Since the begging of the American deficit the American upper class has been constantly gaining ground and earning more and more dollars per capita every year ("Occupy Wall Street"). While on the other hand the middle class has been slowly losing ground on the upper class and the income per capita is slowly decreasing. If the trend continues there will only be an upper powerhouse class and a lower poor class. This angers a large amount of the population. Not only is it just money figures it’s the idea that these middle class students are going to college for several years on a promise that if they get that degree they will be able to live comfortably, and due to the current state of economy this is just not true.
Cost of Tuition at OU Planning for college is something that almost every high school student goes through and when done correctly it helps students to connect to the right educational options. Part of the planning process is looking at the cost associated with the respective colleges and universities they are interested in, and the fact the tuition costs for these colleges and universities continues to go up. There’s no escaping these costs either, because if you want to make a reasonable living in America than you are going to need a college degree. In the past 20 years, "tuition increased twice as fast as the overall cost of living (Larson, 63)." There is so much talk about college and the cost of going to school to get a degree that
Student Loan Debt Recently, the issue of student loans and the debt often accumulated through the utilization of those loans has come to the forefront. Student loans have become an indispensible means by which families are able to pay for higher education. The cost to attend institutions of higher education has soared over the last decade. In fact, the cost to attend college can amount to more than $50,000 per year at some private colleges and universities. Now that Americans owe more on student loans than on credit cards, the issue of spiraling student debt has moved increasingly higher on the political agenda.
Inflation aside, this means college is getting more expensive. Unless your parents are wealthy enough to pay for your tuition or you worked your tail off to receive a full-ride scholarship, more often than not, you have to take out student loans to fund your education. As a result of the high price tag of getting an education, many graduates struggle when faced with the trouble of paying off that huge debt. It’s no longer a right to attend higher education. To many, myself included, attending college is now a luxury.
Although it seems that we are making great strides in education with increased admissions for college students in diverse social, income and ethnic groups, that because these students are not getting degrees the gap between rich and poor continues to increase, and these achievements in education are not as valid as they seem. The article says that universities which have higher enrollment rates of students from low-income families also have lower graduation rates. However, at institutions with the highest graduation rates such as the University of Colorado and Stanford, a large majority of the students come from high-income homes, a statistic that has continued to rise the past 20 years. At elite universities, the student-body populations are becoming more and more diverse as far as cultural and religious background, but these students all share an upper-middle class upbringing. According to the Department of Education “only 41 percent of low-income students entering a four-year college managed to
In the article “What’s Wrong With Vocational School” written by Charles Murray, he gives his opinion about the unnecessary of four year college’s program compares to vocational training. I find this article have some very interesting ideas which I both agree and disagree I agree with his statement in the fourth paragraph about how many students attend college because their parents are paying for it and it is what they supposed to do after their finish high school. Many students do not have any real goals or any ideas of what they are going to do for their life, but going to a four year college is an obligation because their parents have spent so much money for them through high school, and now college. Automatically, their job is to do well in school and finish with a four year degree so that they can be prepared for their future without the supporting from their parents. This is a common sense that many of us all know as an adult; yet not all young people understand this fact.
Do Asian Students Face Unique Challenges In American College Applications? In the decade, more and more international students are enrolled in American colleges, and many come from Asian countries. As the New York Times reporter Karin Fischer said in her report, the U.S receives a huge number of college applications from South Korea each year. People from there usually want their children to get higher educations from US institutions, even though that means they have to afford the heavy pressure of expensive tuition and difficult tests. However, in the past two years, the application rate of Asian students began falling.
Tuition is on the rise due to the influx of student demand, construction and expansion of college campuses, and overhead expenses. Most of those expenses are paid for with donations and debt, but the labor costs are the most expensive. In an article by Steve Odland, he mentions, “The baby boomlet or baby boom echo group born between 1988 and 1995 have flooded colleges with demand for a limited number of spot” (Odland). In return, the demand has increased costs and universities raise prices. Odland also mentions the rising costs can be traced back to the administrative side.
Some might not believe this, but one study says that it exceeds credit card debt by over $1 trillion (Woodruff 1). Credit card debt seems to get more glitz and glam in the national media, but no one seems to realize student debt is a bigger problem. That isn’t all though, because late last year, the Federal Reserve reported that borrowing covering student loans increased $15.2 billion, while debt from credit cards rose only $817 million from October to November 2012 (Crutsinger 1). This shows that more attention needs to be put on fixing student loan problems so that we can inject more jobs into our economy, thus possibly fixing some credit card debt woes as well because it would enable civilians to have more cash at their
So why do people continue to go for the higher education? Students pay thousands of dollars and end up in debt that lasts a lifetime for a future that is not guaranteed. The school system has failed at guiding students though a successful career path and instead it created an empire that profits a large from students by delivering a dream that attracts all students, a promise they can’t guarantee, and a reality that makes people angry. As a child people are influenced by their parents with dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, and many other types of professionals. This type of encouragement has become a tradition that started over forty years ago.