In this current day and age, it seems the main reason someone cannot go to their dream college is the cost. Every year, experts say that for any given college, tuition has always increased by some percentage.
While gradual inflation of the dollar has some to do with the increase in college, this inflation isn’t enough to explain why tuition continues to rise. The National Center for Education Statistics found that the average cost of college in 1980, adjusted to current inflation was $10,231 including tuition, fees, room, and board. The average price of college in 2020 was $28,775, meaning the total price of college has increased by over 180%.
There are some reasons as to why the cost of college has increased to this extent.
For starters, the number of people attending college and the emphasis on college being needed to succeed has increased in the last few decades. Kristin Kuczera, a counselor at the high school has found that this increase in emphasis correlates with the increase in the price of college.
“There is a growing demand for education and training for jobs. So as the demand for increased education has gone up, colleges have driven the cost up as well,” Kuczera said.
Additionally, the price of college has also increased because of a need for more state funding.
“Another reason that college has become so expensive is that a lot of state funding for college has decreased, so now colleges have to get creative on how to maintain their operations. The expenses often fall onto the students to pick up,” Kuczera said.
The price of college has also gone up because of the expansion of student services.
“College and universities are investing more in student services. Since the pandemic, the issues around mental health have gone up so colleges are investing more in mental health resources and services,” Kuzcera said.
With more services, the number of administrative positions at colleges has gone up as well. Similar to the students having to pay more because of a lack of state funding, the students are left having to pay more to fund the salaries of the new employees and resources.
Even though there is widespread unhappiness with the cost of college, students are still going and are managing the cost with some form of aid. According to the National Center for Education Statistics over 85% of students use some form of financial aid.
“There’s a variety of ways that students can make college more affordable for them. There are options for loans, scholarships, or applying for FASFA,” Kuzcera said.
In recent years, minimizing the cost of college starts sometimes years before students begin to apply by looking to take AP or IB exams to get college credit, reducing the cost years in advance.
Additionally, some students have had to evaluate where they can attend college due to the cost.
“Sometimes students have to be creative with where they go. Maybe they stay in state or take some classes at a community college to lower the cost,” Kuzcera said.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick or easy solution to fix the cost of college, but with research, planning, and flexibility, the headache of managing the cost could be a little easier.
