Deming 1

Kelsey Deming

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 4

11 March 2022

Excessive Expense of College Needs Stopped

How many people do you know that are still paying off their student debt? This is

because of the overprice of college education. Children grow up being taught that education is

the most important matter in their life, but they do not get told about the drawbacks to it.

Something incredibly important to the future of the world and economy, should not cost that

much and leave people struggling. Although college is highly important, the rightful cost is still

up to debate. The rising cost of college must be addressed due to the stagnant annual income,

large number of jobs that require post-secondary education, and the high amount of student debt.

One of the reasons colleges are becoming overly expensive is because of the stagnant

annual income. Since around 1975, American wages have remained the same, however, the cost

of higher education has increased (Nuckols, 6). This explains that although the price of goods,

services, and college are increasing, the income of both middle- and lower-class households have

not changed in almost 50 years. This problem needs addressed because people can only afford

what they are bringing home, meaning that colleges need to lower their prices until the annual

American income expands. Another report, carried out by Georgetown University, compares

with their findings, “that while the cost of college has increased 169% since 1980, average wages

have only increased 19%.” (George, 3). This follows up on the information that the annual

income has remained almost stagnant over the last few years, although the cost of college has
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heavily increased over the same period. People need ways to pay for their college, or student

loans, in a way that doesn’t leave them struggling for other daily needs like food. This can be

done, by realizing the issue that the cost of college is too high for the average income of

Americans and taking a step towards decreasing the expenses instead of finding other routes of

payment plans.

In addition, a large number of jobs require post-secondary education. Growing up,

teachers, parents, family members, etc. prepare and educate students on their future. Most of the

time, the starting plan, for young adults, is to go to college until they find a job or career that

doesn’t require it. This is because there are still numerous jobs that require a post-secondary

education. According to George, “Today, two-thirds of jobs require postsecondary education,

while in the 1970s three-quarters of jobs only required a high school diploma or less…” (George,

4). This idea seemed to fall out modernly due to the high number of social media influencers and

online jobs, but those jobs fall under the one-third that do not require a college degree. Two-

thirds is a generally high number, making it easier to get a job if one has some sort of a college

degree. With this thought, people will be persuaded and want to go to college, but some people

will still choose not to go due to the high costs. To further on the idea that college degrees are

not as needed, it still seems to make people with degrees’ a better option for jobs than people

with only a high school diploma. According to Karageorge, people who attend college may have

better skills and qualities that set them apart from those who do not attend college. This explains

that although post-secondary education may not be required, it still puts people at a higher

advantage for a job more than people without one. This meaning, education should be cheaper,

allowing people to have a more affordable way to acquire the desired qualities they need for a
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career. People need this education to have a better chance to be successful in their future,

therefore it should be made more affordable to everyone.

Finally, the government and Department of Education must have noticed that some

people were struggling with the cost of college. Consequently, they created student loans and

financial aides. These seem to be a great item that will benefit the student; however, it leaves the

student in a large amount of debt. Due to the student loans, the student is more involved in the

cost, therefore making them absorb more of the total cost than students did fifty years ago

(Vedder, 9). This portrays how the student loans are hurting the student because now they are

ending up paying more of the cost than they used to. 2018 graduates have a monthly student loan

payment of $393 and an average debt of $32,731 and some of the payments go into default or are

late (Nuckols, 3). This justifies the idea that student loans are costly because some people pay

that much for products, like a car, that they are actively using. The college education is a burden

for the people who are left with debt because people are often not aware of how much debt they

are getting into, and they have other things to pay. The debt of college is often one of the highest

debts people have in their life, and it often makes them regret their choices. The colleges need to

re-evaluate expenses and figure out a cheaper, more effective way, for these students to pay off

their debt, or overall decrease the debt they are left with.

To conclude, the cost of college is becoming overly pricy due to the stagnant annual

income, large number of jobs that require post-secondary education, and the high amount of

student debt. People that have been through college are beginning to debate their degrees due to

the cost they are still paying in the following years after earning their degree. College prices are

rapidly increasing as well as the prices of all goods and services in the American economy.

People are struggling enough as is with these increasing prices and the lack of increasing wages,
 Deming 4

meaning colleges need to find a more efficient way to cover the costs or create better payment

plans.
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Works Cited

George, Lea. "Disparity Between Education Costs and Entry Wages Is Widening, GU Report

Finds." UWIRE Text, 11 Nov. 2021, p. 1. Gale OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A682052329/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

PROF&xid=809e2031. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

Karageorge, Eleni X. "Is a college degree still worth it?" Monthly Labor Review, Aug. 2019, p.

1D. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A601908858/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

AONE&xid=cffa6dd2. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

Nuckols, William L., et al. "Was it Worth it? Using Student Loans to Finance a College Degree."

Higher Education Politics & Economics, vol. 6, no. 1, annual 2020, pp. 1+. Gale OneFile:

Educator's Reference Complete,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A648922257/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

PROF&xid=c704cfc6. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.

Vedder, Richard. "More Student Loans, Higher Tuition: Failing to Make the Connection."

Academic Questions, vol. 33, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 323+. Gale OneFile: Educator's

Reference Complete,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A626451541/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

PROF&xid=42897153. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.