This paper will answer some questions that students and parents may have when making decisions about college and other forms of higher education. Why are tuitions rate continuously rising? What is the American Government is doing to help shape the future of this county’s education? Are American students interested in what goes on behind the scenes with their education? What can a student do to help influence higher education decisions? This report also compiles government research and additional resources that I feel are necessary for a student to consider when applying for a college education.
When it comes to higher education in the United States, acknowledge that the tuition keeps rising and fewer students can afford a college education. If college tuition keeps increasing at this rate, our future generations will not be able to compete with the technology-driven, high-paced world that is prominent and prevailing. The topic of higher education funding is a well-known debate that continues deliberation between students all the way up to our nation’s highest officials.
Are tuitions rising because colleges waste money? According to Higher Education Committee Chairman John A. Boehner R-Ohio and Howard “Buck” McKeon R-California, “The increasing availability of lavish facilities on campuses across America and how this trend is driving up the cost of higher education.” (Rising 5.5) As a college student, I am in agreement with Boehner’s beliefs that there is extravagant spending in colleges such as: super-size Jacuzzis, sunbathing decks, massage facilities, rock-climbing walls, high-paid athletic coaches and college presidents, and generous faculty salaries with light workloads. (5) Nonetheless, this is not true at all institutions in the United States and there are people that would disagree with this reasoning.
Even though, administrators refute this information by commenting that students and parents want such amenities. By taking into consideration that many college students come straight from high school and only attend because their parents make them or because parents and educators instill in them that this is the proper thing to do, there is a possibility that this is true from their aspect. However, as a college student, wanting to learn, I would rather colleges spend money on research tools, subscriptions to electronic educational journals, and pay extra for student option licenses for software, instead of lavish amenities. Yes, it is nice to have certain technological advances at school but their main concern should be education not income and outsourcing buildings to raise their budgets. Such as last year, Raymond Walters College (RWC) installed automatically flushing toilets, replacing the manual operated lever that worked.
College administrators have forgotten one main principle that their budget comes from the students. If students cannot afford tuition and a place to live, or the university cannot accommodate their schedule, to coincide with the students, the amount of outsourcing a university accomplishes will not matter because the students pay for these services. If a student cannot commit to the times for such a light course load, the teachers should be teaching more and doing less paperwork. Whether administrative or researching, the valuable way to spend this time is teaching to accommodate the students. If the students do not attend due to money issues, the outsourcing of bookstores, cafeterias, and other buildings remains counter-productive to the institution. Students are the majority that spends money at those facilities and if students are not capable of paying for a home and tuition, they will turn to different alternatives. One way is by an online degree or by going to another institution. If you lose students to campuses that accommodate the schedule of students then you also lose money supporting the school’s budget and the administrator’s salaries.
Another example was the University of Cincinnati firing Bob Huggins, in my opinion, if the school is spending the money anyways, we should have left him as the coach until his contract was up for renewal. Not that I agree with firing Huggins in the first place that debate is not this paper’s objective. When it comes to the faculty salaries with light classroom workloads, a conversation I had with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs comes to mind, she said, “Unfortunately universities tend to hire professors for their resources outside of the classroom and their expertise instead of for their teaching capabilities.” As a student at Raymond Walters College (RWC) for over two years now, I have encountered teachers that have been great educators and have continued to be mentors or advisors when needed, with the exclusion of only a few.
In addition, the Chronicles of Higher Education states that a dozen education executives were members of the “half-million-dollar-club” and two liberal arts college presidents earned more than $400,000 a year (6.2). Administrators rebuttal this by claiming that institutions must pay top dollar for top-quality professors and this has no real impact on money a college spends a year(6.4). Furthermore, they state that it is unfair to compare universities inflation due to their unique expenses (6.5). One major contribution to university costs rising is employee benefits due to the inflation of health-care costs.
However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) compiled a survey. This survey showed the average classroom-teaching load is 11 hours per week and that teachers spend more than 45.6 hours per week on research, administration, advising students, and other duties.(6.8) Why are we letting schools fire educators to cut back costs when they are building these types of amenities? We need to hold American institutions responsible for these actions and support the Federal Government’s proposal to penalize colleges and universities for significant tuition increases. The under-working of faculty members in the classroom causes reductions in course offerings and prevents students from graduating on time.
