After grants, students’ biggest hopes can be to receive scholarships, but large scholarships are rare and difficult to acquire. Full scholarships are almost impossible to receive and smaller scholarships seldom cover enough of the cost of college for that college to be an affordable option. Even if one is valedictorian in high school and receives superb SAT/ACT scores, a helpful scholarship is not guaranteed and they may be forced to live at home and attend the neighborhood college instead of attending a school they worked hard to be accepted to. It has also been proven that colleges give students from lower-class families smaller scholarships and grants than students from upper class families (Sklar 326). Many students receive small scholarships …show more content…
While having a job teaches students to be professional and to work hard, it takes away precious time and energy from students’ studies. Additionally, working and attending college can be overwhelming to students and can result in high stress levels, anxiety, and even depression (Dunkel-Schetter, Lobel 17). Despite this, the rising cost of higher education has risen along with the percentage of students that are employed (Riggert 64). In 2000, 77% of students enrolled in four-year colleges also had jobs on the side, working an average of 27 hours per week. Studies have found that longer work hours were correlated with poorer study skills, longer time to graduate, and poorer academic performance (Butler 500). This is because not only does working while in school take away important time from studying, but it takes an immense toll on the mental health of students. The stress of numerous responsibilities and the need to over-achieve in all of them can lead to mental breakdowns and may cause students to perform poorly. Overexertion causes students to feel exhausted, both physically and emotionally, contributing to poor academic performance, and, more importantly, overall health (Polson, Nida 95). Additional studies have found that students who work are more likely to engage in binge drinking (Butler, Dodge, Faurote 291). Although having a job …show more content…
However, despite rising costs, most professors have not seen significant pay raises. On average, faculty at public two-year colleges are actually making less money than they would have ten years ago (accounting for inflation) and faculty at public four-year colleges are only making 1% more than those in 1999 (Baum 12). Students are paying more money for an education that is the same, or worse, than it would have been years before. Data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) shows that, while students are now paying more for their education than ever before, most colleges are actually spending less on education. This is because much of students’ tuition is going to “student services” such as concerts, intramural sports, and tutors (Desrochers, Hurlburt 2-3). However, although students are paying for these services in their tuition, many students with jobs are unable to take advantage of the student services their colleges offer because of their busy schedules. These students are forced to work in order to pay for unnecessary services they are prevented from
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...
Allan and Davis mention the spike of college cost since 1995 has increased by 150 percent; student debt has increased 300 percent since 2003, and with education, second to the mortgage industry in the nation’s debt, America needs to redirect their attention to the future and focus on education (Allan n. pg). Budget cuts from national to state
Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus report in their essay “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?” what is expected from universities in exchange of their high costs. Currently, the price of education has duplicated its cost in comparison to the last generation (Hacker and Dreifus 179). Making a huge investment and getting poor results are the reasons what make parents and students hesitate before choosing a college. Hacker and Dreifus emphasize that colleges that are doing well their job share factors that make worth paying high tuition fees. These factors include: close relationships between professors and students, an adequate use of technology, and access to scholarships or part time jobs to make education affordable. Considering the
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
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...
Summary: In the essay, “Part-time Employment Undermines a Student’s Commitment to School” by Laurence Steinberg, it explains how studies show that teenagers that work while attending school are more likely to loose their commitment to school. Steinberg tells the effects on students when they work more than twenty hours a week. His theory was that students are more susceptible to losing their interest in school, while working. They may have to work in the evening time, which can interfere with homework, sleep and diet. Steinberg also elaborated on how these students that work receive money that can make school seem less desirable. Also because they do receive money, they can use their extra money to become associated with drugs and alcohol.
But many low-income students not only have a full-time course schedule, they also have jobs where they work more than 30 hours per week. Approximately one-quarter of college students’ work while attending school and have both a full course-load and a full-time job (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, 2015). Working helps students with the living costs as well as tuition and can help students learn skill sets that many employers prefer. However, there are problems with having full-time work while going to college.
An article from The New York Times entitled “Is College Tuition Too Low?” written by David Leonhardt discusses efficient ways to cut wasteful “spending on higher education and redirect this money to lead to more” productivity (Leonhardt). This source helps highlight that the cost of college is far too high for the average American through factual evidence.
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...
As The “Progress of Education Reform” suggests, tuition discounting is major contributor to the rising cost of college in the sense that while it provides a tuition discount to the one particular student receiving the grant or scholarship it places a heavier burden on the majority demographic that attends the university without such discounting. (The Progress of Education Reform” 1). In contrast to popular opinion, scholarships and grants which are normally regarded as blessings are ironically a contributing factor to rising tuition prices. Basically, the universities have to make up for the money they lost by awarding the scholarships so the majority of the student population who did not qualify feel it in their pocketbooks. A final cause of this ludicrous tuition spike is the shift in university budgets to cater to the administration departments of the schools. Jobs in this department are non-teaching jobs that provide student services ranging from student safety to counseling and wellness programs. These jobs are definitely
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,
Today, the cost of college is high and is continuing to rise. However, the number of students attending college has risen in the last twenty years. Importantly, how are more students having the ability to pay for the rising cost of higher education? To cover the rising cost colleges and universities have implicated a program of merit aid (non-need-based aid) and financial aid. This creates a discussion on whether merit aid benefits all students at every income level. However, to understand how important merit aid is one must understand the students’ elasticity of demand for college. The case study on the Robinson College reveals how the elasticity of demand and merit aid work to reduce students’ elasticity of demand, and how it increases revenue
In the film, Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore brings up many issues but the one that stuck out the most was the idea of free college and how it worked in other countries. From the film, an individual could come up with a reasonable conclusion, that free college brings more benefit than harm. What is usually meant by free college is in fact the idea of free tuition. Instead of having students be in debt for most of their lives, they can focus on studying and not have to work at multiple jobs. Even after completing college, most students find themselves accepting jobs that do not involve the degree they had received. If the majority of the population received free college, more people would take advantage and therefore,
As colleges’ funds dry up, colleges must turn to the public to further support higher education. By raising state taxes, colleges can collect funds to help improve the school’s budgets. The state provides funds from the taxes for colleges to receive a certain amount for each student currently enrolled. All community and traditional four year colleges collect these funds in order to maintain the school’s budget. As reporter, Eric Kelderman states, “less than a third of colleges’ budget is based from state taxes”. The school’s budget is how colleges are able to provide academic support programs, an affordable intuition, and hire more counselors. Colleges must now depend on state taxes more than ever for public colleges. Without collecting more funds from state taxes, as author, Scott Carlson explains how Mr. Poshard explains to senators “our public universities are moving quickly toward becoming private universities…affordable only to those who have the economic wherewithal to them” (qtd. in.) Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes.
One of the biggest issues with the current colligate system is cost. A Congressional Analysis of current United States college expenses called it a “crisis” (Boehner). Americans spend more money on college than Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter make in profits in one year, an amount of over 400 billion USD. Federal s...