A college degree is one of the most important things that a person can obtain. In the last couple of decades, the importance of going to college has soared to an all-time high. Families and high school students are fed thoughts that college is a necessary tool for success in the future. Having a well-educated group of individuals to make up society would be great, but there is a down side to every student going to college. College is not a cheap investment. Tuition prices have rose exponentially over time and now it the highest it has ever been. For example, in 1870, Harvard University charged one-hundred fifty dollars to attend classes, which is about three thousand dollars today. Harvard now charges forty-three thousand two hundred and eighty dollars to attend the university. The gap of payment between 1870 and 2017 is due to the belief that college is necessary. Colleges use the belief to their advantage by increasing tuition cost because no matter how expensive, someone will pay to attend the college of their choice. Many may think that society wanting to be educated will help the US as a country, but they are wrong. Yes, a well-educated group of citizens is beneficial, but the cost to be educated is slowly digging a hole in the US economy. The average student who graduates from a public or non-profit university will owe thirty thousand one hundred dollars in loan debt. That is a hefty cost to be educated. The problem is how the price of tuition is set. Local state government does not fund public institutions enough money, resulting in the rise of tuition cost. Students are attending college to help their future, but as a result of the increase of tuition, the US is setting students on a path of debt that will follow each individual for years after graduation. 

College a century ago was very different then today. Many of the colleges that were first founded, like Harvard or Yale, were founded by religious officials. The universities only had a couple hundred students enrolled in the year 1828, but now both colleges have between ten to twenty thousand enrolled at one time. Students today and students a century ago experience way different things. In the colleges first years, religion was had a large influence on the colleges. Main courses were usually based off religious teachings. Today, core classes are subjects that do not usually have to do with religious beliefs. The main difference between today and the past is that universities got funded through the church, which allowed for tuition to be less then it needed to be. The cost to attend Harvard University was one hundred fifty dollars. Many students that attended the first colleges did not have to attend to have a good life. College was a decision that students made to better themselves as a person, not because it was deemed necessary. College was looked at as a privilege because very few could go and better their education. Attending a university was a lot different a century ago because college was a choice, not a requirement.

Today, college is a common thread between the student population of the US. College is not a choice anymore, it is something that is expected by students. The curriculum that is currently taught is drastically different then the curriculum from a decade or two ago. Public institutions teach more subject based classes and not as much religious courses as the past. A bachelor degree only takes four years, instead of six, and a master usually takes six-years total, instead of twelve. College teachings have advanced tremendously and this is beneficial to the students because of the quality of an education that they are getting. Core subjects are more geared toward preparing students for the major that they choose. A student can go to a college and can obtain a degree in almost any field of their choosing. The main problem about college today, as opposed to a century ago, is the cost. The average tuition cost of a public non-profit school in ten thousand dollars and a private non-profit is about thirty-three thousand dollars. Every student does not have thirty thousand dollars sitting around to pay for college and the thirty thousand only pays for two semesters of education. Unfortunately, the government and tuition creators take advantage of the seed that has been planted in every high school students head. The idea that college is necessary, paired with and all time high of students, gives the colleges the perfect opportunity to established expensive tuition prices. No matter what the price college costs, students and their families will pay for the advantage that is believed to be gained when attending a postsecondary institution.

Tuition is rising too fast for the US population to keep up. The average US citizen makes fifty thousand seven hundred fifty-six dollars annually. There is no room to budget for a thirty-thousand-dollar tuition bill. Because of the high tuition price, many students end up taking out a loan. This is setting up students for a life of debt. The average student comes out of college with thirty thousand one hundred dollars of loan debt. That is more than half the salary that the average graduate comes out of school with (Poppick). The cause of the fast-rising tuition is the belief by US society that college is a necessary step to succeeding in life. Universities love this because that means that tuition can cost anything and people will pay. Another reason for the rise in tuition is the lack of government funding and subsidies. “His point is that tuition can rise as a result of either an increase in cost or a decline in third-party support, either private or public subsidies” (Martin). Professor Gordon Winston explains that tuition is not just effected by the operational costs that a college has, but can be effected by the lack of funding for the college. In recent years, public funding for higher education has gone down, which results the increase of tuition. 

The process in setting a price for tuition is done in a way that does not keep the student in mind. “Accurately computing the cost of education students is not as simple as it should be, for several reasons: because colleges and universities do things other than just educate students, because accounting practices in higher education are misleading, and because higher education does not include capital charges in the computation of its costs” (Martin). Schools are not going through the correct process when deciding what to charge for a student to attend the university. Due to the incorrect process, lower class families cannot afford to send their children to an institution of higher education.  There are many bright, smart students who are not as privileged as some students, which causes these students to not move past high school. 

Colleges use a system of scholarships and financial aid to help solve the problem that lower-class families encounter when trying to pay for college. There are different levels of scholarships that a student can receive. At a private institute, many students are part of upper class families that can afford to pay the tuition. The idea is that the smart students from lower class families will not have to pay full price because the wealth students are able to pay full price (Davidson). The theory behind this process sounds like a possible solution, but in the end public schools are effected negatively. Large private schools undermine the public schools because of the ability to allow lower class students in for less the half the tuition. For every one student that pays full price, two lower class students can attend the private institution. Public schools do not receive funding from the state, where private schools do. As a result, tuition rises for all students at public institutions. A proposed solution to this problem is community college. Usually low income students attend community college, but they need a lower tuition to compensate with their low income (Davidson). Every type of higher education institution has the same problem with tuition costs and with every solution implemented, the institution category below is affected.