Should the Federal Government penalize colleges and universities for significant tuition increases? According to House Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-California, “At this rate, by the end of the decade, over 2 million qualified students will miss out on the opportunity to go to college (Rising 23).” In addition, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance reported, “Cost is what causes 48% of qualified, low-income high-school graduates from attending a public four-year institution and 22% from attending any college at all. (23)” In 1997, McKeon was part of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education and he fought to increase the Pell Grant from $2000 to $4050 and fought to drive down interest rates on student loans but tuition keeps rising beyond the liberal projections. This is still the maximum Pell Grant effective as of March 2006.
Furthermore, the Affordability in Higher Education Act, September 2003, states as of 2008 if an institution increases its tuition and fees more than twice the rate of inflation for an interval of three years removing institutions from programs within the Title IV of the Higher Education Act. This would exclude them from receiving direct aid through their students Pell Grants and Stafford and Direct Loans. The imposing of sanctions will not be until 2011, which gives them three years to change their ways (24).
Additionally, Sandy Baum and Economic Professor on the College Board, says, “middle-income students face pressures meeting the rapidly rising prices of college education, it is usually their choice of institution-rather than their access to higher education-that is the issue (26).” Some will disagree with her claim, including myself, as a college student that grew up in a middle-class home; I was not able to get grants to cover college tuition due to my parents’ income. The basis of distribution of financial aid on your parents, income until the age of twenty-four, even if you work a full-time job and are considered poverty level by your own income. Some recommendations proposed by the senior Democrats on the Senate and House education committees include: “Increase the size of Pell Grants; Expand the work-study program; Forgive more of the loans for graduates who take public service jobs; Allow borrowers to refinance loans at lower rates; and Allow working students to earn more money before having their aid reduced.” (Rising 16) Thus far, my research concluded that there is nothing implemented to change this for future students.
College graduates contribute more to society and receive fewer social services, why would you not want to support grants for the poor? In my opinion, the lack of support could be due to the need for grants to be, based on the most qualified student, not on governmental regulations for meeting minority quotas. One option would be to place, middle, and low income in the same category and high-income students, in a separate category. Recognizing that by the time, middle-income students reach the workforce their debt is horrendous. Ten years ago, 45% of students were indebted to loans, and now 54% of students going into debt that exceeds what they will make when they graduate college (8.5). In California community colleges alone, around $100,000 students dropped out or could not enroll because of tuition costs and cutting classes because of the lack of support from the government and citizens of this country (8.6). The purpose of need based financial aid is to give all students an opportunity to pursue their educational dreams. The figure below shows need based financial aid awarded to students attending public and private colleges’ in state: 2003-2004.
Should United States Government increase funding for higher education? According to the Message from Secretary Spellings, located on the U.S. Department of Education’s student aid Web site:
Funds for college are at historic highs. In 2006 the Department of Education will make or guarantee more than $60 billion in low-cost student loans, a $4 billion increase over 2005 levels. Overall, $82 billion in grants, loans and other assistance are expected to benefit more than 10 million students – 413,000 more than last year.
Pell Grants, federal grants, average $2421 is not enough for a live at home student at a community college (8). According to Callahan, 15 years ago, if the projection for Pell Grants were $12 Billion “I’d have said we’ve probably pretty much have solved the problem of access to education. (8)” My rebuttal to this comment is that there has not been enough compensation for the population growth. The baby-boomers children are those in their twenties. The ‘experts’ have not considered the increase of population showing another reason for a falter in statistics and projections made by the United States Government.
Is the Federal government ‘short-changing’ Americans?
This figure compares the difference between the rise of tuition costs and grants awarded in public research universities from 1993-2004. The government continues to increase grants substantially but have not been competitive with the enrollment population and tuition inflation due to health-care costs and gasoline prices. Tuition increases ten to be highest at 39% for public two-year institutions and 32% for public four-year institutions. If your family makes more than $50,000 a year you are pretty much unqualified as Reindl, from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, states this, “Might pay a ¬ of average tuition, fees, room and board at a 4yr state schools and covered only about 1/10 for private college (8.4)”.
