Commentary on the Cost of College - Essay Example

Commentary on the Cost of College Quality education remains the best investment a person can make and funding highereducation pays off in a huge way in the years to come. The global economy is becoming competitive by day and securing an opportunity for a well-paying career requires college education. Although college education carries a heavy price tag, and is one of largest expenses a person make, it offers the gateway to better options and more opportunities in today’s economy. However, the amount of money spent in completing college education begs the question on whether the investment was worth.

This paper is a commentary on the cost of college and the effects that make the cost rise ever so often. Parents find it a heavy financial burden educating their children and for students whose parents cannot pay find themselves staggering with education loans (Baum and Ma 13). Most colleges have surrendered their initial intention to prestigious students, raising their costs beyond control. This has moved the college degree further away for middle class families. This makes them slaves to enormous debt for the better part of their life.

Cost of college involves the amount of money spent in acquiring a college education.  The cost involves all the expenses like tuition, fees, books, transportation and living expenses. Rising college cost is a byproduct of the economic forces that have seen the rise of living standards (Ehrenberg 7). The government’s failure to support education in higher institutions contributes significantly to rise in costs. Tuition fees in learning institutions have risen considerably and show no signs of changing.

Cost of technology has had an impact on higher education setting, and it has become inevitable for colleges. Students have to be trained on new technologies, and technologies have to be installed and re-installed after constant emergence of new refinements. In today’s world, a modern college has to be equipped with modern machinery and qualified instructors. All this calls for finances and students has to cater for the expenses. The main factors contributing to rise in college cost include inflation.

This is the increase in the cost of living over time averaged to about 2 percent annually. College costs increases more than any other expenditure in the economy. The costs rise to double the amount in thirty two years due to large budget in schools. Insurance costs for running the colleges have also risen contributing to inflation. Another factor affecting college education is the rise in demand. In a society where the winner takes it all, everyone understands the need for quality education.

Hence, strive to enroll to truly selective colleges (Lewin 10). The nature of the public, ready to sacrifice thousands of dollars to be among selective set of people causes the institutions to concentrate on improving their status rather than reducing their costs. An increase in the number of students enrolling for a college degree has driven up prices (Ehrenberg 13). Colleges have hiked the tuition fees aggressively to meet the cost of the increased number of students. This has necessitated the need to change the infrastructures, expand programs and review staff salaries.

Students receiving scholarships from colleges do not contribute to their studies. This passes on all the cost to the other students who never got the scholarship (Lewin 17). The rising costs leave most of the students in need of scholarships. This has continuously affected the price of college education. Availability of classes especially in certain popular majors has led the cost for college education to rise. Most colleges seek to limit their upper division class size. This has forced some scholars to spend more time to complete their course and hence more cost.

The systems in some colleges are also to blame for the rising cost. This will include things like prestigious games and expensive social amenity facilities (Baum and Ma 13). The rise in college education is not a problem to be ignored. Every person has a right to quality education and no one should be discriminated because their affiliation with a low income family. The cost should not continue to increase while the government continues receiving money from tax payers. However, the government and economy are not to blame entirely for the rise in the cost of college education.

All other factors should be considered, and solutions searched. Everybody in the education system should work hard to ensure that students get college level education. This will enable them to participate fully towards the improvement of their lives, economic and cultural life of the nation at large. In conclusion, the decline in college affordability can be addressed by introducing programs that will lower the costs like government offering tax relief and colleges embarking on cost reducing measures.

Works Cited Baum, S., & Ma, J. Trends in College Pricing. Washington DC: The College Board, 2008. Print. Ehrenberg, Ronald G. Tuition Rising Why College Costs So Much. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2002. Print. Lewin, Tamar. College Graduates’ Debt Burden Grew, Yet Again, in 2010. New York: New York Times, 2011. Print.