argument paper

Running head: AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 1

Affordable College: No Longer a Pipe Dream

Happy A+ Jones

San Jacinto College

AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 2

Affordable College: No Longer a Pipe Dream

Imagine a world where pursuing a degree in higher education stole opportunities from

graduates. Imagine a world where students were discouraged from continuing on in their

academic career. Imagine a world where attending college was the lesser of two options. Imagine

that was this world.

College is a luxury these days. But it is one in which currently-enrolled students still

struggle to keep their grasp on. Tuition rates are continually rising as evidenced by the 65

percent increase in private nonprofit four-year institutions in the past twenty years. This trend is

not limited to private establishments, for public four-year institutions also saw a 110 percent

increase in the same time span of two decades (“College Tuition and Student Loans,” 2018).

Making college more expensive has an inverse effect on accessibility. According to a survey

conducted in 2016 by Sallie Mae, 55 percent of families will not give a second thought to

wasting time on colleges which are out of their price range. This statistic significantly decreases

the options that prospective students from low-income families have. When faced with so few

choices, these young adults might decide to opt out of attending college altogether. In this

situation, the lack of a degree would hinder the person from being able to find a lucrative job and

provide for themselves, simply because college was too expensive. The issue of accessibility is

merely one of the many reasons why college tuition should be more affordable for students of all

backgrounds.

It is true that students are given opportunities to receive government aid which will assist

in paying for their education through programs such as grants and scholarships, and work-study,

however, the possibility that the full tuition will be covered though these methods alone is a

rarity. While grants and scholarships start with a favorable amount in pocket and do not have to

AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 3

be repaid, they will not last forever and the plethora of those offered in the beginning tends to

decrease over years in attendance (Webley, 2012). Work-study is helpful for some, but there are

also drawbacks involved like the fact that most only compensate minimum wage, these types of

positions are not always guaranteed, and there is a limited supply of jobs (“8 Things,” 2015).

These options, while viable resources, are simply not enough to cover the entirety of tuition.

Another option available to students struggling financially is student loans. Loans are

more of a risk than the previous forms of aid because students must pay them back, and they

accrue interest. Unfortunately, many students must take out loans to pay for the remainder of

their education and are stuck paying them back for years (Quinton, 2016). According to a recent

graph on student loan debt in the U.S., the amount has increased exponentially since 2004,

almost tripling and reaching $1.3 trillion in 2017. This staggering number is spread out across

five generations of debt holders (U.S Student Loan Debt, 2018). Student debt is not only

something that affects the individual, but also the country in the long-run. Denhart (2013)

describes this problem with an easily understandable analogy—if the U.S. tax payer is the

creditor, they would be losing massive amounts of money for every student which defaults their

loans. While loans are a way to continue progressing in higher education, they may also be a

pathway into a never-ending black hole.

Some argue against lowering the cost of tuition due to some flaws in the methodology.

Krupnick (2016) points out a few negative side effects of cutting costs for tuition such as the fact

that colleges are never upfront about a specific amount which they are cutting, only a generalized

percentage. In these situations, low-income students tend to receive the shorter end of the straw,

not getting as much of a reduction as was originally proclaimed. Krupnick goes on to divulge

that a handful of the colleges which boasted of their extreme tuition downsizing only did so

AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 4

because of a plunge in student enrollment. They then slowly and silently increased the price,

canceling the cuts and bringing the total back to what it was at the beginning, or in some cases,

even higher than the initial price. This is an example of false advertising and deception and is not

how respectable institutions should conduct business. While it is true that tuition is high and

should be lowered, tricking students only to overcharge them is not the way to go about it.

Another criticism comes from those who disagree with eliminating the cost of attending

college entirely to create tuition-free higher education. Josephson (2018) lays out a list of pros

and cons which are commonly associated with the idea of free college. One such argument

against the concept is that it would lead to a surplus of graduates with lackluster degrees all

competing for the same jobs. The problem with this in the eyes of critics would be the

nonexistence of outstanding credentials which sets one candidate apart from the rest of the

applicants. Though free college may produce a higher number of students specializing in the

same field, the amount of jobs available counteracts the necessity for skill diversity.

Additionally, in Vedder’s (2018) commentary on free college he poses that if college were to be

free, the already high rate of community college dropouts, which is sitting at 47%, would

increase even more. The problem with this reasoning is that he doesn’t take into consideration

exactly what caused this, in Vedder’s own words, poor academic track record. He was using the

outcome as the only evidence and not looking at the problem as a whole. If he really thought

about the situation, he might have come to the conclusion that the reason why there were so

many community college dropouts is that they can’t afford to keep paying. Once government aid

slows down, the student must pay for their education out of pocket. If they are not able to, they

might take out some loans to finish out the semester. But what happens when they are already

thousands in debt and still have a couple years to complete? Many students leave college before

AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 5

graduation and still have a tremendous amount of debt from student loans without a degree to

show for it. If tuition was free, or at least considerably lower, by using this logic the graduation

rate would skyrocket, and the dropout rate would plummet.

Recent statistics showed that students from high income families had a 1 in 2 chance of

attaining a bachelor’s degree by the age of 24; this rate diminishes greatly for those from low

income households to a 1 in 17 chance (Selingo, 2018). Even though students from low income

families receive more help by way of government grants and outside scholarships, they continue

to struggle to pay for their education. Taking out loans and falling into insurmountable debt can

cause a great percentage to give up their dream of completing college. The parents’ paycheck

should not decide whether or not their child is deemed worthy of receiving a college degree.

Everyone should have a chance to expand their knowledge and better themselves regardless of

economic status. The price of tuition should not only be lowered to make college more

accessible, but also to give every student the possibility of performing to the best of their ability

without having to worry about financial strains.

AFFORDABLE COLLEGE: NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM 6

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