Rising Cost Of Higher Education

894 Words4 Pages
According to a U.S. Census on school enrollment, there are 14, 261, 778 students enrolled in colleges across the nation. Over half of these will graduate with loan debt by the time they earn their bachelor’s degree due to increasing costs of a college education. College costs will continue to rise, leaving students with more debt to repay after graduation. Whether rising costs are due to getting a better education or simply a lack of federal financial aid, college education is not cheap and students have to take out loans to pay for their college educations. College educations were never considered “cheap” by any means. In today’s economy, a college education is anything but cheap. According to research done by the Washington Post for an article on the cost of public vs. private colleges, the average four year public university tuition is roughly $8,000 and the average price for a four year private university is $36,000 (WASHINGTON POST 1). Here at the University of Georgia, which is a public university, tuition is about $9,000 which is slightly above the national average. As if the current prices weren’t bad enough on today’s students, according to the College Board’s annual report there is an annual jump of almost 10% in the cost of tuition at public universities (College Game). This increase may not seem like much at first, but add up the increases over the four or five year time span it takes to earn a degree and tuition will have risen roughly $1000 by the last year of school. This constant increase in college education is making it hard for many to attend college due to costs. The increasing cost of higher education leads students to have an increase in debt after graduation. Everyone in this room is enrolled in the University of Georgia. How much are you paying “out of pocket” for tuition? If you were lucky enough to receive the Zell Miller portion of
Open Document