Value of Higher Education Increase

¶ … VALUE of HIGHER EDUCATION INCREASE WITH TUITION COSTS?

One of the unfortunate consequences of the current financial crisis and recession-like national economic situation is that the already-high cost of college education are likely to rise even higher. In the last twenty years, the costs of college education has increased so much across the nation that comparatively few students from middle-class families have the same options as their parents had (Glod, 2008; Hendrix, 2008). Generally, it is not the case that the increasing cost of college education corresponds to commensurate increases in the quality of that education, primarily because the factors responsible for increasing costs are unrelated to the professors' salaries or educational materials. Evidence That Increasing Costs Do Not Improve Education Quality: Clearly, the tremendous increases in college education costs cannot possibly correspond to increasing quality of higher education, simply because the vast majority of the specific increased costs do not relate directly to factors that determine the relative quality of education. According to a survey published this week by one California news source:

The average estimated yearly cost of attending a California community college, such as Foothill College, including registration and fees, books and supplies, room and board (if living at home), transportation and personal/miscellaneous expenses is $10,338. For a California State University school, such as San Jose State or San Francisco State, including the state university fee (tuition), miscellaneous fees, books and supplies, meals and housing (if living in campus housing), transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses it's $18,116.

The average estimated yearly cost for in-state students of attending a University of California school, such as UCLA or UC-Davis, including tuition, books and supplies, health insurance allowance/fee, room and board, and personal / transportation expenses is $25,300. For a private college such as Pomona College, including tuition, fees, room and board, books and personal expenses, it's $49,745, (Kaplan, 2008).

The increasing costs of American college education are more attributable to the rising cost of real estate and rent over the last two decades, which is not unusual since the cost of education generally varies in proportion to the traditional economic indicators.

However, more recently, to the completely unprecedented collapse of the financial markets, (at least in the age of modern education), and the devastating ripple effects, such as on pension funds and on investment income relied upon by institutions of higher learning are much more responsible for increasing education costs than any costs conceivably related to increased educational benefits to students. In that regard, American Council on Education (ACE) President Molly Corbett Broad specifically warns that rising costs of education in America are attributable to the economy rather than to corresponding increases in the quality of higher education programs: "I am concerned that we are entering a period -- as we did following the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s -- when we will see a sharp spike in tuition prices at both public and private institutions," Broad said. "Presidents and boards of trustees will be reluctant to increase tuition, but they will likely have little choice." (Glod, 2008).

Evidence That Increasing Costs Does Improve Education Quality: Perhaps in the larger sense, increased costs of education do correspond to increased quality of education in that modern information technology systems are more expensive to develop and maintain and that element of the increased cost of modern education undoubtedly provide immeasurable benefits to students. Most Americans recognize that college education is one of the most beneficial uses of public funds, as demonstrated across the country on Election Day 2008.

According to the UCSD Guardian (2008), voters throughout the nation demonstrated their commitment to opposing budget cuts this past Tuesday that would have further increased the private cost of college education by reducing available state funding:

Voters nationwide made clear their support for higher-education initiatives, including rejecting a proposal in Massachusetts that would have eliminated that state income tax and in turn dealt a crippling blow to the state's education sector, which relies heavily on income taxes for support. In New Mexico, voters approved two bonds with major implications for higher education: Bond C, which delegates $40.5 million to universities for health facilities, and Bond D, which supports a new $19-million arts facility for New Mexico State University. Voters in Arkansas and Maryland approved lottery measures whose profits will help bolster education programs, and Montana voters said yes to property-tax levies to support the University of Montana."

Conclusion:

The cost of education in the United States has risen steadily for the last few decades, to the point that the vast majority of all college students now require substantial financial assistance, even to attend public state colleges. Certainly, advances in it resources and equipment warrant their costs, but that is the only real change in the actual quality of education in America during that time. While it systems and similar beneficial additions capable of improving the quality of modern higher education are indeed expensive, they do not account for more than a small fraction of the overall increased cost of education.

By far, most of the increased cost of modern education is a function of the many factors included in the rising cost of living. In 2008, the collapse of the financial markets and the effects on the American economy only further increased the skyrocketing costs of education as educational institutions across the country scramble to maintain public funding threatened by the need to cut costs to cope with the realities of the financial crisis.