Essay On The Cost Of College Tuition

The Quagmire of College Tuition in the United States

Many people view attending a university as a major stepping stone for the betterment of their future and for the attainment of the American dream, however when an individual enrolls in college they often find themselves damaged by the very system that they thought would be their ticket to success. Over decades of growth, the cost of college tuition has become far less than manageable for most students. This has led to the current student loan crisis that is so dangerous for the United States, as well as the debt that follows many students for years after their college graduations. The issue associated with these costs is quite solvable, but will take significant steps to correct. The intense

The cost of college is an ongoing problem that continues to get worse on a yearly basis. Education Monitor Worldwide is an organization that has been stringently studying the cost of college for years, and has concluded that every year the cost of college increases by 7.1% (“Costs of College Continue to Rise”). This has left many students scrambling to find outside means of funding their education, and those who are unable to do this find it impossible to gain a higher education (“Costs of College Continue to Rise”). The Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection includes thoroughly researched statistics concerning the change in college tuition over the last three decades. The information provided by

Due to the high cost of college, many students are relying on student loans to be able to afford obtaining a higher education with anywhere from 17% to 78% of students in a given program taking student loans in the 2019-2020 school year (“College Tuition and Student Loans”). This has led to a significant 20% of student borrowers being unable to pay their loans and defaulting (“College Tuition and Student Loans”). This damages the institutions that give these loans to students, which wounds the country’s economy as a whole. The large number of students who are unable to pay their student loans adds up to destructive societal effects, and some economic experts even contend that this debt can lead to a financial crisis with a severity similar to the Great Recession (“College Tuition and Student Loans”). According to Steven Brint, an accomplished American sociologist and professor at the University of California, Riverside, students’ variable abilities to afford paying for college can sometimes lead to them dropping out and having to reenroll multiple times in order to pay for and complete their education (Brint). This debt also has serious effects on the students’ lives following graduation as it can be quite difficult to pay off and can be a serious limiting factor on the post-college lives of students (Brint). The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated these issues