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Andrew Snyder

Instructor Haak

ENG 1510

16 October 2018

College and its Cost

College affordability is an enormous problem that we are facing as a civilization. The

ability to go to college should be reachable to everyone. Currently, a college degree is almost

necessary to get a white-collar job. Students coming from a lower or moderate-class family are

sometimes not given the proper ability to attend a college or university. With this, there are many

things that cause students to not apply or get accepted. I want to know what our country is

working on to get more students coming from a lower and middle-class income-based family to

attend college. In the United States, college is more expensive than it has ever been, the

attendance rates are higher than ever, and the opportunity cost is high. Going to college can help

you land a more secure, higher paying job, but you will be spending a boat load of money getting

that education.

With the price of college being higher than it has ever been, it is causing many students to

not apply because it is out of their reach. According to a new report from the Institution of

Higher Education Policy, a study with 2,000 universities found that families with low to

moderate incomes can only afford one to five percent of the universities (DeRuy). This statistic

is scary to see, because it shows how limiting college is. Students can have the same test scores

and grades in high school but can be pushed away from college because they can not afford it.

With loans, a student that could only afford three percent of universities could afford around 20
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percent. If a student has a job during college it can cause them to fall behind in schooling or miss

opportunities that could help them.

With the rising cost of

college, it is limiting many

households from sending their

kid to college. The cost of

college over the past decade

has gone up significantly as

shown in Figure 1. There is a

new plan in act that is trying

to be used to help families

with saving money to send

their kid to college. The

Affordability Benchmark says

that if you save 10% of your

income for over 10 years and have your kid work 10 hours a week at school, then you should

have enough money to send them to get a post-secondary education. As the price of college

continues to balloon, the average household income has gone down 7% the past decade. Lumina

has found that only about 9% of students in the lower-class graduate with a bachelor’s degree,

whereas, 54% of students in upper-class graduate with a bachelors. This statistic is scary because

it is projected that by 2020, 65% of jobs will require a post-secondary education. That is where

the “Rule of 10” comes into play. If your family makes a combined salary of $100,000 a year,
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and they save the 10% that is recommended every year, they can save up around $51,000 for a

post-secondary education.

The job outlook for students not getting a college degree is declining every year. Since

1973, when there were approximately 91 million people working, 71% of them received a high

school diploma, or did not attend high school. When 2020 comes around and 65% of jobs will

likely require a post-

JOB OUTLOOK
secondary education, this Masters Degree or better Bachelor's Degree Associate's Degree
Some College/No Degree High School Diploma Less than High School
can bring even more

problems to low income

10% 11% 12%
32%
families. The figure to the 34% 30% 24%

18%
40% 19% 17%
right shows the 10% 12%
8%
0%
12% 19% 21% 24%
percentage of education in 9%
10% 11% 11%
7%

the past, present, and 1973 1992 2010 2020

future that is or may be required for a job. This rate is climbing faster than ever.

With the Higher Education Act, we have significantly raised the number of students

attending universities. One of the main problems that came along with this act is keeping kids in

school. The act as done a great job of giving people a better way to get loans for tuition prices.

The problem with this is, we cannot just be giving out money than saying good luck to students

that do not really know what they want to do with their education. We need to work on giving

better incentives to students, so they can push themselves forward to get their degree. Just 9% of

students form the lowest income quartile graduate with a bachelors degree, compared to the 77%

of students from the upper class that graduate with a bachelors degree.
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Due to the cost of colleges, there has been a decrease in students coming from lower-

class families enrolling in colleges. In 2008, there were 56% of students enrolling in colleges

right after high school, to where as now, there are 46% enrolling after high school. Total

enrolment percentage has dropped 3% since 2008. This means that not only is college getting

harder for lower-class citizens to afford, but also moderate to middle-class as well. Even in the

upper-class we see that there are students not enrolling in a post-secondary education. In 2008

there were 81.9% of students in the upper-class enrolling in college, to now where there are

78.5% of students enrolling. This takes the total amount of students enrolling in higher education

opportunities down. There are good things that are correlating with these results as well. There

has been an increase in students graduating from public high schools too.

