Let me preface this post with a disclaimer. This is just me rambling with absolutely no sources or evidence to back up anything I say. I’m merely getting thoughts down so I can thoroughly examine them later. Treat this post more like an adventure rather than my usual attempts at well referenced fact. Additionally, this post applies more to the United States than any other country. I’ve heard the cost of education is dramatically different (often lower) outside of the United States.
The cost of Education
In the United States, tuition cost of higher education has climbed continuously, pushing higher education further and further from the reach of many people. Many public institutions cost several thousand dollars per semester for 12 credit hours, which is beyond the spending capacity of many people without several years to save up money. Many private institutions cost more.
I don’t mean to imply that university should not be making money. Being able to pay your professors well and keep up to date with current technological innovations, provide lab materials for students, provide practice areas for music or art majors, and more is very important. In fact, I would posit that providing these things is essential for a college or university to do.
If it’s essential for higher learning institutions to provide these, and if they also need to make money in order to continue providing these or add new studies in the future, then what is the problem? Students are still enrolling at approximately the same rates they always have, and it looks like they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Not only that, despite the increase in tuition cost, tuition is still being paid, books bought from the book store, etc. What incentive is there for change?
The problem and catalyst for change is simple. The high costs of education will cause many people to forgo ever enrolling at any institution, or ever worse (in my opinion), to pursue alternative, unscientific narratives for a cheaper price.
To use my own (anecdotal and therefore not concrete evidence) experience as an example, I nearly chose to forgo a bachelor’s degree. The only reason I decided to was because I looked at a bachelor’s degree ROI, looked at the amount of money I was able to save over the past ten years, and realized that I might be able to pay for school out of pocket without going into debt (if barely… my accounts look REALLY low right now…). There are many people out there who are not fortunate enough to have that experience.
To combat the out of pocket expenses, many people turn to scholarships and recommend applying for them. I’d second this recommendation… if you’re able to get a scholarship, do so. Scholarships are great, especially when first starting your education, but a returning student (like me after 7 years with 100+ credit hours due to miscellaneous courses and an associates degree) might find the experience less than welcoming. Attempting to find a scholarship that is willing to help you pay for the cost of college is difficult, even when you might be nearly penniless afterwords if you have to pay out of pocket. Those who are unfortunate enough to have neither money nor the scholarships available to them often resort to loans.
Student loans as a concept are not a terrible idea. They allow a student to get an education and then pay off their debt later. This is common practice in many areas of life from credit card usage to home mortgage payments. In practice, student loans seem to lock the loanee into debt for many years while they struggle to pay off their student loans in addition to other bills, such as water, heating, electricity, rent/mortgage, etc. This is further compounded by the extremely high cost of education which often makes the loan amount seem impossible to pay.
If the loanee is unable to find a job in their chosen field, the situation can quickly deteriorate into working a minimum wage job for 10-20 years, all the while paying a majority of their income to rent/mortgage and the loan (I’ve met many such people with bachelor’s degrees who work for low/minimum wage because they have no choice). To top it all off, EVEN IF the loanee goes completely bankrupt and is unable to pay any bills, suffers a foreclosure of their home or gets kicked out of their apartment, and has no money, the student loan debt is still there. In some cases, even death isn’t enough and will cause the debt to be transferred to the loanee’s spouse (whether or not they were married when the loan was first taken). Student loans are one of the few loans that do not allow for debt forgiveness if bankruptcy is declared, and this by itself is a good reason (in my opinion) to never get one.
The Problem
To me, the situation we have looming looks like this.
Students who are stuck in low paying jobs and unable to advance themselves due to student loans may advise their children or those around them to never take a loan. People like me who want nothing to do with student loans and the potential problems they can create will not take a student loan. This will decrease the amount of people pursuing higher education in the future.
The smaller amount of people pursuing higher education will necessitate a price increase. This price increase will drive the cost of education further away from those who might have considered it, causing a continuous cycle of price increases followed by lower enrollment rates. Lack of education has many effects on an individual, which in turn have wider effects on the society around them.
The effects of this would be most noticeable when a large portion of the population has never considered taking higher education. Many people may come to outright dislike or even distrust institutions of higher learning. Even worse would be if they instead pursue unscientific and nonsensical views of the world because it’s cheaper. People who use unscientific methods to understand the world can and do actively harm those around them despite meaning well. Good intentions mean nothing to the person who died using essential oils to treat cancer.
Possible Solutions
I don’t know whether any of the events detailed above would ever actually happen That said, the more education costs rise, the more likely the events seem to be. I nearly gave up on higher education myself due to the price tag, and I don’t consider myself to be that different from other people (may or may not be true, of course).
I see three things that could be done in order to try avert this, although I’m sure there are better things that could be done. I came up with after a few minutes thought to get ideas rolling.
First, education needs to be integrated tighter into society. By this, I mean that a culture that values education needs to be cultivated in the United States. Currently the education system is something that young people are forced to do, which they immediately eschew at the first opportunity. I know many people who have completed high school and never continued onto a college or university. While their job may not require any higher education – for instance, there is no need to learn calculus to be a window repair technician – the knowledge can bring about opportunities for job advancement and higher pay.
Second, scholarship eligibility status should not be tied to total student credits. While the intent is (probably) to ensure that students continue towards their degree plan, this may not be reasonable depending on the degree and credits required. Long running education such as a masters or doctorate require a significant investment in time and credit hours. If the total amount of credits taken can disqualify someone from getting a scholarship, then advanced degrees may become less common over time.
Third, education needs to have a lower cost. This would most likely only be possible if a large swath of the United States dedicated themselves to education. I, for one, would take a class or two every semester if I was paying $100-200/semester rather than several thousand. I’d love to delve into psychology and philosophy, or learn more physics, chemistry, and math. It is most unfortunate that I can’t.
Make my education affordable, and I (and hopefully many others) will be there.