Experiencing College Tuition As Students

Experiencing College Affordability

Monica Valdes
University of Texas in El Paso
English Class
Andrea Castillo

2
Abstract

Every person dreams of completing high school, and joining a higher education that
provides a college and university experience. However, these dreams may not become true
because of the high costs of higher education. While children from well-off families do not
encounter hardships because their parents can afford the best education for them, those from
the low-income families are at risk of not attending higher education. On the other hand,
there is a growing competition in the job market, which has forced already employed persons
to seek higher educational programs to remain competitive, and employable. Therefore, there
is a growing demand for the college, and university education. The objective of the paper is
to provide a literature review that will center on the identified questions. Through the
literature review, the context of college affordability, policy issues, and the potential solutions
will be clear.

3
College education plays a significant part in the world, with the increasing
competition in the planet, especially in the job market, people are seeking college education
so that they can remain competitive. Besides, the current idea of education is changing, with
people now seeking education to be knowledgeable. Although there are important benefits for
people who have gone through college education, there is a barrier, central to the affordability
of college education. The high tuition fees have helped as barriers to openness to college
education. In this regard, there is a belief that the provision of financial aid will perhaps result
in the provision of affordable college education.
While students can access loans, there is a concern, which has resulted in the
increased debts for students. Therefore, once the students have accessed the loans, upon
completion of their studies, students have to look for means to repay their student loans.
Therefore, there is a need for policy makers, education shareholders, financial aid
organizations, and many others to come together so that they can address the problem before
it goes out of hand. While there have been significant inputs from the financial aid
organizations through the provision of aids to students, the aids have not been enough. In
particular, not all college students have access to these financial aids, which has not remedied
the college affordability problem (Alexander et al., 2010). The objective of the literature
review is to examine the context of the high costs of college education through an analysis of
factual, policy, consequence and value questions as provided below.
1. Is college affordability a pertinent issue?
2. Does lowering the cost of college education increase enrollment?
3. What impact would a cost-reduction policy have on the smooth running of
colleges?
4. Is Vocational training a solution to the low-income people, and the continuation of
tuition?

Is College Affordability a Pertinent Issue?

The answer to this question is yes. Apparently, it is a fact that college education is
expensive. Troublingly, the demand for college education is increasing, and there is a need
for ensuring that there is a balance to ensure that students can access college. On the other
hand, it is important to note that there are many barriers to college education. However,
among all the barriers, cost remains the most significant one. Five years ago, empirical
studies found out that in the 2009-2010 college year, public colleges and universities required
a fee of $7,000, with the totals amounting to $15,000. If a student lacked a form of financial
aid, the cost rose to about 30% of the annual average family income (Long, 2010).
On the other hand, for private universities, the tuition fees ranged about $26,000 and
$35,000, which is almost, exceeds half of the annual income of the average families. Besides,
the average costs of public and private colleges, has been on the rise, which suggests that
college affordability is a problem, and it requires an urgent solution or intervention. From
another perspective, economists and financial experts agree that the rising costs of college
education are the consequences of the commercialization of college education. In this regard
the experts suggest that when education was a public entity, the fees were realistic, but when
privatization came in, there was a sudden increase in the fees. As private commodities, the
colleges, and universities compete with each others for business advantages.
While most of the colleges and universities have the not for profit labels, endowment
building is one of the main goals. Therefore, these colleges are investing on the hiring of
qualified professors, building various facilities and offer competitive educational courses, all
which help in attracting students from the local and international arenas. All these translate to
high operational costs, which the colleges and universities realize through high tuition.
Clearly, there is a trend that has emerged in the higher education sector, especially due to the