Some people ask the question, why can’t colleges just lower their prices. Well, there are a

few good reasons why. One of the best reasons is that if a college lowered it price, it wouldn’t be

able to supply students with what they need to succeed and get the job they want. Universities

that cost a lot tend to have good professors and resources that are available to students. If

colleges costed less, there would be less professors with the proper requirements to lead you to

success, and there would be less things for you to use. All in all, this can lead to the loss of

different career fields. At the university you want to go to or plan to attend, it could offer the

perfect curriculum for you to get your degree. With the lowering of cost comes the loss of proper

requirements to fit what jobs are looking for.

Out of state prices are extremely high. This makes it hard for students to get degrees they

really want to get. A student coming from a middle-class family in the state Indiana has a less

likely of a chance to graduate from a university on the coast to study marine biology because of

the cost. That career is not offered at universities around the students because of the lack of
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bodies of water. So, if they student wanted to follow their dreams they would have to pay an

outrageous amount of money to go to a school to get the degree they desire. This is the case for a

lot of students trying to get the education of a field that is not offered in universities around their

area.

The cost of college has been on a steady incline for the past decade. This has left many

people who have the ability to thrive in college ineligible to attend due to the lack of money.

More resources are trying to be formed to help students attend colleges. There are many different

things that people are trying to practice getting their child to college. College is almost a

necessity for some people who look to get jobs in different fields. Middle to low-class families

are struggling more than ever to get their children to attend universities. The inclining price of

college is causing a drop in people attending. With the career field expanding at such a rapid

rate, there are many more opportunities arising for college students.

WEBSITE WEEBLY

https://andrewenglish1510portfolio.weebly.com/
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Works Cited

“Affordability Benchmark for Higher Education.” Lumina Foundation,

https://www.luminafoundation.org/news-and-views/affordability-benchmark

Baum, Sandy. “How Should We Think About College Affordability?” Higher Education Today,

19 June 2017, https://www.higheredtoday.org/2017/05/16/think-college-affordability/

https://www.canva.com/design/DADGSnHtmxE/CE6Mkdgz1wTrW2hPyo94wQ/edit

Camera, Lauren. “A Right, Not a Luxury.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World

Report, https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/11/06/college-

affordability-is-still-an-issue-today

“College Affordability.” Education Writers Association,

https://www.ewa.org/college- affordability

“College Affordability and Completion: Ensuring a Pathway to Opportunity.” U.S. Department

of Education Releases National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate | U.S.

Department of Education, US Department of Education (ED),

https://www.ed.gov/college/

DeRuy, Emily. “Measuring College (Un)Affordability.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company,

23 Mar. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/measuring-

college-unaffordability/520476/
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Hartle, Terry W. “Where Have All the Low-Income Students Gone?” Higher Education Today,

11 Jan. 2017, www.higheredtoday.org/2015/11/25/where-have-all-the-low-income-

students-gone/.

Lacour, Greg. “The Issues: College Affordability and Access.” Bachelor of Science in

Hospitality Management | Academics | University of Nevada, Las Vegas,

https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/issues-college-affordability-and-access
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Dear Instructor Haak,

I enjoyed this project. Being able to research something that interests me and making the graphs

helped me learn a lot. The affordability of college has been crazy. When I was young I was

always told that college is something that everyone must do or attend to get a job. Now that I am

here, and I am looking at these statistics I believe that them more. Getting a post-secondary

education means a lot to me and my family. My grandpa and my mom both graduated here at

OU with engineering degrees. I love being able to see how happy they are that I am succeeding.

This was not my original dream though. What you read above about being a marine biologist is

what I experienced firsthand. I had always wanted to be a marine biologist but the cost of going

to an out of state college is so expensive. I luckily got a legacy scholarship and some academic

scholarships to help me pay for my college experience now. I hope that in our future they can

help people on the lower end be able to attend college and get the degree they want.