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College Affordability

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How did we learn and become passionate about this issue?

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How did we learn and become passionate about this issue?

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-We had always known college was a heavy financial expense
-The numbers quickly become overwhelming when the college search process begins and balancing is needed for a financial future
-We wanted to learn more about this issue

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- Personally affecting us through our own college search
- Many people we know are unable to attend desired colleges
-*We care about access to education for all.
-*College affordability will continue to be a growing issue as college degrees become more important in our workforce.

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- *As time has gone on, there has been a higher and higher demand for more education
- This has come with a rise in US population as more immigrants flood in and as more veterans complete there service
- This can be directly correlated to the cold war, as many who were drafted at a young age were given discounts to different universities under a series of bills
- This promoted education as well as prompted a rise in its attendance, triggering the growth seen today

*History has been altered by important figures, many of whom have been shaped by their education. Our future as an entire world is pertinent on the education and growth of our race.

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The Current Issue Over College Affordability

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The Current Issue Over College Affordability

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"College is More Important—But More Expensive—Than Ever Before" - US DOE

*The Department of Education estimates that 2/3 of jobs in the US in 2020 will require a post-secondary education or training

*College debt can range from the average of $27,000 to over $200,000
-Average student has about $37,000 in debt

Students that come from low-income families are less likely to pursue a degree

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1:30-2:32

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The History of College Affordability in the US

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The History of College Affordability in the US

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The first college in the US, New College, was founded in the 1636 and is now known as Harvard University.

Before the federal government subsidized tuition, they supported the creation of colleges through legislation such as the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act.

*Even in the early 1900s, college was "still to high for average family"(ProCon). For example, Brown University charged $393 ($9,535 today) in 1907.

By the 1920s, college tuition was on the steady rise and has increased ever since then.

In 1944, the GI Bill allowed veterans to attend colleges when before the price would have been to steep to afford

In 1972, Pell Grants are introduced.

By 1980, financial aid had transformed from giving grants to enabling access to loans. This increased debt.

By the mid 1980s, 40-50 percent of high school graduates would go into postsecondary education. Making the workforce more competitive.

*A generation ago, the US was number #1 in college degree attainment for young adults, now the US ranks 13th.

In today's global and competitive economy, higher education is no longer a luxury to a few like it once was.

*There are 22 million college students in the US, and over 44 million people are in debt due to tuition. This accumulates to over 1.5 trillion dollars.

*According to the US Census Bureau, 33.4% of the adult US population has a bachelor’s degree or higher as of Mar. 30, 2019

*College prices have seen increases for a wide range of reasons
-Marketing (needed to recruit top students)
-Growing in population and size
-Campuses have been redesigned to attract students
-Growing variety in different courses and classes being offered
-New practices and technology
-Hiring and paying quality faculty and staff
-Tuition discounting, colleges lose a significant amount of money in grants/aid
-Prestige (helps with recruitment and success after college, requires large amounts of money)

While colleges have gotten more expensive, inflation and the annual amount of income that the average household takes in has increased over time.

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Supplement to the History of College Education & Tuition in the US

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Supplement to the History of College Education & Tuition in the US

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The American debate over whether a college education is worth it began when the colonists arrived from Europe and founded "New College" (later renamed Harvard University) in 1636. Today, there are around 20 million college students in the United States, and over 44 million borrowers owe a collective $1.5 trillion in total student debt.

People who argue that college is worth it contend that college graduates have higher employment rates, bigger salaries, and more work benefits than high school graduates. They say college graduates also have better interpersonal skills, live longer, have healthier children, and have proven their ability to achieve a major milestone.

People who argue that college is not worth it contend that the debt from college loans is too high and delays graduates from saving for retirement, buying a house, or getting married. They say many successful people never graduated from college and that many jobs, especially trades jobs, do not require college degrees.
College in America, 1600s - 1800s
Colonial America produced nine colleges that still operate: Harvard University (1636), the College of William & Mary (1693), Yale University (1701), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754), Brown University (1764), Dartmouth College (1769), Rutgers University (1766), and the University of Pennsylvania (1740 or 1749). These universities were funded by the colony or England and usually catered to a specific religious denomination such as Congregational or Presbyterian (Puritan). Primary and secondary school systems were not yet established so "college students" were sometimes boys as young as fourteen or fifteen years old and were admitted to receive preparatory education with the assumption that they would matriculate to college-level courses.

