To feel the pain of the tightening connection between education and wealth inequalities, one need look no further than state-level higher education reforms. In particular, the Michigan Education Trust (MET) college savings account policy reveals how the ongoing tragedy of exorbitant higher education costs prevents the poor from saving for college. Thousands of financially disadvantaged Michigan students have already attended college thanks to the MET, yet thousands still have not. However, families who have few marketable assets have little money and, consequently, little incentive to deposit money in MET savings accounts. Lacking objects of monetary value such as homes and cars, sellable for profit, and liquid assets like saveable wages, impoverished …show more content…
Today, the percentage of adult Michigan residents (25 and over) with at least a Bachelor’s degree of 26.4% is still slightly below the national average of 29.3%, reflected in the socio-economic barrier of the widening family wealth gap. Federal Reserve Bank data show that the gap in median family wealth widened among families with college education against those without it. Between 1989 and 2013, families holding 2 and 4-year college degrees experienced a slight median wealth increase from $266,740 to $273,488, those with merely high school diplomas or equivalent felt a slight median wealth decrease from $149,182 to $95,072 and those with less than a high school diploma or equivalent experienced a dramatic median wealth decrease from $67,730 to $37,766. Thus, over the past few decades, many indigent families in Michigan and the rest of the U.S. have incurred greater debts than assets and therefore cannot save up for college through policies like the MET. Given that the MET, a 529 Prepaid Tuition Plan, does not cover room & board costs for students “who are enrolled at least half-time,” which at the state’s flagship university averages $10,872, poor families must pay unaffordable living costs. Therefore, although the MET is an asset-building initiative where families start savings accounts to send children to …show more content…
According to the state, the MET “allows for the pre-purchase of tuition based on today’s rates and then paid out at the future cost when the beneficiary is in college.” Families pay contributions as low as $15 into a mass conglomerate of savings that the state government redistributes to cover its members’ tuitions. The government self-reports that 2,163 students attended college thanks to the MET as of September 30, 2015. However, likely due to the fact that students and parents incur room and board expenses, the statistics also show that 371 students under contract did not attend college and 2,541 contracts had been terminated as of that date. If the state government sought to fully assuage the disparity in educational attainment in Michigan, they would go beyond contracting families into dubious payments and instead make public colleges and universities free 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...
The idea of freedom and equal opportunity that America was built on has sadly been lost and replaced with a system of quality education only being accessible by the wealthy. In-state college tuition should be free for all students meeting admission requirements, allowing students from the full spectrum of economic backgrounds to have the same opportunity to receive the same education. The incidence of poverty in the U.S. is directly linked to educational level. When a college degree is earned, income levels rise (College Board). The best use of federal government anti-poverty funds is not another welfare or assistance program; it is to make college education affordable for everyone.
Lockwood, Andrew. School Finance Reform in Michigan Proposal A: Retrospective. Lansing: Michigan Department of Treasury, 2002.
"Parents with incomes below $40,000 were much more likely to say they couldn 't afford college compared to those with higher incomes. The unsettling aspect of this poll is that in all likelihood, these parents ' perceptions mirror reality," says Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped”. She talks about how most middle class families can 't afford to put their children into college. The highest education they can get is a high school diploma, which we all know in this modern world it cant get you a lucrative job to maintain your whole life. Most American don 't get the chance to develop their full capabilities through higher schooling due to lack of resources like funds to enable them see their full potential. People will say that education is meant for people who can afford to go. And already the government has made schooling from pre-k to high school free for all public school, so making community colleges free will cost the state about 60 billion dollars as said by the white house spokesman Eric Schultz . Education must not be limited to only privilege people,it should be universal for anybody willing to educate themselves to make their life better and help grow Americas economy reducing
Wealth inequality and income inequality are often mistaken as the same thing. Income inequality is the difference of yearly salary throughout the population.1 Wealth inequality is the difference of all assets within a population.2 The United States has a high degree of wealth distribution between rich and poor than any other majorly developed nation.3
Tuition and fees has extremely risen over the past years which makes it extremely difficult for both social economic groups to invest in a higher education for their families. Today’s college students borrow and accumulate more debt than previous years (The White House). For instance, “In 2010, graduates that borrowed money graduated with owing an average of more than $26,000”(The White House). As a result, President Obama has expanded federal support to help more families and students to afford higher education (The White House). Also, he believes that it is a shared responsibility of the federal government, states, colleges, and universities for making higher education
In today’s society, the cost to attend college to earn a degree continues to increase, which results in an increase of students needing financial aid. A determining factor of how much a student receives is dictated by the Earned Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is mandated by Congress as a part of the required Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that every student must fill out in order to apply to college. Steve Cohen, an Op-Ed Contributor to the New York Times and author of “A Quick Way to Cut College Costs” believes that the EFC is flawed in that it does not accurately depict how much a family can contribute to the cost of a student’s education. Cohen’s solution is for Congress and the President to drastically cut the EFC to realistically reflect on the unequal rising of college tuition and average household income. Cohen is very effective in utilizing his research to appeal to readers. The statistics and figures he utilizes make it easier to understand his point.
