College Has Gotten 12 Times More Expensive In One Generation

Posted by Winnie Melda on October 12th, 2018

       As college freshmen arrive in colleges, they always look forward to getting knowledge, independence, lifelong interactions as well as serious bills.  For instance, during 2012-13 school calendars, first-year, college tuition in the United States averaged at around ,000 for private colleges and ,700 for state public colleges. This wasn’t the trend: The undergraduate education cost education is now over 12 times as compared to how it was 35 years ago. This is far outpacing the rate of inflation. While college tuition and fees are indexed price skyrocketed by over 1,122 percent from 1977, medical care cost rose below 600 percent, and housing and food cost increased by a rate of below 300. About 25 years ago, around 47 percent of college graduates completed education with debt. As the cost of tuition rates have skyrocketed, so has the debt. For instance in the United States, over 70 percent 2012 classes graduated with outstanding loans which owed an average of ,400.  In itself, this is over 65 percent of the whole first-year pay of an average new graduate.
    More than other time in history ever, a college education is critical in accessing the kind of employment that can make one to support his family as well as save for coming days. Similarly, college education cost which includes tuition, accommodation, fees and board, and books continue to shoot reach of the average citizens in every country (Clotfelter, 1991).  This always raises questions such as why exactly has college education turned insanely expensive? Are governments drastically cutting their higher education funds? Are colleges developing flashy stadiums as well as luxurious dorms to attract more people? Or does the college price as exorbitant as it knightly represents its market value? With all these questions, there are very serious issues in the education system that has led to this trend.
    First, the 21st-century college means something extra than taking classes as well as getting a certificate. Current Generation College is full-service "experience” devised by unprecedented student support ranging from extensive career services, psychological counseling to enhanced college security (Vernez, Krop & Rydell, 1999).  Learners benefit much from all of these support systems which demands scores of extra paid staff.  Colleges are also hiring more and more deans and associate for student affairs and research, extra admissions officers to help in recruiting top applicants as well as communications and marketing personnel to craft the public image of colleges. In the previous generation, colleges hired an equal tenure-track number of professors as well as administrative staff (Meyer, 2013).  In the current generation, many colleges employ even twice as much administrative staff as full-time faculty. For some colleges attempting to retain the costs down, one major alternative has been to cut back on full-time faculty and then increase use adjunct tutoring programs.  Although part-time professors are less expensive paid by course with no other coverage, some faculty as well as students worry over sacrificing education quality.  Hence, so long as parents and students expect total-service college experience, giving and tuition has rained shooting up.
    Currently, entering new generation college campus is like wandering into a luxury hotel. It begins with the dorms.  For instance, Gone are Soviet-time concrete towers as well as broom-closet rooms.  Current hostels are architecturally lurid and structured into suite-like layouts with study areas as well as bathrooms. They have cushy common places as well as all-night cafes, and all squares have Wi-Fi accessibility. These infrastructures are not there for free. As a result, students are forced to meet the cost of these new generation changes leading to increased college cost (Clotfelter, 1991).
    The other factor increasing the cost of college education is food. If one graduated in the previous generation, he probably subsisted on a limb of the salad bar, room-temperature pizza, burgers, and if lucky enough, a self-serving frozen yogurt facility (Meyer, 2013). The new generation college menus in dining facilities are similar to a trendy health-conscious hotel than a campus cafeteria.  College eateries get fresh local diets, give vegetarian options and also avails flavorful international fare.  For instance, during Monday nights at Michigan University, college students have a choice between dinner alternatives such as coconut chicken curry as well as green bean tomato tagine. All these food are met directly to the colleges.  They are very expensive and inability to meet their costs means failing to get admission in the campus. Hence, this has led to increased cost of college education.
    Other costly amenities are professional-grade athletic as well as fitness facilities. In many cases, they are simply to lure students who have no yogalates class.  These facilities always have modern wired lecture halls as well as state-of-the-art laboratories. In sum, these costly-ticket amenities add up to increased college education which students and parents have to pick up.
    The other factor which is making new generation college education to turn out as very expensive is the yearly college rankings. Whenever a college increases its ranking, it gets thousands of applications. This means that it can become highly selective. This translates to greater average SAT scores to incoming students, less money used on financial assistance and huge money on student services. These factors are also included in the formula used by publication in determining rankings. Therefore schools increase costs as a way of climbing higher (Meyer, 2013). The major issues are that new generation college deans have this formula internalized and are always attempting to game the college education system to get good ranking. For instance,   when the U.S. News rewards colleges because of spending more money and more money per student, this behooves the college to add college costs.  Students will have to pay for the upgrade. This makes tuitions to skyrocket.  Despite the fact that this can deter some students to join the particular college, others will end up being attracted even more because of the good college ranking. As a way of countering the negative results of traditional rankings in the United States, the President proposed an option for rating which was availed in 2015.  This alternative uses to access, affordability as well as outcomes as the main criteria. Unfortunately, this system still has a long way to go. On the part of elite colleges which always take the top 10 spots in rankings and are tattooed on the population psyche as equals to excellence as well as exclusivity, cost does not matter any longer. In the thoughts of top-performing high school learner’s students and their parents, the happiness of joining an Ivy League college greatly outweighs the excess cost. In the search for best education, parents and students of current generation do everything necessary to get the name-brand degree even through huge debt.  Together with other reasons, new generation college education has become 12 times expensive just in one generation.

References
Clotfelter, C. T. (1991). Economic challenges in higher education. Chicago: University of     Chicago Press.
Meyer, H.-D (2013). Fairness in access to higher education in a global perspective: Reconciling     excellence, efficiency, and justice. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers
Vernez, G., Krop, R. A., & Rydell, C. P. (1999): Closing the education gap: Benefits and costs.     Santa Monica, CA: RAND.

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