adjusted to 2011 dollars) while in 2011 the average cost was actually $20,770 for an increase of 145.7%. Most families who are able to save for college try to do so, therefore their children are not left with large amounts of debt due to loans. Nevertheless, families are only able to save on average around $10,000, which is not enough to pay for a full educ...