Based on the current trend, I think that the rising college tuition is terrible. This is because the university and the department of education of the country can control the factors that cause the rising college fees. For instance, the total public funding should be increased in order to cater for the rising costs of college education. The government is aware of the rising burden of college fees on the parents and does not take any measures to curb the situation. In addition, the support of higher education among different states varies. For instance, in California and New York, the public funding has reduced by 12 % and 8 % respectively. On the other hand, North Dakota is one of the states that supports higher education by committing additional 17 % followed by Texas who has raised its support by 7 %. Thus, it is clear that the rising college tuition fees are terrible, and the federal and state governments should take responsibility for the costs. However, there are contrasting arguments concerning the rising college tuition fees, including the supply and demand effects claims.
I agree with Martin and Lehren that federal funding should be blamed for increasing college costs. Specifically, "when low and middle-income students obtain federal grants to learn in the colleges, most of the institutions usually raise their prices to reflect these grants" (Martin and Lehren 12). Additionally, there is substantial evidence that the reduction in the state and local funding of the university is strongly related to the increasing college tuition, more so since the recession. This situation is troubling as it implies that college students will have to increase the additional college costs in the coming years. This is a terrible situation, which should be controlled by both the state and federal governments to avoid any further worsening of the prices of the college education among the public universities. Therefore, I think that the rising college tuition fees are caused by the negligence of the government to take responsibility towards improving the lives of the people.
In the past 10 years, college tuition fees seemed to be rising at selective universities and colleges, more so in private colleges. The estimates of the increase are around two or three percent more than the economy's inflation rate. In the late 1908s, the increase in tuition started to burden the median family income. In 1990s, endowments had grown largely leading to a booming stock market. I think that there were no grounds for the rise in the college tuition.
The competition among the top institutions forms one of the terrible issues that have caused the rising college tuition. Selective academic institutions have a main goal of becoming the best in various aspects. Thus, they aggressively look for resources and funds to expand their performance. In order for the colleges to become better than their competitors, they must improve their current facilities, faculty, research and learning technologies. Similarly, some parents and students seek the best education. Selective practices in the higher education seem to be increasing the costs of education. With improved quality, private colleges have increased the number of applicants. To maintain the top quality education, the colleges will have to spend more. These costs of maintaining efficiency and quality of education will be transferred to the parents paying the college fees. I think that the private colleges are using the competition to purposely make more profits from the parents. This is terrible, since some of the raising college tuition fees are unjustifiable.
The nature of shared governance also explains the currently increasing college tuition. In higher education institution, the governance is shared among the trustees, administrators, and the faculties. This makes it slow and difficult for the colleges to respond to the costs pressures in the economy. Trustees are usually successful business individuals who understand how to reduce the costs and deal with the current budget constraints. However, if the president of the college suggests that they need to spend more in order to maintain the quality and strength of the university, they will willingly assign the funds (Delaney and Doyle 348). This is terrible because the trustees will confirm the costs, but only to maintain goodwill with the faculty. This ensures effective governance by raising tuition rather than taking relevant measures to offer budget relief. Thus, the concept of shared governance also explains the nature of unjustifiable raising college tuition fees.
The current published ranking of the colleges has also led to the increased costs of tuition. Such ranking has led to the bigger number of applicants and the reduction in the number of the applicants accepted to the private colleges. Most importantly, the amount of financial aid offered has been reduced. Every institution has every reason to seek to improve its published ranking. For instance, private colleges may decide to increase their tuition to create a perception that they are offering quality education to the students. This becomes more terrible as the students and parents may not get the value for their money in such universities. Another external factor I can identify is the cost pressures from local governments. The institutions are required to posses certain permits and documentations for construction or development of any significant property. This leads to increasing financial payments to the local authorities. Environmentalists can also slow down the progress of the various institutions' projects. Such external aspects could explain the rising college tuition in the United States. However, I think that the situation is terrible as the local governments and authorities should offer incentives and subsidies for the higher education institutions. However, this is not the case, and the parents are eventually burdened with increased college tuition fees.
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A contrasting argument by Li suggests that the rising college tuition fees are acceptable and understandable. He argues that the current demand and supply of the higher education is a valid reason to explain the increased tuition in the institutions. Therefore, the value word "terrible" cannot be used to describe the situation of the rising college tuition fees. This is because the situation cannot be described as unpleasant. In both public and private institution, the costs of education are usually greater than the students are charged. The institutions rely on government funding and grants to reduce the costs of education. Li explained that the cost and price of higher education are strongly interrelated. An increase in institutional costs will increase tuition fees in order to cover the additional expenditure.
The market of education is different from the markets of other normal products, such as maize. One of the main differences is that the prices of education cannot justify one's access to the services, unlike other goods. The maize market does not select the buyers of its products, but the private universities are selective of the students to be given the opportunity to attend the university. This is because the universities seek to develop an educative environment for any incoming class. The difference implies that the payment of full tuition fee does not guarantee that a student will be accepted for a certain degree. The universities and colleges usually reject very many students at the admission stage. Unlike other markets, the prices charged for the higher education are effective prices, and not the going price for any students willing to join the university.
The justification for supply and demand of higher education is very difficult to define. Past works on supply and demand of higher education suggest various measurements. Delaney and Doyle identified the numbers of students to be admitted to a university as the supply function. On the other hand, the demand for the higher education can be identified by the number of college applications and the trends in the earnings of the college students (Delaney and Doyle). The contrasting argument is that the increased demand for higher education leads to a higher number of applicants who would proportionately increase the need to supply more spaces. In order to cater for more students, "the colleges and universities would incur costs to construct and develop new facilities" (Delaney and Doyle 351). This situation leads to the rising college tuitions to cater for expansion of the universities to meet the demand requirements.
The number of applicants to the universities increased in the last 10 years which had led to the increased demand for higher education. The increased demand matches a shift in the demand curve to the right causing an increase in the costs of education and drives up the tuition prices. Other demand and supply factors are the advancement in technology in the higher education. The higher education faces a task to facilitate technological advancement. Similarly to other industries, universities must cater for the rising pay for the well-trained professors to remain competitive. This phenomenon increases the costs of college education. The rapidly rising costs of education increase the price of studies, and, thus, causes an upwards shift of the supply curve.
The nature of technological trend also demands more skilled and educated workers. The current educational programs have not been able to supply the skilled workers needed. The demand for skilled workers increases their wages. The higher education depends on the skilled laborers, especially professors. Li argued that the current demand for the professors would definitely increase the total costs of education (34). As a result, the supply and demand explanations seem to provide valid explanations that contrast my arguments for the growing college tuition.
In summary, the rising college tuition fee is terrible and unacceptable in the current situation of higher education funding and support. Colleges and universities receive a sizeable amount of financial support from the government. In addition, only selective private institutions have increased their college fees in order to compete with other institutions. I believe that the universities can take relevant actions to reduce their tuition, but they only choose to charge even higher prices. This makes their actions terrible and unacceptable in the modern century. Most importantly, I think that the institutions cooperate with their competitors to reduce the rising costs of tuition. To some extent I would support the contrasting argument by Li concerning supply and demand of the higher education. Specifically, the shift in supply and demand curves forms a clear justification for the rising college tuitions. On the other hand, the costs of education are usually higher than the prices charged to the students. This means there are no economic reasons that can justify the raising college tuition. Both federal and state governments usually fund higher education programs. This makes it possible to manage and control any increased costs of providing higher education in the institutions.