Everything Is Costing More Nowadays, Especially Tuition
Submitted by Kristin on Tue, 07/28/2009 - 12:29
Nowadays, it seems like everything costs so much more than it did just several years ago. Think about it, 10 years ago a gallon of milk was around $2.75 now it is $5 for a half gallon of organic milk (in New York). So it comes as no surprise to see the cost of tuition shooting through the roof. For instance when I started school at California State University, Sacramento in fall 2002 I remember the check for tuition being around $900. When I finished in 2006, it was upwards of $2,000. Of course no one wants to pay more every semester or quarter, but should we be surprised in today’s economy when everything seems to be costing more than ever before? Fear not, it isn’t all doom and gloom because our President seems to have some logical solutions to ease the burden on many students.
President Obama has been an advocate for making college affordable for all Americans. He is not claiming that he can halt the rising cost of college but, rather, he is offering alternative ways to help pay for school and ease some of the stresses of the inevitable rising costs that today’s students are being strapped with. One proposal President Obama has is the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which ensures that the first $4,000 of college cost is free and will cover 2/3 the cost of tuition at public colleges/universities in exchange for 100 hours of community service to be performed every year while in school. Other ideas include: simplifying the financial aid process, expanding Pell Grants to low income families and eliminating costly bank subsidies. (For further details: barackobama.com or http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/CollegeAffordabilityFactSheet.pdf.)
There are many times where FASFA and grants are not enough and you cannot avoid having to get student loans. Thankfully, there is a way to help new grads and not-so-new grads to deal with their debt. The college loan repayment plan has been modified so you pay based on your income not your debt amount. This makes sense to me; it is not that people want to default on loans sometimes it is impossible to make the payment, so with this new plan everyone wins, the loans are getting paid and the alum can afford to pay them.
(Information regarding the college loan repayment plans at:
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/index.jsp)
In my opinion, it is in our country’s best interest if we remain competitive in terms of education. So to me, personally, it makes sense for our government to invest in the youth of today with financial aid to help promote higher education. It’s synonymous with how we as students view student loans as “good” debt. It is a means to an end. Perhaps it is an expensive burdensome mean, but in the long run it is worth it.
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The Price Of Education
I read this article today and it reminded me of this article. It is regarding a walkout for all University of California campuses for today, Thursday, Sept. 24.
I think everyone who can go to college, should. I don't think that money should be a deterrent, although, it often is. I think that many other majors beside traditional science and engineering are worth studying. I also think educators and those working in the education sector should be paid accordingly. Now how do we all "pay" for all of this.
I believe in the goal of the massive one day walkout of the UC system in California:
"The goal is to protect UC workers making less than $40,000 a year, to force UC President Mark Yudof to make the university's budget public and to reassert the faculty's role in UC governance."
Too many people go to college
Before the Vietnam War, nobody went to college, so it was ridiculously cheap (even after adjusting for inflation). That's when a degree was a real accomplisment, and it actually showed intelligence. Nowadays, any idiot can go to a state school and spend 5 years getting a degree in Underwater Basketweaving, before starting their career as a waiter. And tax payers have to pay a good chunk of that person's education, even if they don't receive any "financial aid". I think that is a growing problem with our educational system - we can't give everyone a BA degree, because then its worthless, and the truly smart people will have to get a Masters. I have the feeling that eventually a Masters will be the norm, and the smart people will be forced to get PHDs. But then everyone will be starting their careers at 30 with $200k in debt. How will our economy function with a workforce like that?
Bold statements, but where is the evidence?
"Before the Vietnam War, nobody went to college"? Really? What were the statistics back then of the demographic that did go to college? Were they as varied in terms of race, gender, class as they are now? How can you compare the two eras fairly?
"That's when a degree was a real accomplishment and it actually showed intelligence"? That seems like a very broad generalization. There have been so many modern break throughs (like in science, by people with college degrees) that it hardly seems that proof of intelligence through degrees is limited to only the pre-Vietnam era.
And anybody can go to a state school? Really? What are the standard requirements that one has to fulfill before they can apply or register?
"Tax payers pay a good chunk of that person's education"? I'm assuming you mean college education, right? If you do, then I'd have to disagree with that as well until you could show just how much a percentage of my taxes goes to college funding. What about elementary school funding or other non-school publicly funded programs? And besides public funding, aren't there college endowments that help pay for the education? And with the recent budget cuts, less and less government money is being allocated to colleges and students are having to pay more out of pocket.