5
privatization of education. Since the 1960s, the colleges and universities have been charging
students highly, and this is a problem to date. With the growing demand of college and
university education, it is likely that the costs will also rise, meaning that college and
university affordability is a pertinent issue (Mumper, 1993).
Does lowering the cost of college education increase enrollment?
When it comes to financial aid, studies have focused on student aid, which students do
not need to repay once they complete their education. Apparently, prior studies have reported
that some aid programs have contributed to increased enrollment in college, but others
suggest otherwise. In this regard, it is important to note that with an increased enrollment in
college, it means that the students find the fees affordable. One of the concerns is that the
nature of aids or financial grants has changed over time, with most grants and aids losing
their initial meaning. In this regard, current aids or grants somehow favor students, with those
from low-income families having an upper hand. Even so, the manners in which these
programs are designed have shown to contribute to the ineffectiveness in enhancing college
enrollment (Long, 2010).
Prior studies report that some of the elements included in the program, for example,
the tiresome application process, the audit procedures, and the need for many approvals have
discouraged some students. One of the financial aid program cited by most studies is the
Pell Grant. As noted, most of these financial aid programs target the students from lowincome families. While in its initial inception the aid program managed to attract many
students, and recorded an increase in the enrollment in the colleges, the same model failed
miserably. As stated, some of its elements, such as the tiresome application process,
discouraged students. Therefore, there are mixed results concerning the efficacy of financial
aids, in the context of their facilitation in reducing the cost of college education (Long, 2010).

6
However, with appropriate elements, and mainly through a simple process of
application, the programs can work well in attracting students from low-income families to
access college education. Recent studies have also provided an insight concerning the
usefulness of the financial aid programs in reducing the cost of college education, and
successively resulting in an increase in the enrollment of college students. A program such as
the Georgia Hope Scholarship was effective in increasing enrollment. Apparently, the
program gave 3,000 for students who got a at least a B in high school, for them to join private
colleges during the early years of their enrollment in college. Subsequent studies evaluating
the effectiveness of the George Hope Scholarship suggested that the financial aid program
improved the enrollment of students. Therefore, with a properly designed financial aid
program, the problem of high college fees could be eliminated (Scott, 1998).
What impact would a cost-reduction policy have on the smooth running of colleges?
As noted in prior studies, the privatization of higher education is one of the factors
that have contributed to the continued rise in college, and university education. Private
universities and colleges have invested in the provision of the highest quality of higher
education, and they manage to do so through tuition fees. Every year, these institutions are
improving the manner in which they provide education to the students, which means another
significant amount of money in various programs. With the rise of technology, the
universities and colleges have employed an array of technological interventions, which have
allowed for programs such as distance learning (Stach, 2009).
In this regard, there are many things that colleges and universities are doing to ensure
that they attract students from across the world, and still ensure that they provide the highest
quality of education so that they can remain relevant, and competitive. Now, what would
happen if there were a policy that aimed at urgently reducing the tuition fees for both the
private and public colleges and universities? Without a doubt, the running of these institutions

7
would come to a stop. (Stach, 2009). Although there are significant investments in the
privately owned institutions, the public colleges and universities also have a selection of extra
activities, such as accommodation, libraries, subordinate staffs, and various sporting
activities.
Therefore, to keep up with the cost-reduction policy, these schools would have to do
away with most of these essential activities, and most likely, there would be chaos in the
educational sector. While from the public point of view the government can implement such a
policy, there is an assumption that such a policy would help in reducing the costs of college
education. Even if such a policy would help in reducing the costs of college education, there
would be far-reaching implications, and in most cases, the consequences of such a policy
would be awful. Therefore, such a policy is not feasible, and there is a need for approaching
the college affordability through other angles, perhaps the implementation of flexible
curriculums to allow students who work as they study to attend classes at their convenience
(Young, Heller, & McLendon, 2005). College tuition has risen due to the fact that as more
students enter college and they apply for loans, and financial aid, the school does not gain any
money. It leads to actually loosing some for their profits such as books, and tuition.
Therefore, its raising its prices because, it needs more money for the school maintenance,
teachers and may other things such as books, etc.
Is free college education the way forward?
When it comes to whether free college education is the only way to ensure
maximum enrollment in colleges, and subsequently reduce the high costs involved,
politicians and other shareholders will offer divergent views. Nevertheless, it is a matter of
value, and yes, it is very possible to make college education free. Some countries in the world
have successfully proven that free college education is reasonable. However, the context of
free is different, and in most cases, prior studies have suggested that countries that have