Wondering what you can do to help fight the tuition hikes. In Ohio, the University of Toledo along with a student-led initiative started a program for this purpose. Their website launched February 1, 2006 at http://thinkohio.com, as a statewide effort to help Universities fight rising tuition costs. Think Ohio was brought to the University of Cincinnati by the Student Government Vice President Dominic Berardi. “We are ready to lead in Southwest Ohio,” Berardi said in the News Record. The targets for this campaign are listed in the order of importance starting with the students, then parents/grandparents (those involved in paying for education), and then the public.
“THINK is completely funded through student general fees. Therefore, it is not funded by tuition dollars nor community endorsements.” (Key Statements) Some facts about Ohio tuition: it is the “5th most expensive tuition in the U.S. among 4-year, public universities. (Source: www.ed.gov)”, “Ohio was ranked 44th in the country for lowest increase of state funding for public, 4-year universities from 2001-2003. (Source: www.regents.state.oh.us/hei)”, and “From 1999 to 2003, tuition and fees at four-year, public universities in Ohio rose an average of 10.8 percent per year. (Source: www.mhec.org) Based on this statistical increase, the annual cost of tuition and fees in 2028 will be $86,457 per year. (Think Ohio)”
From the National Center for Education Statistics for the University of Cincinnati:
Academic year prices for full-time, first-time undergraduate students at
Raymond Walters CollegeAcademic year prices for full-time, first-time undergraduate students at
Main Campus
2005-06 Undergraduate application fee: $40
2005-06 2004-05 2003-04
Tuition & fees
In-state $8,877 $8,379 $7,623
Out-of-state $22,629 $21,351 $19,230
Books and supplies $1,140 $830 $815
On-campus
Room and board $7,890 $7,425 $7,113
Other expenses $5,150 $5,125 $4,440
Off-campus
Room and board $7,890 $7,425 $7,200
Other expenses $5,150 $5,125 $4,400
Off-campus with family
Other expenses $5,150 $5,125 $4,400
Academic year prices for full-time, first-time undergraduate students at
Clermont College
2005-06 Undergraduate application fee: $110
2005-06 2004-05 2003-04
Tuition & fees $11,550 $10,740 $11,250
Books and supplies $460 $400 $396
Off-campus
Room and board $15,678 $14,724 $14,004
Other expenses $5,226 $4,908 $4,668
Off-campus with family
Other expenses $5,226 $4,908 $4,884
You can find these online at http://www.nces.ed.gov/globallocator/ for any college in the United States.
Additional Resources
American Association of Community Colleges: http://www.aacc.nche.edu
American Association of State Colleges and Universities: http://www.aascu.org
American Council on Education: http://www.acenet.edu
College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com
Department of Education, “The HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Credits”: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/PPI/HOPE/index.html
Education Commission of the States: http://www.ecs.org
Education and Workforce Committees: http://edworkforce.house.gov
Institute for Higher Education Policy: http://www.ihep.com
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education: http://www.nafeo.org
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities: http://www.naicu.edu
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges: (202) 778-0818
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education: http://www.higheredcuation.org
United Negro College Fund: http://www.uncf.org
Some resources located on THINK:
126th Ohio General Assembly: (http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/)
Higher Education Information: (http://www.regents.state.oh.us/hei/)
Midwestern Higher Education Compact: (http://www.mhec.org/)
US Department of Education: (http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml)
Wake-Up Ohio: (www.wake-upohio.com)
MDRC: (www.mdrc.org/subarea_index_31.html)
State and Local Government on the Net: (http://www.statelocalgov.net/state-oh.cfm
The intention of this paper was to help answer questions that students and parents have when making decisions about college and other forms of higher education. The research has left me to the deduction that rising tuition costs are due to administrative decisions and nothing more. Although, there are always those that disagree, between statistics, government research projects, and press documents we, the students, make it more tedious for the administrators to continue along this path. The students of Ohio started a student-led initiative called THINK Ohio and hopefully, this will be followed by students around the country. If students do not stand up for their higher education there may not be affordable American education for them to pursue.
Bibliography
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Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-California, “The College Cost Crisis.” House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Sept. 3, 2003 http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/108th/education/highereducation/CollegeCostCrisisReport.pdf.
Students of Ohio’s Public Education System. “Think Ohio Campaign.” February 1, 2006. 2 March 2006 http://thinkohio.com.
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