Many people believe that “having an economy that places a greater value on skills and education is a good thing” and that is the thing that is needed to improve people’s lives and futures (Baicker, Lazear). If what our economy is trying to do a good thing they why are so many students still suffering? The main issues are the low-income education that many students have. Many schools are getting money from the government but that is not enough to pay for everything students need. Educational standards have continued to increase throughout the years but that does not help the students who are unable to pay for the better education. These students who cannot pay for the better education are stuck barely getting by with a low education. A low-education can affect many areas of regular schooling. The students who are at low-income schools do not know what type of disadvantage they have compared to other students across the country. These students believe that they are getting the best education, but there are many students who are getting a better education at a school that has the funds to pay for everything their students need. Low-income students are suffering due to the environment they are in at school and they continue to suffer throughout their life due to it. These students will continue to suffer unless something is done about the low-income schools and improve them for the future. Improvement has to come from all areas, not just one aspect of schooling but from all aspects. Although education has improved along with technology many low-income students still suffer from the vast inequalities. These inequalities will take many years to find a way to fix and even more years to actually fix, until this happens the students will...
Education has been historically considered as an equalizer of society in America, allowing the opportunity for even the disadvantaged to reach success. Race was once the strongest factor in determining future achievement, but today Stanford Sociologist, Sean F. Reardon, says income level has become more consequential (Tavernise). President Barack Obama was one of the lucky few able to overcome the obstacles he faced growing up being both African American and underprivileged, but most children are not as lucky (Rampton , Nawaguna). In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, the Lacks family lived in poverty and struggled to perform well in school, resulting in many of them dropping out even before high school (Skloot). The success gap between high and low income students in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years (McGlynn). The educational achievement of students is significantly affected by their home life, and those living in poverty are much more likely to fall behind academically than children coming from affluent families.
Increasing college costs has proven to be a major issue for those who pursue higher learning. With institutions raising tuition and fees, students are forced to make life-altering sacrifices to repay soaring student loans. We have come to a pivotal place in history, where individuals have no choice but to minimize or delay important life decision’s such as moving home with their parents to save money, becoming home owners, retirement saving and forfeiting higher education. The impact of increasing college costs has become so severe that it is at the forefront of politicians, political agenda, inducing conversation and policies like the revised income-driven repayment program. The program proposed to help combat the effects of massive student loans.
Caroline Bird gathered her own data by lecturing on college campuses and questioned professors and administrators (Par 2). Her article is intended for college students and the general public in the 1970s. In 1969, 80 percent of college students thought education was important and two years later the percent went down to 74 percent (Bird Par 17). “44 percent of Americans now believe that getting a college education is ‘very important’” (Valerie Strauss). This is a shocking number that students are thinking less and less of education. Bird claims that college increases the wealth gap and research proves it. According to Aimee Picchi, the wealth gap continues to increase because fewer lower class families can afford college. Bird agrees that college tuition is helping the growth of the wealth gap (Par 23). As student loans continues to increase, it becomes unrealistic to afford college and by not receiving a higher education that narrows the job field and the salary (Valerie Strauss). The 1970s was full of history: the Vietnam War was just ending, President Nixon Resigns and the country entered an economic slump. Jobs were not circulating as well as they are now. Having a college degree back in the 1970s, it was difficult to find a job after graduating it is still true today. The millennial generation makes up about 40 percent of the unemployed in the U.S. today (Leah M.Goodman). A lot has
Develop an argument on or some ideas of understanding about curriculum as multicultural text by relating the works of Darling-Hammond, French, & Garcia-Lopez, Delpit, Duarte & Smith, Greene, Nieto and Sletter to your experience of curriculum, teaching, and learning as affirming diversity. You could think specifically about the following questions: Is there a need for diversity in curriculum studies and designs? Why? What measures do you think will be effective in incorporating such a need into curriculum studies and designs? What is the relevance of diversity to your career goal, to education in your family, community, and school, to education in Georgia, and to education in general? In which way can you develop a curriculum which helps cultivate empathy, compassion, passion, and hope for citizens of the world, and which fosters social justice?
Over the past 30 years, the average tuition at a public, four-year college has risen by more than 250 percent, while family income has gone up only 16 percent, according to College Board and U.S. Census data. Meanwhile, states have been cutting back on their higher education budgets, institutions are reducing financial aid packages, and students are going into deeper debt to pay for college, $26,000 on average, according to a White House fact sheet. After several years of increasing college enrollment, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in the fall semester of 2013, that college enrollment nationwide, including undergraduate and graduate schools, declined by nearly half a million students from 2012 (Washington, Salmon, 2014).
Choosing to attend college, some of us find ourselves unable to pay for tuition in full and in result, we turn to financial aid. Financial aid is based on, “your Expected Family Contribution, your year in school, your enrollment status, and the cost of attendance at the school you will be attending” (Loans). This system is flawed and should be changed due to financial aid money being used irresponsibly. Aid money should be rewarded based on the student’s income alone, rather than the entire household income. Remaining financial aid money should not be given back to the student via check or online banking, but should be given back to the lender to prevent irresponsible spending. Lastly, aid money should be rewarded to those who had shown
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.