Access to Higher Education - Essay Example

Who should have access to higher education? Higher education brings both public and private benefits for an individual. Our forefathers recognized the social benefits of higher education, founding the first American colleges as a means of providing a broad based education designed to transform “politically ambitious and financially privileged young men of the colonies” (Thelin, 2004) into the future leaders and businessmen of society. Over time these institutions evolved, increasing in gender and ethnic diversity. The advent of the community college system and influx of federal dollars from programs such as the GI bill and the Pell grant resulted in dramatic increase in the number of students having access to higher education. Despite the development of large number of educational institutions, many people do not manage to get the higher education given the high fee and the associated expenses. This tends to create disparity among individuals in a society. In order for a nation to grow as a whole, it is imperative that achievement of higher education is made possible to all the citizens irrespective of their socio-economic status. This will not only develop unity among the members of a society, but also allow the country to utilize the exclusive talent vested by nature in the poor in addition to the rich. The Array of Higher Education Benefits Matrix: Critical analysis: The growth of educational institutions was coupled with a post-World War II philosophical shift placing more emphasis standardized, career specific training with a heavier emphasis on the arts and sciences. (Altbach, 2005). As degrees became more critical to employment, the dialogue shifted from social benefits of education to economic benefits as college graduates began to far out earn those with only a high-school education. Together the combination of the many social and economic benefits makes a compelling case that “all citizens should have access to higher education.” Adelman (2007) defines “access” in four ways, threshold, recurrent, convenient, and distributional. Recurrent, Convenient and distributional access are often complex, multi-faceted issues that can also be heavily influenced by personal and parental preferences. For the purpose of this discussion, I am opting to utilize the base level of threshold access, where a student is deemed to have “access” if he/she is admitted to a post-secondary educational institution and stayed long enough to generate a transcript. The Array of Higher Education Benefits as outlined in “Reaping the Benefits: Defining the Public and Private Value of Going to College” clearly illustrates the multiple benefits of a college education as they pertain to both society and the individual. The Array subdivides the benefits of college into four major categories: public social benefits, private social benefits, public economic benefits and private economic benefits. The public social benefits of higher education include many concepts reminiscent of our forefather’s ideals including increased voter participation, increased volunteerism and community service, and an increased appreciation for diversity. Although these may be lofty goals, I find that the most convincing public social argument for increasing access to higher education is the correlation between a college education and decreased crime rates. A 2008 report written by the PEW Center for the States and issued by the U.S. Department of Justice cites some sobering statistics. More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in the prison system at an annual cost of over $25,500 per inmate (PEW, 2008). Comparatively, the 2007-08 annual cost of sending a student through a state funded college was $12,797 and a publicly funded community college was a bargain priced $6,815 (US Dept. of Education, 2008). The private social benefits of higher education include improved life expectancy, improved quality of life, more leisure activities, improved consumer decision making, and improved health. Although Pasque focuses on these as positive benefits for individuals attaining higher education, I would argue that lack of these benefits illustrates a high societal cost to not ensuring access. Smoking, poor eating habits, and lack of exercise contributes to increased obesity, heart disease, and cancer rates. Education Pays cites an 18% gap between health care coverage for high school graduates and four-year college graduates (Baum, 2010). This gap puts a serious strain on public healthcare systems which are largely supported by tax dollars. The Array cites the public economic benefits of higher education as increased tax revenues, greater productivity, increased consumption, greater workforce flexibility, and decreased reliance on government financial assistance. The recent economic downturn has highlighted the vulnerability of state and local governments to a decreased tax base coupled with increased demands for public assistance. A healthy and reliable tax base is critical to support major infrastructure such as roads, bridges, hospitals, and recreation areas as well as emergency services. Public assistance programs account for a major portion of both Federal and State expenditures. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in 1994 only 0.4% of persons aged 25-34 with four years of college received financial assistance as compared to 14.3% of the same cohort with a high school education (IHEP, 1998). In addition, to compete in a global economy it is in the best interest of both government and corporations to ensure a steady supply of educated workers who can adapt rapidly to ever-changing technology. Lastly, and perhaps the most well known, are the personal economic benefits of a college degree. In 2008, bachelor’s degree recipients working full-time earned on average $21,900 more than high school graduates. Full-time workers with some college, but no degree earned less degree recipients, but still earned 17% more than those with only a high school education. (Baum, 2010). My opinion: Some would argue that this strong personal financial incentive is justification for students bearing the majority if not entirety of tuition costs. While I would agree cost sharing is a logical approach, some type of sliding tuition scale or financial assistance is necessary to ensure access students from low-income families. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education illustrated this when they asserted that, “benefits from higher education flow to all, or nearly all, persons in the United States directly or indirectly and the costs of higher education as assessed against all, or nearly all, adults directly or indirectly .” (Altbach, 2005). Concluding all, I think there is strong evidence that universal access to higher education would provide numerous benefits for both society and the individual. Education should at best, be free for everybody and at least, be economical enough so as to be accessible to the maximum number of individuals in a society. However, ensuring access is just the first step in the process. In addition to providing the minimum level of “threshold” access to college, there is a need to ensure that high schools are adequately preparing students for higher level education, financial considerations are not overly burdensome for low-income students, and sufficient support systems are in place to encourage retention through to graduation. References: Adelman, C. (2007). Do we Really Have a College Access Problem? Change, 39(4), 48- 51. Altbach, P. G., Berdahl, R. O., Gumport, P. J. (2005). American Higher Education in the Twenty-first Century: Social, Political, Economic Challenges. John Hopkins University Press Baum, S., Ma, J., Payea, K. (2010). Education Pays 2010: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. College Board Policy and Advocacy Center Institute of Higher Education Policy (IHEP). (1998). Reaping The Benefits:  Defining The Public And Private Value Of Going To College. Pasque, P. (2005). A Typology And Critical Analysis of The Conceptualization Of Higher Education for the Public Good and Institute of Higher Education Policy (IHEP). (1998).  The PEW Center on the States. (2008). One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. The PEW Charitable Trusts. Thelin, J. R. (2004). A History of American Higher Education. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). Digest of Education Statistics, 2008 (NCES 2009-020), Table 331. Read More