A Look at The Factors Causing Inflation of Education in The United States

When the baby boomers joined college back in the 1960s and 1970s, most of them paid very little tuition fee in public institutions (Salam, 2012). In addition, they also received very generous grants from the federal and state government and were able to pay for their degree courses. However, with time, the baby boomers came to power either as state legislators or even college trustees and presidents. They have since drastically pulled back the financial aid and also increased tuition fee by presiding over the collapse of the most basic and essential building blocks in the Higher Education Act. The baby boomers were also able to pay for their college fees with the money they got in their jobs over the summer (Collinge,2012). However, with time the government slashed the higher education funds. Colleges then increased their tuition fees and the millennial generation was forced to take education loans which still oppress many people(Salam, 2012). This essay will be looking at some of the reasons why college tuition has risen over the past couple of years compared to the baby boom era of college tuition. It will also be looking at some of the ways college students can pay for their tuition fees.

Why College Tuition Has Risen Over the Years Compared To the Baby Boom Era

FinancialAid is Now Viewed as an Enrollment Tool and Not as A Not as a Public Policy That Helps People Afford College Fee.

During the baby boomer’s era when the Higher Education Act got signed and became law, many viewed financial aid as one of the ways of helping needy students to clear their college tuition. However, today financial aid is viewed as a tool of recruitment for the smart students by most colleges. According to Dynarski (2015),in the 1990s, very few freshmen in private colleges were given the merit aid by the government. With time, that number has increased and colleges are now competing for students by offering scholarships to them regardless of whether they need it or not. Currently, public colleges are providing scholarships to the students by providing them with the aid dollars. According to Salam (2012), one out of every five colleges provide their freshmen with merit aid without financial need. Since most financial aid dollars are used in merit aid, the low-income students who cannot close the gap between the aid and the tuition bill cannot access these college funds. Therefore, they end up in cheaper colleges where their chances of graduating are minimal or they forego college in the long run.

The increase in the Number of Students Has Increased the College Costs

As stated by Collinge (2012), the number of students bring enrolled to college has increased by 50% since the year 1995. The more number of students being admitted means that colleges will have to pay for more food, more professors, more housing and even more facilities. With the high increment in public funding, institutions have found it difficult to cover the costs since the funding per student has decreased. However, one can argue that colleges do not have to take more people than they can comfortably fund. This leaves the government with the task of ensuring that there are enough colleges to cater for the increased population (Salam (2012). Colleges the government for reducing their funding programs. However, the outsiders blame the colleges for their extravagant spending and argue that they extort money from students to cater for their extravagant needs. During the baby boomer’s era, colleges were still blamed for being extravagant in their spending although the students did not pay high tuition fees. Conclusively, the high population in colleges has led to the increase in college tuition. With the high population, the college has to cater for the needs of all the students therefore the increase in college tuition fees.

Ways in Which Students Can Pay For Their College Tuition Fees

Students can now get scholarship opportunities to pay for their college tuition and most of these scholarships are based on many qualifications.For instance, students can get the scholarships based on their qualifications in academics,sports, accomplishments and even their community and cultural experiences (Salam, 2012). Many creative students who cannot afford their tuition fees have gone to college thanks to sponsorships.For instance, if one engages in a sport like football, they might get sponsored to college by the football club and this is not only for the football players. Some schools also offer the scholarships to other team members such as the equipment managers.

This is a program that many college students have adopted in order to pay for their college tuition. Unlike loans, grants and scholarships where one is required to meet a certain level of eligibility and maintain impressive academic progress; work study only requires a student to find a job either on or off campus and work at it. As stated by,Salam (2012), work study helps one attain financial aid without having to pay back. There are programs such as the Federal Work Study program which enables students work part time with an exemption of FICA taxes. This is to ensure that the students get bigger paychecks since there will be withholding of the Social Security and Medicaid taxes. Through work study, students are not asked to work over the holidays since the schedule only takes place on a semester-semester basis (Salam, 2012). Most of these programs are on campus and on is never asked to work on the weekends or in the evening.In addition,students are able to get jobs that interestthem. One can work in the front office of their department or even work off campus in a job that is in relation to one’s course. The work study programs only allow students to work in jobs that relate to the course they are taking in order to ensure that the student maintains their good grades and learns something about their course while working. However, unlike federal aids where students are directly given the funds, the funds one gets from work study are given to the higher education institutions so that they can be allocated at their discretion. This is one of the major ways of paying for college tuition since one’s job is relevant to their course.

Conclusion

There has been a continued rise in college tuition fees and many people are now facing unimaginable debts. During the baby boomer’s era, many people were able to join college since it was accessible and the financial aid was given to students who needed them. However as seen, many people are not able to join college since they cannot afford the college funds. Some of the reasons why the cost of education has risen in the current era are stated and discussed above. However, to solve the problem where many people forego college due to lack of funds or drop out of college due to insufficient funds some of the ways of helping students pay their college tuition are also outlined. It is evident that the two methods mentioned above are quite effective and have been adopted by many students in today’s society. It is through these methods that very many students have been able to comfortably pay for their college tuition fees.