The Cost of Higher Eduction - Research Paper Example

The Cost of Higher Education Introduction The cost of the higher education in America has been escalating, and many people arewondering how they will have education for their children. The higher education in U.S is an ultimate optional stage of the formal learning after the secondary education. The educational institutions include the colleges, universities that are both private and public. The cost of higher education is known to be relatively cheaper for the public institutions compared to the private ones (Cheslock 406). The cost of the higher education has skyrocketed making the college and university education unaffordable. The level of unemployment has also been increasing, and the employed people are not getting any increment of their salaries, but the college tuition fee has been increasing in the public colleges. The cost of the education services from college tuition could be solely attributed to the fault of the institutions of higher learning with the administration being accused of the bloat compared to the reduced governmental funding. However, the facilities of higher education have tried to keep the expenditures and the tuition down (Flower 95). Many institutions do not try to inflate the costs of the education deliberately. When the ultimate projection is made the todays cost of the higher education may seem cheaper compared to the future costs. Still the costs are rising at alarming rates that are faster than the inflation. Thesis: professional, college and graduate schools are currently costing more than ever. The common take on the situation blames the higher educational institutions for effectively pricing the gouging people of America. The higher education has become valuable than ever, and the government has turned to loans from grants. To get the best services of higher education it has been attributed to digging deeper into the common citizen’s pocket. The Cost of Higher Education Many of the in-state public schools have raised the tuition fees. The cost of the education in the higher learning institutions tends to be higher than the normal when the student is added an extra year to the college, a dramatic change occurs or loses the scholarship. The comparison of the services that were offered before in the institutions of higher education to what is offered today reveals many attractive options that have come with an extra pay (Gilder 448). For instance, the students are no longer using the cafeteria but they have turned to dining facility that has different choices of the foods for the students. These services have been associated with more money being paid to cater for the services. Many of the higher learning institutions have installed sophisticated campus facilities and security measures that have lead to the cost of the services that are offered to rise, which in turn has resulted to increased pay for the fees. In the past, the demand for education was enhanced by the government by increasing subsidies via loans but the trend has not kept up because the non-profit colleges are being paid in prestige and have the objective that is not growing. Again, the law has designed the profit sector such that it exists to elevate the subsidies rather than offering the valuable education, but the government has not kept up with the demand. The administrative cost has also gone high such that it has triggered the cost of the higher education to go high (Julia 597). The colleges have changed to become a rule where they charge as much as one can pay. They have become a model business of the high fixed cost and low marginal cost. The increase of the college tuition fees has been attributed to the rise of the number of the individuals in America who go to college. Though, the college-age populations have not increased the number of individuals who have enrolled in the institutions have increased. As a consequence, the appropriation of the higher education has risen faster than inflation. Conclusion The cost of the education has been rising over the recent past with many people enrolling in the colleges seeking the higher education. The reason as to why the cost of the education in higher institutions has remained to be high is because the academic culture has focused more on improving the quality of the education rather than addressing the cost of the higher education. The incentives that government used to give to reduce the cost of education have been changed to loans thus making the cost of higher education to be expensive compared to the education that was offered in the past years. The cost of the administrative services has escalated compared to the cost that was incurred before which might have caused the services to go high. Summary The higher education is heavily considered all over the world to be the key for both societal and individual aspirations. The education beyond the secondary education level is associated with acquiring better jobs and expanded life options. For all its importance, the higher education throughout the globe has been troubled by the cost and the United States of America has not been left out by the impact. The cost of higher education in the United States of America has been rapidly rising to a point to be seen outrunning the available resources. The government is cutting outlays to colleges and universities with consequent loss of staff, erosion of salaries and loss of capability to expand and meet the demands of students. The costs are passed to the students and parents, and its access is being threatened (Robust 730). The services that the institutions of higher education are offering cannot be attained without charging an extra dollar to be catered. For instance, the institutions are offering services like sponsored researches, and special activities that require the institutions to levy revenue to support them. The U.S government has also reduced the grants that it used to offer to students, and the money has been turned to loans that have turned the access of the higher education to be expensive. The demand has also increased that has made the institutions charge more because the in some way has become a competitive business. The cost of education today seems to be cheaper compared to the cost that will be levied in the recent future. The cost of education does not seem to go any lower. Works Cited Carpentier, Vincent. Public-Private Substitution In Higher Education: Has Cost-Sharing Gone Too Far?. Higher Education Quarterly 66.4 (2012): 363-390. Cheslock, John Jesse. Cost Control, College Access and Competition in Higher Education (Review). The Review of Higher Education 29.3 (2009): 406-407. Drum, Alice, and Page Smith. Killing The Spirit: Higher Education In America.. The Journal of Higher Education 62.5 (2010): 593. Flower, Ruth. Washington Watch: The Higher Cost Of Higher Education: In Perspective. Academe 83.5 (1997): 95. Web. Gilder, Eric. The College Cost Disease: Higher Cost and Lower Quality. European Journal of Higher Education 2.4 (2012): 447-452. Julia, Jake. Honoring the Trust: Quality and Cost Containment in Higher Education (Review). The Journal of Higher Education 75.5 (2008): 596-598. Robust, John. Cost Efficiency in Public Higher Education Institutions. The Journal of Higher Education 72.6 (2001): 730. Read More