Colonial colleges were mainly founded and attended by wealthy Puritans, and followed the models of British and Scottish universities, which focused on general education and moral character. The goal of the college was to produce Christian gentlemen who would inherit family businesses, remain within the Congregational or Presbyterian (Puritan) faith, and be responsible leaders in the new world. Colonial college tuition costs and the loss of an able-bodied man from the family farm or business made the prestige and social status conferred by college unattainable for most families. About 1% of white males aged 18-21 attended college and students frequently left college after their first or second year, with no "dropout" stigma. Out of 35 students, Yale conferred nine bachelor's degrees by 1711.Colonial colleges excluded women but sometimes had " Indian schools," to spread Puritanism in Native American communities for religious indoctrination purposes. The American Revolution (1775-1783) drained colleges of students who became soldiers and buildings that became barracks and of the funds from England resulting in the closing of many colleges postwar.

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries created a college-building boom, increasing the number of schools from 25 colleges in 1800 to 241 colleges in 1860; increasing the variety of schools to include seminaries, scientific schools, military service academies, and teaching schools; and increasing the programs of study to include medicine, law, military science, and agriculture. State universities came into prominence beginning with the University of North Carolina (1795) and the University of Georgia (1801). In the spring of 1833, Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College) admitted women to a "Ladies Course" program and in 1837 admitted four women to the baccalaureate program, three of whom graduated in 1841 with degrees.

The 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act gave federally controlled land to states to open "land grant" colleges, which were required to focus on "useful arts" like agriculture, mechanics, mining, and military instruction and thus often included "A&M" (Agricultural & Mechanical) in the names. The idea of a "useful" education also created schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1851. Many craftsmen who relied upon apprenticeships were skeptical of college training and distrusted scholars and scientists. A college degree was still seen by many as a social marker rather than a marker of educational attainment.

By 1865 most Southern colleges ceased offering classes because the American Civil War caused significant physical damage to many colleges while others were made into hospitals and shelters for soldiers and many Southern students and faculty left college for the Confederate Army. In 1870, the number of colleges was 560 (up from just 9 colleges at the American Revolution).
College in the Early 1900s
The early 1900s saw institutions created to educate groups excluded by traditional colleges: women, blacks, immigrants, and Roman Catholics. Black colleges remained restricted to grade-school and agricultural- or industrial-focused instruction with little college-level education offered. Iowa State University was the first co-ed land grant college, though women remained segregated and were expected to study "domestic science" or similar topics. Colleges were built in the South to keep Southern sons "far from the dangerous notions circulating at a Harvard or a Yale," with high tuitions and a code of honor that included duels amongst students. "Hilltop colleges" in New England opened to cater to older working students training to be teachers or ministers. Colleges built on the emerging western frontier had small populations to support them and there were often less than a few hundred students who could attend the college. "Diploma mills" also popped up during this time, especially the "medical college," which frequently had no campus or faculty but would confer degrees in exchange for donations.

The goal of college attendance still was not completion of a bachelor's degree. Some students took two years of courses in order to earn an LI (license of instruction) certificate to teach public school but many did not complete the degree because, as explained by Roger L. Geiger, Distinguished Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University, "there was nothing to be done with a bachelor'' degree that could not also be done without one."

World War I dropped enrollments on the east coast by 27-40% but only 10% of Stanford men left college for the war. In total, 540 colleges were made into training campuses for the Students' Army Training Corps to train 125,000 men. Around this time the American Medical Association began lobbying for medical schools to require some college science (if not a completed college degree) for admission into medical schools, law schools followed Harvard Law School's example to require baccalaureate degrees for admission, and seminaries were requiring at least a year of college.
US Colleges, WWII through the 1980s
After World War II colleges and universities moved toward advanced, selective programs and expanded the base of students admitted. Research universities, junior colleges (now called community colleges), and for-profit institutions thrived.

