Students, from the time they enter school at a young age, “…have grown up understanding…” according to Joel and Eric Best (2013), “…that it is impossible to get ahead without a college degree.” (p. 113). However, it is getting harder and harder for students to attend college after high school, mostly due to the rising costs of tuition and living expenses on a college campus. There are a privileged few that are able to afford college out of pocket, but most have to attend a post-secondary institution taking out thousands of dollars in student loans. A problem does exist when it comes to the overall system of higher education, because “as college costs rose, fewer students were able to muster the resources needed to graduate from college debt-free.”
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During the Great Recession over the past decade, state governments, in order to balance their own budgets, have cut funding from post-secondary education, leading to tuition increases. The problem is compounded, according to Edwards et al. (2013), even more by universities using the scant funding that they receive for new buildings on the campus and to raise the pay of university administrators (p. 99). In order for college costs to come down, and be more affordable to more students, solutions have to come from both from an increase of funding, and smartly using …show more content…
According to Gonzalez’s article in the Journal of Higher Education (2014), the findings of a study done showed that “…students who started in the 2-year sector and attained a 4-year degree [have] similar amounts of debt by the year 2000 when compared to students who initially enrolled in the 4-year sector.” (Gonzalez, 2014, p. 750) Although this could be used to argue that community college students would end up with similar levels of debt than those at four-year institutions, this study was done in the before 2000, years before tuition at public post-secondary institutions increased drastically. It could also be mentioned that community college students are seen as more at-risk than other students, giving the notion that community colleges are not that effective as other institutions. However, according to Best and Best (2015), “…for-profit [institutions] enrolled a larger share of at-risk students…”, and there are some for-profit institutions that are seen as effective for students (p.
During the Great Recession over the past decade, state governments, in order to balance their own budgets, have cut funding from post-secondary education, leading to tuition increases. The problem is compounded, according to Edwards et al. (2013), even more by universities using the scant funding that they receive for new buildings on the campus and to raise the pay of university administrators (p. 99). In order for college costs to come down, and be more affordable to more students, solutions have to come from both from an increase of funding, and smartly using …show more content…
According to Gonzalez’s article in the Journal of Higher Education (2014), the findings of a study done showed that “…students who started in the 2-year sector and attained a 4-year degree [have] similar amounts of debt by the year 2000 when compared to students who initially enrolled in the 4-year sector.” (Gonzalez, 2014, p. 750) Although this could be used to argue that community college students would end up with similar levels of debt than those at four-year institutions, this study was done in the before 2000, years before tuition at public post-secondary institutions increased drastically. It could also be mentioned that community college students are seen as more at-risk than other students, giving the notion that community colleges are not that effective as other institutions. However, according to Best and Best (2015), “…for-profit [institutions] enrolled a larger share of at-risk students…”, and there are some for-profit institutions that are seen as effective for students (p.