By Aaron Chen
The number one reason for students to enter higher education is to be able to attain a financially secure future. But reaching that goal has proven to be a difficult challenge - why?
Has Higher Education "Lost Its Meaning"?
As of now, universities are more "business ventures" than institutions for education - with higher education being used as a vehicle for upward mobility. Universities have now begun to treat students as customers, who worry about 'return on investment' and justifying the value of their education in an extremely transactional relationship. This "students as customers" mindset may also be the reason why GPAs have ballooned over the years, with "A"s being the most common grade overall despite test scores and literacy remaining stagnant (Katsikas). It also seems that students are more concerned with building a resume and getting better pay than getting exposed to new or challenging materials and continuing their lifelong journey of education.
Those with only high school educations historically have seen less earnings growth than their colleagues with a college degree, but the only other option often involves taking on tons of debt (Merisotis). Even as a vehicle for upward mobility though, students who are more affluent to begin with are typically the ones who go to college as opposed to those born into lower income families (Sawhill).
Not only this, but new evidence points to college degrees being even more ineffective at helping students attain a better future – more than half of institutions left the majority of their students earning around the same as a high school graduate, according to a report by Third Way. Separately, the 2021 Federal Reserve Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking revealed that only 56% of college-educated adults aged 18-29 said that the lifetime financial benefits of college exceeded the costs.
A Worsening Financial Situation
As it stands, almost all schools are tuition dependent, yet, not enough students are willing to pay full tuition (Wu). The problem is compounded when taking into consideration that what little money the government offers places a far greater importance on research rather than quality education, spending 33 billion on research versus 79 million on quality teaching (O'Shaughnessy), and schools often have to compete for funds and grants (Wu). Administrative bloat is also running rampant at schools such as Yale, which has the equivalent of one administrator per undergraduate student (Woolridge).
On the other side of the coin, students are struggling to pay tuition on their own, with federal student debt at 1.6 trillion – 60% more than credit card debt (Woolridge). The government's solution, which is to finance the education of students that can't afford to pay tuition, makes the problem worse (Sawhill). These faulty incentives increase the amount that students can pay for college, which is being taken advantage of by colleges to charge more (O'Shaughnessy). This, staff bloat, luxuries, and rankings has caused prices to balloon to 90 thousand dollars for a single year at schools like Cornell.
And oftentimes, the inability for some to obtain a college degree is not the cost barrier, but the completion barrier (Sawhill).
Students Aren't Ready
Third Way also stated that 39% of full-time college students graduate with a bachelor's degree in 4 years, and only 59% finish in 6. This has been mainly due to a failure to adequately prepare students for the coursework in college. A study of 911 two-year and four-year colleges revealed that 96% of those schools enrolled students that required remediation, while a separate 2012 report determined that almost half of the students at two-year colleges and a fifth of the students at 4-year colleges were placed into "remedial classes" to get them up to speed (Butrymowicz).
40% of those aforementioned students at two-year colleges and around 25% at four-year colleges failed to complete those remedial classes (Butrymowicz). In some schools, such as the Baltimore City Community College, only 13% of students were deemed ready to start on college level english and math courses right away (Butrymowicz).
TL;DR - In Summary:
-Universities are now functioning more like business ventures than anything else.
-Students are now taking on the roles of customers who are more concerned about "return on investment" (paying for college tuition to build a resume and see higher earnings growth), rather than being exposed to challenging material.
-A considerable portion of college graduates are ending up with the same salaries of those with just a high school education, and younger college-educated adults are losing confidence in a college's ability to be "worth the money"
-Lower income students are using college as a vehicle for upward mobility, however, they are less likely to be able to afford tuition compared to their more affluent peers.
-Schools are primarily tuition dependent, yet few students are willing to pay the full tuition. Administrative bloat and spending on luxuries run rampant at some colleges, all while needing to compete for what little funds and grants the government provides.
-Government financial aid and loans has increased the amount of money students are able to pay for tuition, which colleges are taking advantage of
-A vast chunk of students are unprepared for college and require remediation courses, leading to abysmal graduation rates
Works Cited
Butrymowicz, S. (2017, January 30). Most colleges enroll students who aren’t prepared for higher education. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/colleges-enroll-students-arent-prepared-higher-education
Has Higher Education in the United States Lost Its Way? (2022, March 10). The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/has-higher-education-in-the-united-states-lost-its-way/
Itzkowitz, M. (2019, September 25). Higher Ed’s Broken Bridge to the Middle Class – Third Way. Www.thirdway.org. https://www.thirdway.org/report/higher-eds-broken-bridge-to-the-middle-class
Jaschik, S. (2016, March 28). Survey finds grade inflation continues to rise at four-year colleges, but not at community college. Www.insidehighered.com. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/29/survey-finds-grade-inflation-continues-rise-four-year-colleges-not-community-college
Katsikas, A. (2015, January 13). Same Performance, Better Grades. The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/same-performance-better-grades/384447/
Merisotis, J. (2023, March 15). The College Problem In America Is About More Than Cost. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiemerisotis/2023/03/15/the-college-problem-in-america-is-about-more-than-cost/?sh=7615d78234c7
O’Shaughnessy, L. (2015, March 13). The biggest problems with America’s colleges. Www.cbsnews.com. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-biggest-problems-with-americas-colleges/
Rojstaczer, S. (2016, March 29). National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities. Www.gradeinflation.com. https://www.gradeinflation.com/
Sawhill, I. (2013, October 8). Higher Education and the Opportunity Gap. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/higher-education-and-the-opportunity-gap/
Woolridge, A. (2023, April 18). America’s Educational Superpower Is Fading. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-04-18/higher-education-in-the-us-faces-a-systemic-crisis#xj4y7vzkg
Wu, F. (2019, August 23). The Crisis of American Higher Education - Organization of American Historians. The Crisis of American Higher Education. https://www.oah.org/tah/february-3/the-crisis-of-american-higher-education/
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