8
implemented free college education still impose an affordable fee. The fee is manageable, and
students only need to remit that money so that they can support the normal or smooth running
of some extra activities within the school (Goldrick-Rab, & Kendall, 2014).
It is important to note that most countries that perceive free college education as
impractical spend significant amounts of money in other activities such as infrastructure,
politics, and war, or other investments both locally and international. A country such as the
United States is one of the providers of grants to developing countries. The grants amount to
billions of dollars, which if used to cater for the educational needs of the students, would help
in achieving the free college education. As noted, the concept of education has changed
completely, and people are either going to college to be knowledgeable, or gain a competitive
edge in the labor market. As such, the demand for higher education will continue growing.
While there are other issues that may need attention, the continued increase of college
education is becoming a threat to the accessibility of education. Such may amount to many
people not accessing college education, which may lower the quality of employable people.
Therefore, there is a need for a review on the government spending and investments in
surfaces such as healthcare, defense and many others, and perhaps cut in some of these
spending, and make college education free. While there is a fear that providing free college
education may lower the quality of education, the dynamic nature of education, and the
growing demand for college education, suggests otherwise (Samuels, 2013).
Conclusion
The rising costs of college and higher education have continued discouraging
students, and while students can access student loans as a means of paying the fees, the
outcomes of the same have far-reaching consequences. This is because the students complete
their education and face the debts they have to pay, and in light of the high unemployment
rates, students end up being frustrated, and desperate in life. On the other hand, there are

9
various federal grants and aids that are accessible by students. However, most of these grants
and aids are tedious to apply, and many students have sought other means to pay their fees.
Some of these other ways that may include working have further proven ineffective because
schools do not have flexible curriculum that can accommodate the needs of these students.
Therefore, there are problems all over, some of which need the intervention of
policies. A typical policy would recommend the implementation of a flexible school
curriculum, perhaps one that would provide classes for the evening, so that students who
work can attend these classes at their conveniences. Considering that the problem of high
costs of college education is not a recent one, perhaps the current or successive governments
should consider the free college education. Many would argue against such a proposal, but it
is important to note that the spending on defense and other facets are large enough, and a
small cut would facilitate the achievement of free education.

10

References
Alexander, F. K., Harnisch, T., Hurley, D., & Moran, R. (2010). The maintenance of
effort: The evolving federal-state policy to ensure college affordability. Journal of Education
Finance, 36(1), 76-87.
Goldrick-Rab, S., & Kendall, N. (2014). Redefining college affordability: Securing
Americas future with a free two-year college option. Retrieved from
https://www.luminafoundation.org/files/publications/ideas_summit/Redefining_College_Affo
rdability.pdf
Long, B. T. (2010). Making college affordable by improving aid policy. Issues in
science and technology, 26(4), 27.
Mumper, M. (1993). The college affordability problem: A literature review on recent
studies on possible solutions. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 23(2), 27-35.
Samuels, B. (2013). Making all higher education free. Retrieved from
http://futureofhighered.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CFHE-Working-Paper-Free-HigherEd.pdf
Scott, C. H. (1998). Removing College Price Barriers: What Government has Done
and Why it Hasn't Worked. Economics of Education Review, 2(17), 226-227.
Stach, P. (2009). Making higher education affordable: Policy design in postwar
America. The Journal of History, 21(1), 61-88.
Young, S. P., Heller, D. E., & McLendon, M. K. (2005). State postsecondary policy
innovation: Politics, competition, and the interstate migration of policy ideas. The Journal of
Higher Education, 76(4), 363-400.