As I wait to hear back from people that have engaged in various career paths following high school, whether it be pursuing further education at a college or university or choosing a varying path from that, I have looked further into the cost of education. Astonishingly, I have found through my research that although the cost of college continues to "rise more rapidly than the rate of inflation, the rate of increase has slowed" compared to previous years ("New College..."). While this is excellent news to hear, it is still hard to believe that the rate has continued to rise in such a way larger than that of the rate of inflation. However, while the rate is still larger than that of the rate of inflation, students have found ways to compete with this by having Pell Grants increase "from 3.8 million in 1993-94 to 5.1 million in 2003-04 and to 9.2 million in 2013-14" as well as having "undergraduates receive an average of $14,180 in financial aid" which allow for students to have a greater chance at affording the price of college ("New College..."). Ultimately, until the rate of college price increases reach that of the rate of inflation, college will still be questioned to its ultimate worth by the people of America. To read further about the happenings to colleges in the past year, click here.
Money under the cap. Are colleges worth more than that?
Work Cited
"New College Board Trends in Higher Education Reports: College Prices Increase at a Slower Pace While Student Borrowing Declines for the Third Consecutive Year." The College Board. College Board, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
As I continue to seek out potential employees within various
occupations, I have noticed that there has been a movement by congress to lower
the burden that college places on students financially. This news is coming out
of the Senate as head of the Senate education committee, Senator Tom Harkin,
has proposed a bill with numerous implications for colleges and their
perspective students. Within the proposed bill, one of the main proposals is “reinstituting
a year-round Pell Grant, creating a streamlined income-based repayment system
for student loans and creating a record system that would track student-level
details, such as loan repayment outcomes and future earnings” which would allow
for students to receive aid year round for their summer classes rather than just
the fall and spring classes (Bidwell). If this legislation as well as others
are able to be made into law, then the burden placed upon students would
diminish making college much more accessible to people across various
backgrounds. However, as it is currently in the process, the struggle of the
cost of college must still be factored into the debate on the worth of college. For more information about the article click here.
Pictured Senator Tom Harkin
Work Cited
Bidwell, Allie. "Senate Higher Education Bill Focuses on Affordability." US News. U.S.News &
As I began these weeks I knew that this would be the end of my background research on college and its costs. One of the many problems faced by colleges that I have overturned is the college dropouts. The main reason that this is a problem is that many people dropout of college when they are not prepared leading to a large debt for many states as well as the dropouts themselves. Over a five year period, it was recorded that "more than $9 billion dollars was spent by state and federal governments to support students at four-year colleges and universities who left school before their sophomore year" leading to a large debt for these governments as they now have no return on the investment ("College Dropouts Cost Cash-Strapped States Billions"). Along with this increase in the debts of the government, the students also find themselves in large debts that they are unable to payoff as they never received the degree allowing them to get a more profitable job to eliminate the debt. As a result it shows that many students need to rethink their plans before attending college as it may result in an insurmountable amount of meaningless debt for many. Following is a video from Fox Business (take it with a grain of salt) establishing the view on college dropouts. After watching leave a response on what your future plans are for after high school.
Source: The Friedman Foundation of Education Choice
Credit: Robert Enlow
Works Cited
College Dropouts Cost Cash-Strapped States Billions." American Institutes for Research RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
Furthering my study on college debt, I have begun to research the number of students within the various universities and colleges throughout the United States. My findings have led me to the fact that enrollment in these establishments has been on a rise as between the years of 2001 and 2011, the number of people that were enrolled at these establishments increased by 32 percent from 15.9 million to 21.0 million. This increase in enrollment was found to be even larger for full-time students as it had increased by 38 percent over the same span. However, with this increased enrollment, the tuition for each of has risen from on average a cost of $14,533 per year to $19,339 per year over that same time span yet not all this money is being put towards the education as a large portion of the money made from tuition is put towards marketing rather than the actual education. Occurring alongside these two factors is the fact that the graduation rate from college is only at 59 percent for four year degrees. This is causing a large debt increase for the 41 percent that do not graduate but still accumulate the debt by attending college and receiving no diploma to show their work. By doing this, they will find it much harder in the job market to obtain a job in order to pay off the debt that they acclimated for no evident gain. This problem has even reached national media attention as many news services are voicing concerns on the topic of college education and debt. Following this is from a video from The Late Night Show that has John Oliver discussing many issues with the current college education system.
I have begun to research into is going to college worth it
in the modern era for all students as their form of post-secondary schooling.
As I have conducted this research, I have started by looking into the amount of
debt that college students face by the time that they leave college. By
comparing the amount of debt that college students have faced over the past
several years with the amount of debt that college students faced in the past
several years before that I aim to examine whether the current state of college
education is at the same worth as it was in the past or whether it has
diminished due to the rising cost. Through the close examination of this data I
will be able to evaluate whether or not going to college will be economically
affordable to all students or whether there should be some students that should
choose a different career option. Following this blog are the two graphs that I
have so far found to assist with my research.
So its that time of year when seniors everywhere begin to start thinking towards the future, but then they are impacted by a sudden realization, "Oh no! I have to do a senior project!" Now my time has come to worry about this project. Struggling over what topic to go with, I finally learned what my topic would be "Is college really worth it?" Now I am going to have to interview as many sources as I can with the sources including people that attended college as well as people that did not attend college. Ultimately I will hope to learn and educate people on whether it is smarter to pursue college post-high school or to go with another career path. Which of these options should our generation choose, the idea of business or the idea of further tests and education?