In the 1939-1940 school year, student enrollment was under 1.5 million nationally, but, by the 1949-1950 school year, student enrollment grew to 2.7 million. The 1944 GI Bill contributed to some of the enrollment gains and by the beginning of the 1945-1946 school year, 88,000 veterans were accepted into the program; by 1946, over one million were accepted; and by 1950, 14 million veterans were in the program. Women represented about 40% of enrollment in the 1939-1940 school year but that number dropped to 32% in 1950. Individual schools implemented honor programs, specialty seminars, study abroad, and smaller class sizes to attract more discerning students By 1960, national enrollment was at 3.6 million and at 7.9 million in 1970. Society became interested in the college lives of "Joe College" and "Betty Coed" and created the college ideal of graduating in four years, marrying the college sweetheart, and finding a good job.

The federal government created the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), later renamed the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and collected data in the fall of 1968, the first time standardized data was collected about colleges and universities nationwide.

Transfer students were accommodated, classes were offered at military bases, and courses were offered at extension sites for non-traditional students while colleges were opening to diverse student populations. Title IX (1972) and affirmative action demanded inclusive admission practices for women and black students.
College Enrollment, Costs, and Purposes from 1990s to Present
The 1990s and 2000s saw a rise in enrollment and tuition costs, and a steadily lower unemployment rate for college graduates. College enrollment increased 11% between 1990 and 2000 and increased 37% from 2000 to 2010 to 21 million students. The average college tuition in the 1990-1991 school year was $10,620 and rose to $13,393 in 2000-2001. Between the 2000-2001 school year and the 2010-2011 school year, public college costs (tuition, room, and board) increased 42% to $18,133. The unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher in 1990 was 6.5% (compared to 24.9% for high school drop outs) and was 3.7% in 2000 (compared to 18.4% for high school drop outs). By 2010, the unemployment rate for college graduates increased to 5.5% while the rate for college dropouts was 17.3%

A 2011 Pew Research survey showed 50% of college presidents said college is meant to "mature and grow intellectually," while 48% said college should "provide skills, knowledge and training to help... [students] succeed in the working world."

According to the US Census Bureau, 33.4% of the adult US population had a bachelor's degree or higher as of Mar. 30, 2017 (up from 28% in 2006), with 20.8% holding bachelor's degrees, 9.3% with associates degrees, 1.5% with professional degrees, and 1.9% with doctorates. In 1940, when the US Census Bureau began collecting education data, only 4.6% of adults held bachelor's degrees.
College Education amid COVID-19
As a lot of colleges went online or to a hybrid online and in-person model during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, colleges overall saw a significant fall 2020 enrollment drop. Undergraduate enrollment fell 3.6% (about 560,000 students) from fall 2019. Community colleges were hit especially hard, with a drop of more than 10% (more than 544,000 students).

Doug Shapiro, PhD, Executive Research Director at the National Student Clearinghouse called the drops "completely unprecedented."

75% of households with at least one member attending college classes in fall 2020 changed higher education plans during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Most often households took classes in a different format (39%), or canceled plans altogether (37%), according to Anthony P. Carnevale, PhD, Director and Research Professor, and Megan L. Fasules, PhD, Assistant Research Professor and Research Economist, both at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

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History of College Education - ProCon.org

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The American debate over whether a college education is worth it began when the colonists arrived from Europe and founded "New College" (later renamed Harvard University) in 1636. Today, there are around 20 million college students in the United States, and over 44 million borrowers owe a collective $1.5 trillion in total student debt.

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A New Study Investigates Why College Tuition is so Expensive

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A New Study Investigates Why College Tuition is so Expensive

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Coins and banknote in a glass jar placed on the textbook. Concept money saving for education.
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Over the past two decades, published college tuition has increased in price more than any other good or service besides hospital care. Tuition inflation has risen at a faster rate than the cost of medical services, child care, and housing. While generous financial aid means that students usually pay far less than the "sticker price" of tuition, the net price of public four-year colleges has still more than doubled since the turn of the century. Moreover, underlying costs at American colleges are the highest of any large country in the developed world.

Source: College Board
Preston Cooper/Forbes

A new paper by economist Beth Akers of the Manhattan Institute (my former employer) asks why college tuition is so high and still rising. The proximate causes of tuition inflation are familiar: administrative bloat, overbuilding of campus amenities, a model dependent on high-wage labor, and the easy availability of subsidized student loans.

However, the deeper question is why the market has allowed these cost inefficiencies to persist. In most industries, competition brings down the cost of products over time. The first laptop computer cost over $5,000 in today's dollars, but now laptops with far more computing power can be bought for $200. Why hasn't the same phenomenon occurred in higher education?