Today’s society requires a person to have a college degree in order to have a career that sustains them throughout their life. David Breneman is a college professor and teaches courses on the economics and financing of higher education, on liberal arts colleges, and on the college presidency. Breneman has come up with solutions that the institution, state, federal, and philanthropic side can do to help reduce tuition costs. The most effective solutions will come from the combination of state and federal options that Breneman created. There are six main procedures that state legislation could do to help the cost of tuition decrease over time. 

The first procedure is for the state government to develop contractual relationships with public universities by negotiating specific outcomes for a given budget (Breneman).  This would be an agreement between the school and the government. More funding would be provided to the public institution, which would result in a tuition reduction. An example would be a university agreeing to provide a certain number of undergraduate spaces and instruction of a specified quality in exchange for a specified amount of state support (Breneman). 

The second procedure is to allow for administrators to distribute funds among line-item categories (Breneman). By doing so, there would be less money to pay in certain areas, like supplies, which would result in the reduction of tuition. Administrator know what is necessary and what is not necessary to each subject. The freedom to budget specific areas that make of the colleges expenses would allow for a more exact budget. A more exact budget allows for money to be allocated to areas that need it more than others. 

The third procedure is to allow funds to carryover between budget years (Breneman). This is the most important procedure because it encourages the schools to save and put money away for upcoming years. Most states do not allow for the money that is obtain by an institution to carry over to the next year, but changing this requirement, schools would be able to save money for the future. Also, the state should not impose a hundred percent tax rate on savings because it would cut the savings in half. 

The fourth procedure is to allow for institutions to collect and retain tuition revenue without redirection it back through state accounts (Breneman). Students pay tuition to colleges for the service that is being provided to them in the form of teaching. Institutions should keep all of the money received through tuition payment because that is why students go to college in the first place. State government should not take money that should go to the teachers and staff at the University. Allowing for the university to keep all of the tuition would result in a lower tuition rate. 

The fifth procedure is a to explore the creation of counter-cyclical reserve fund that could mitigate the sharp increases in tuition required by unexpected drops in state revenue (Breneman). This is a backup plan to eliminate a spike in tuition prices if the state income were to dip lower than usual. A reserve fund would provide security to students knowing that tuition will not go up based on the current economy. The sixth and final procedure is to explore the use of incentive funding as opposed to enrollment driven formulas (Breneman). State legislation would go through a form of “‘unbundling’ of educational services”. Extra money would be given to specific state priorities, such as undergraduate education. The extra money would come from areas deemed not as important as others. Overall, the state government needs to change the way that public schools of higher education are funded through better budgeting and allowing for the schools to retain more of the cash inflow that is depleted due to state legislation. 

Loans are a huge part of the problem when it comes to tuition costs. A solution to this would be that federal legislation goes through a loan reform (Breneman). The loan reform would replace private funding and participants in the federal loan program with public capital and public administration. Through direct government loans to students, taxpayer costs would be reduced and the effective value in a financial aid package would increase. Debt is never going to go away, but the loan reform would make the debt more manageable. Loan repayment would be paired with the program, which allows students to repay a fixed percentage of income until the loan is paid back or the existing balance is excused. The reasoning behind this is to allow for students to be capable of taking on debt. More flexible repayment plans would lower loan rates, which means debt would be repaid faster. 

A college degree is a priceless achievement in today’s society. With a degree, a person can obtain a well-paying job that will sustain them for years to come. Also, a degree shows that a person is willing to put in long hours and work hard. Society requires a person to have a college degree to be successful. College attendance is at an all-time high and so is the cost of tuition. Obtaining a college degree is an achievement that will benefit a person for life, but the cost to earn one is an obstacle that main students face. The average student comes out of college with thirty thousand dollars in debt, accompanied with high interest rates making that number rise higher. Due to the lack of state funding, college is not affordable. Certain legislative issue need to be addressed on the local and federal level that will result in the price of tuition being lowered. State government should go through a “rebudgeting” phase that will allow for more money to be put in to funding public undergraduate education. The more money that can be allocated to the funding of public institutions, the lower tuition will be. Also, this will create a competitive price against the private universities that undermine public schools’ student enrollment. The federal government could assist the local legislation by going through a loan reform. Through the loan reform, funding would be focused more toward undergraduate education instead of an area that is not as prevalent. Some may say that lowering tuition would result in universities going bankrupt, but that is false. A lower cost of tuition would allow for more students to enroll. An educated society is very beneficial to the United States. Attendance is at an all-time high with tuition prices the way they are, but that number of students enrolled would rise exponential with the lower tuition costs. The cost to attend college is the most expensive it has been, but through cooperation between local legislation and federal legislation, new ways of paying and setting tuition can be used to allow for a degree to be affordable, without the university losing money.  