If the problem with our educational system is that we're trying to give everyone BA degrees which is making them "worthless" then why do so many job descriptions require a BA or BS?
I hadn't read any official
I hadn't read any official papers on the linkage between the Vietnam War and college enrollment before, but I had heard them second hand. A quick google search shows that there are more than a couple papers on the subject: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vietnam+war+college+enrollment&aq=f...
There is a NY Times piece and a paper from Berkley on the subject within the first 4 results. As to whether race/gender/class is comparable, that's pretty much irrelevant. This is an issue of economics, not of politics - the sheer number of college enrollments is the reason for rising education costs, not the race or gender of the students.
"There have been so many modern break throughs (like in science, by people with college degrees) that it hardly seems that proof of intelligence through degrees is limited to only the pre-Vietnam era."
What is your argument here? That a biologist couldn't clone a sheep unless the janitor in his lab had a degree in sociology? My whole point was that the more intelligent members of society should go to college, not every mouthbreather flipping burgers. Those worthless degrees being handed out only make it more expensive for everyone else.
"And anybody can go to a state school? Really? What are the standard requirements that one has to fulfill before they can apply or register?"
www.whataretherequirementstofulfillbeforeapplyingtoastateschool.edu
"I'm assuming you mean college education, right? If you do, then I'd have to disagree with that as well until you could show just how much a percentage of my taxes goes to college funding. What about elementary school funding or other non-school publicly funded programs? And besides public funding, aren't there college endowments that help pay for the education? And with the recent budget cuts, less and less government money is being allocated to colleges and students are having to pay more out of pocket."
States do fund their public universities. That's what makes them public universities. I might be mistaken, but I was under the impression that UCLA is considerably cheaper to attend than USC purely because of the money the state provides. And all of that money that is provided by businesses or other sources must be distributed among far more students than it should be. How many scholarship programs go to people who end up never using anything they learned in college? Imagine if all those scholarships went to doctors or lawyers instead.
"If the problem with our educational system is that we're trying to give everyone BA degrees which is making them "worthless" then why do so many job descriptions require a BA or BS?"
Because if you're too braindead to get a simple BA degree from a crummy school, a plant could probably do your job. It is so easy to get a degree these days, there is simply no excuse. And I don't think that's how it should be.
Simply Put
1. Increase of variance in race, gender, and class = rising number of college enrollments.
2. There is an existence of an assessment that contributes to determining whether someone can go to college - the SATs.
3. My point was, there are requirements to attending a state school. To imply that there are none, would be false.
4. I agree that what makes public universities public is that they are funded by the public, namely us, through such means as taxes. But to what extent? Surely, not as extreme as you had argued. Or are they?
5. I have a question for you. From the terminology you use in your comments (i.e. the name calling, the put-downs, etc.) and your aversion to an open-to-the-public type of eduction, I'm wondering:
Does the bitterness and anger in your tone come from having a bachelor's degree but being frustrated that you can't land the dream job you thought you'd be able to because in this economy, there are so many unemployed degree holding citizens in the same boat and therefore, it's an employer's market?
1. But why? An increased
1. But why? An increased number of applications should not mean an increased number of accepted students, it should mean an increase in requirements.
2. The SAT? You mean that test you can take a dozen times, and that you can take practice versions of online for free? That requirement? I wasn't saying that requirements don't exist, just that the requirements are far too low. And in the case of the SAT, one can argue its not even a good measure of a student's worth.
3. Requirements exist, but again, they are a joke.
4. It doesn't matter if 1% of a student's education is paid for by the state, because these days there are literally millions of them. (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_feat...)
5. Name calling and put downs? Do those count if you're not referring to anyone in general?
I graduated from a 4 year University 3 years ago with a degree in Computer Engineering. I found a job before even graduating, in a field that was related to my degree. I graduated July 17th and started working July 19th, and I have been at the same company since. I found it astounding that so many people at my university were studying things like Sociology, Communications, and Art History. I took some intro classes for those majors, and I have not seen anything to indicate that the information you learn there is useful in any scenario.
That was a good guess though. If I really was like that, I would have been so told.