Akers explores four potential explanations: students overestimate the return to a degree; colleges are not transparent about their true prices; too few institutions operate in each regional market; and there are significant barriers to entry for new educational providers.

Many students treat a college degree as a "golden ticket" to the middle class, Akers argues. The decision to go to college is fundamentally a cost-benefit calculation. If the financial return to college is high enough, then students should theoretically be willing to pay high amounts for tuition, because they still come out ahead in the long run.

But few students are sitting down with Excel spreadsheets to calculate the return to college; instead, they rely on impressions of how much a college degree will earn them in the long run. Yet only some degrees are worth paying top dollar. The general impression that every degree is valuable-a "golden ticket" or so to speak-pushes up students' willingness to pay for college, and consequently inflates college tuition.

Even if that is the case, a sufficiently competitive market for higher education should still bring down the price of college. Akers therefore identifies another problem: the true price of a college education is usually hidden. While most students get at least some financial aid, prospective students usually don't know how much aid they will get until after they are accepted to college.

This makes comparison-shopping across a wide swath of institutions impossible. Application fees and time constrain the number of colleges each student can apply to, so the number of colleges among which a student can compare prices may be as little as one. Knowing that students will have few alternatives by the time they actually see what they will pay, colleges have every incentive to be stingy with financial aid.

Another factor constraining choice is that most students have limited options for higher education. While there are thousands of accredited colleges nationwide, the typical student has far fewer options. Most students attend a college in their home state, thanks to a combination of steep discounts for state residents, familiarity with local schools, and a desire to save money by living at home. With few competitors, colleges face less competitive pressure to provide price discounts or improve the quality of education.

High prices and few institutions should provide ample opportunity for alternative providers of education to enter the market and lower prices through competition. However, most of these alternative providers will find it difficult to access federal financial aid, which means that the playing field is not level between traditional schools and new ones.

All colleges must be accredited to access federal aid, but the accreditation system is typically hostile to new players. Accreditors often judge schools based on factors such as curriculum and faculty rather than whether they achieve better student outcomes for a lower price. This system disadvantages schools with newer and cheaper but potentially more effective educational models.

These problems are deeply ingrained in America's higher education system, and reversing them will take work. Akers has several proposals to address them, which fall into two main groups. The first prong of her strategy is transparency. Better data on financial aid and net prices should be made available and accessible, along with data on typical earnings after graduation. This will help inform students whether a particular college degree is worth the cost.

The second prong involves opening the higher-education marketplace to competition by removing accreditors from their role as gatekeepers of federal financial aid, and instead allocating funds based on student outcomes. Not only will this encourage new entrants, but it will force existing universities to search for cost efficiencies and lower their prices to compete.

Industries like higher education have seen enormous cost growth over the past decades, even as the cost of other goods and services has fallen. Price transparency and robust competition have gone a long way towards reducing prices in other industries. The higher education system should follow their lead.

... Read More

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A New Study Investigates Why College Tuition Is So Expensive

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Over the past two decades, published college tuition has increased in price more than any other good or service besides hospital care. Tuition inflation has risen at a faster rate than the cost of medical services, child care, and housing.

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Federal Subsidization
-In which the government pays for a portion of a student's tuition because of merit or current financial standing
-Ex. FAFSA, Pell Grants
-Paid for by taxes
-Often do not cover the entire costs and leaves students short

State Subsidization
-Goes directly to the state school and community colleges
-Paid for by taxes
-Makes state school tuition cheaper for in-state students
-Certain education systems are not ideal and it forces students who are disadvantaged to attend a university or college that is not a good fit for them

#Allow access to college programs or credit in high school
#-Cuts the tuition by knocking off required classes or programs in college or trade school
-Sometimes still costs money
-Credit isn't always given until the high school course is completed, or the students score a certain grade on a test (ex. AP exams)

Opt for certificate/trade over a degree
-Often cheaper and requires less years of education and tuition.
-Classes can be taken in some high schools
-Trades are well-paying jobs
-Trades can be learned at community colleges or special schools where the tuition is cheaper

Online textbooks
-Are cheaper and more accessible
-Can't get lost
-More likely that they may be free
-Easy to share

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1. Promote and strengthen the local and state college systems (community college)
2. Offer more reasons to go to community classes (ex. classes, sports, campus life)
3. Promote and educate others on travelling abroad
4. Eliminate the stigma around community college
5. Promote legislation to give students more aid or to prevent outrages schooling prices

(Solution highlighted above is the one chosen)

Who Should be Involved in our Solution?

