Why is College So Expensive - Research Paper Example

Why is College So Expensive? People say it “pays to go to college.” That’s true but what’s also true is that when you go to college, you pay and pay and pay. Seemingly every day, at every turn, for every reason you can think of and many more you didn’t anticipate, someone involved somehow with schooling has their hand out for more money. Tuition, books and housing are enormously expensive and take the biggest bite out of the higher education budget but it doesn’t end there. It never ends. There are lab fees, dorm needs including computer, clothes and stereo, commuting costs, parking fees, tutoring and food. Forget entertainment expenses, no money left for that. College is expensive, very much so but just how expensive and why? According to experts, the cost to attend a four-year public university is about $16,000. That includes tuition, housing and general fees but not books. A private university is more than double that amount. Add to that other expenses such as dorm room accessories, electronics and clothing. Then there’s commuting which includes gas, maintenance and parking fess which can total up to $500 per semester. Tickets for outdated stickers handed out by the campus police push the cost higher. Getting a little tutoring help for that physics test will run about $30 per hour. The “luxury” of living on campus costs more than anyone can possibly anticipate. “The main reason why people who go to public universities end up in debt, is not the tuition, but the living away from home expenses, which at a public university, are three or four times more than tuition.” (Hacker, 2010) The price of books is another expense that is always higher than anticipated, shockingly so. The cost of books sometimes determines a student’s major. The difference in price of books can total $1200 depending on the field of study. (Beeman, 2011). There is a legitimate justification for why college textbooks cost more than paperbacks at discount book stores. Producing a new textbook is often very expensive. The market for these books is limited and has become increasingly so. In days past there were more buyers for new textbooks. Publishers could, therefore, distribute production expenses over a larger number of buyers. The relatively recent expansion of the rental and used textbook market has diminished the number of new books sold which has kept the price of new editions inflated. Publishers now generate updated editions. In this way they sell more books which acts to spread the production costs over more buyers. The total cost of college textbooks has actually fallen recently even as the price for new books has risen. (Weston, 2011). “Student spending on textbooks has been decreasing since 2006 because of the rise of electronic books, rentals and the used book market” (“Why,” 2011). During the 2010-11 scholastic year the average amount spent on books at a four-year college was $534. During the 2005-06 year that amount was $644. Students spend more on gasoline and going to the movies during the academic year and twice the amount on cell-phone use as they do on book expenditures. (Weston, 2011). Tuition costs are high for many reasons. Colleges have expenses which may or may not be obvious to the casual observer. The high-end salaries paid to employees have risen. The expense of employing well educated people began to increase substantially about 30 years ago for every industry. Colleges are an industry that cannot readily cut back on labor and much of its work force is well educated by necessity. (Goldstein, 2010). Salaries of faculty and supportive staff account for the largest piece of the college expense pie. The second highest expense can be classified as building maintenance which includes paying the electric bill, ongoing construction, cleaning and furnishing classrooms, libraries, gyms, labs, dorms, student centers and supplying computers, software, IT needs and books. (Trachtenberg, 2011) Colleges have been allocating more for support staff in recent years. “The ratio of teachers to students remained relatively stable, at about seven teachers per 100 students from 1976 to 2000” at four-year colleges according to economist Richard Vedder. “In contrast, the ratio of nonteaching staff members to students doubled from three to six per 100 students from 1976 to 2000.” (Gonzalez, O'Sullivan, 2010). A smaller portion of college’s available funding is being allocated to educating students while more is going to non-instructional pursuits such as faculty research and administrative expenses. Colleges have altered its focus somewhat and are now competing to provide the best “experience” for students instead of solely concentrating on educating those students. Schools are constructing costly high-tech support centers, first-class gym amenities and extravagant student unions. (Gonzalez, O’Sullivan, 2010). Unlike private business, colleges aren’t compelled to be competitive on prices. “The big problem is that high-status institutions such as universities tend to compete with each other on academic reputation (which is enhanced by star professors) and bling (luxurious dormitories and fancy sports stadiums) rather than value for money” (Goldstein, 2010). Colleges have little motivation to become more efficient through cost cutting then passing the savings on to customers in order to attract new business therefore is not managed by the same methodology as private businesses. The successful private business owner endeavors to please the customer but for a college president the customer is not the people paying tuition, it’s the faculty, top administrators, key trustees, alumnus and sometimes local politicians. They satisfy their “customers” by collecting and spending money, lots of it. They compete for the better professors by offering them smaller teaching loads, higher salaries and better parking. They grant trustees whatever they wish without concern for the cost or the nature of the request. They also provide the best sports facilities money can buy to encourage alumni support. This expense is generally funded by the students. Colleges do something else that is almost never done by private businesses. They routinely turn away paying customers. “A fast food chain or discount store succeeds by selling more hamburgers or television sets; no customer was ever kept from spending money at McDonald’s by an ‘admissions office.’” (Vedder, Denhart, 2011). However, the “bottom line” for colleges is not measured by dollars but by rankings which commonly rewards schools for being “selective.” Can you imagine walking into a store to purchase a computer, being turned away and told you really aren’t “Best Buy material”? The accumulated interest on student loans results in higher long-term costs. In this economy, ex-students are finding it harder to pay-off these loans and must defer the payments which add to the cost. Parents are also finding it tougher to help. Some are unemployed. Others cannot obtain a second mortgage due to the slumping housing market. More and more families are dependent on federal student loans while some are turning to the much more costly private loans. “Private loans are much riskier than federal student loans, because they don’t come with the important repayment plans, forgiveness programs and other borrower protections that federal student loans provide” (Abramson, 2011). College costs more than not going to college but it is worth more too. The difference in earnings of persons who finished college as opposed to those who only finished high school has expanded greatly over the past generation and this income discrepancy is expected to swell even further. You have to spend money to make money as the saying goes. In the case of a college education, it’s certainly true. College is expensive for many obvious and not-so-obvious reasons, some necessary and some frivolous but one thing is for sure, paying for college is much less expensive than not paying for college. Works Cited Abramson, Larry. “Why is College so Expensive?” NPR (October 19, 2011). March 28, 2012 < http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141505658/why-is-college-so-expensive> Beeman, Kerry. “The Costs of Being a College Student.” The Bottom Line (February 28, 2011). March 28, 2012 < http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2011/02/the-costs-of-being-a-college-student> Briody, Blaire. “Hidden Costs of College Raise Total to Extreme Levels.” (June 11, 2011). March 28, 2012 < http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/06/15/Hidden-Costs-of-College-Raise-Total-to-Extreme-Levels.aspx#page1> Goldstein, Jacob. “3 Reasons Why College is so Expensive.” NPR (September 2, 2010). March 28, 2012 < http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/09/02/129607849/why-is-college-so-expensive> Gonzalez, Angelica and O’Sullivan, Courtney. “Why Is College So Expensive?” National Center for Policy Analysis (September 30, 2010). March 28, 2012 < http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba726> Hacker, Andrew. “Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids and What We Can Do About It” Times Books. (August 30, 2010). Trachtenberg, Stephen Joel “Why Is College So Expensive?” (Sep 28 2011). The Atlantic March 28, 2012 < http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/why-is-college-so-expensive/245839/> Vedder, Richard and Denhart, Matthew. “Why does college cost so much?” CNN (December 2, 2011). March 28, 2012 >http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/02/opinion/vedder-college-costs/index.html> Weston, Liz. “Should textbooks really cost $200?” MSN Money (October 26, 2011). March 28, 2012 “Why Are College Textbooks So Expensive?” Good Education University of Phoenix (September 6, 2011) March 28, 2012 Read More