-Local school districts (these would promote community colleges in school and gives the idea that it is a plausible choice of schooling
-Local and state governments, these would further help implement community colleges in local schools as well as help improve community colleges without raising the fee, likely through legislation
-Town/City citizens, these will largely be needed in order to approve legislation and cooperate in order for any of this to work, this would likely cause a rise in taxes
-Educational/Political representatives, these will be needed in order to convey to the public just how necessary these improvements are and to push this legislation through the government
-Students, in the end, students/parents are the ones making the final decision to attend community or local college, and therefore, their support is needed
-State and local college/educators, these people will be needed in order to help implement these new plans, although this will be passed through legislation, it is up to the colleges to take advantage of this new initiative

How to Implement This Solution

1.
-Legislation is passed
-to promote local and community colleges in the form of extra money given to them by the government as well as to improve life at the colleges.

2.
-New funding would be given to local middle and high schools, as well as local community colleges in the form of taxpayer dollars

3.
-Once this money is distributed, frequent visits from these community college representatives to local high and middle schools.
-Representatives and community colleges become a large part of the high school student's college choice process with help of funding

4.
-Next is improving Community campus life and education,
-this will largely help with the stigma surrounding community college
-Eventually more decorated staff will be recruited to local and community colleges, helping with improving the education standard
-This will be paired with improvement to campus life such as renovating buildings, improving food quality, renovating dorms, renovating fields/sports equipment, expanding the campus, and much more.

5.
-The prices of the college will only rise with inflation as the legislation had stated in order for it to still be available to all students around the area.
-This will allow it to compete with much more expensive colleges, hopefully in time, reducing the amount of government spending being allocated to these schools.

Problems/Opposition with this Solution

-Passing Legislation, Something with this magnitude would be nearly impossible to pass through the government as it not only involves giving certain colleges an advantage over others, but it also involves billions of taxpayer dollars. These are generally not welcome especially in NH, where it already supplies students with the lowest amount of college funding than any other. This also involves preventing community colleges from really raising their prices, something that would generally never be able to make it through.
-Community outcry, Even if something such as this did get passed, many citizens would likely be outraged over the massive amount of new taxes they would receive for something they would likely not even be able to use or partake in. For example, a 50 year old who has already gotten their educational degree would likely not be fond of paying thousands of more dollars on taxes to help random community colleges take in more students.
-Funding for Legislation, Although the final funds will come from the governments, the initial funds needed to pass the legislation through government with representation would be costly.
-Widespread Cooperation, even if this controversial bill does get passed, it will be difficult to get every community/state college to take full advantage of the new initiative. This will greatly lessen the impact that this is suppose to have. This also means that many would likely exploit these resources for more personal means and therefore misuse the program and funds given.

How These Will be Overcome

-Passing Legislation, Something of this magnitude, as mentioned previously, would be very hard to pass. Therefore, widespread, national support would be required. Much campaigning and rallying would also be required, which would further raise the problem of funding.
-Community Outcry, In order to offset the discontent of many who do not have children, these new taxes would be diverted strictly to those who have children. This however would still raise the problem many not liking a raise in taxes regardless, in which case, a possible solution of those who know they will not put their kids through college would not pay taxes. This in itself raises new problems as well.
-Funding for Legislation, again, this is where campaigning and national support would come in. This is a very important step, as this would be completed under the assumption that the funding would be coming strictly from donations.
-Widespread Cooperation, this is something that would likely be backed up by further legislation and careful wording that covers almost all other document.

How Would We Raise This Support?

-Use of a Figurehead, in order to help launch the initial campaign, assuming we have a large enough group at our back, we would likely need to get the attention of a celebrity/political figure to launch it to a national scale. This would involve reaching out and establishing connections.
-Campaigning,  We could begin a small campaign with the small amount of national support and gradually grow as more donations come in. This means posters, billboards, commercials, merchandise, rallys, etc. Anything that could be used to boost support and recognition from the public. This of course would be much later in the funding process when more donations would come in. These together would hopefully be enough to send it through the legal system and convince many to vote on it.