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Rising tuition frustrates students
Californians aren't the only ones saddled with higher college costs.
A 32% increase in tuition approved by the University of California regents is being met with student protests -- and arrests -- throughout the system.
It’s the most stunning development we've yet seen as many states, struggling with sagging revenues, continue to cut funding for higher ed. Consider this: State support per student in the UC system is half what it was in 1990, a university official said.
We can’t blame students for being upset, considering what college will cost in the UC system. The Los Angeles Times reports:
The fee hike of $2,500, or 32%, will come in two steps by next fall. That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.
(Luckily, about 30% of UC students -- 53,000 -- are eligible for free tuition because of limited income, according to SFGate.com, a fact that UC officials acknowledged they’ve done a poor job of publicizing. Students, get thee to the financial aid office.)
Students also face tough times in Michigan, where the Legislature has eliminated funding for Promise and several other state scholarship programs, The Detroit News reports. Some schools will try to make up the difference with economic stimulus funds, and other alternatives are being discussed.
In such situations, students nearing graduation are pretty well stuck, unless they qualify for more financial aid. But families with college-bound students have time to plan for an uncertain future:
- Save more, which is increasingly difficult. A recent Fidelity Investments survey found that parents think they can cover only 11% of college costs, down from 15% last year. “More parents (43% this year compared with 35% in 2008) say they will have to delay retirement to pay for college,” Humberto Cruz wrote in The Boston Globe. The same survey found that 90% of high school seniors surveyed said they expect to pick up some of the burden by saving more or earning more money.
- Video: New jobless numbers
- Consider community college, but students may have to wait in line. The New York Times reported about a two-year school that’s holding classes after midnight to handle a student overload. “Similar booms have forced many of the nation’s 1,200 community colleges to add makeshift parking lots, rent extra space and keep thousands of students on waiting lists this fall,” it said.
- Thoroughly explore financial aid. Nationwide, only a third of college students and their families pay the full freight for tuition because scholarships are more available than they’ve been in the past, Sandy Baum, an economist at the College Board, told The New York Times.
In fact, Baum told the Times that, on average, students and their families are actually paying less now than they did five years ago even though college costs have climbed steadily.
The average grant aid for full-time public two-year college students is more than enough to pay the $2,544 published tuition price. So the average net tuition price at these schools is actually zero. At public four-year colleges the average net price is about $1,600 (compared with a list price of $7,020). At private four-year colleges, it’s about $11,900, compared with a list tuition price of $26,273.
Related reading:
I have a comment on how the university's could save money. I don't know how it is in every state, but in Louisiana, the entrance requirements are rediculously LOW. People are taking remedial 'Elementary Mathematics' courses, and they are trying to pay Math majors to take their online quizzes, so they won't flunk. Those people should not be in college! I once tutored a girl who wanted to be a third grade teacher. She couldn't understand how to solve 2nd grade math problems. Even after a few weeks of daily tutoring (from 3 tutors), it would take her 5 hours to do 4 problems WITH STEP BY STEP HELP FROM A TUTOR. I'm pretty sure no one wants this person being their child's 3rd grade teacher!
Everyone thinks a college education is a must. But there are plenty of electricians, plumbers, mechanics, hairdressers,and receptionists out there who do not have or need a 4 year college degree, and they make as much as many graduates with bachelor's degrees.
I don't think parents should push their children to go to college. Its not right for everyone, and it strains the university's resources to accomodate so many students that don't want to be there but need to take limited availability courses.
I mean, how many kids or parents want to pay educational loans on a degree never finished?
I also think there should be a pay freeze in effect (or whatever you call it when no one is allowed a raise). If they could increase the tuition by 27% instead of 32%, I'm sure it would be a big help to many students.
I just want to hear what cost saving measures the university took before the tuition hike. $200 dinners for successful graduates to benefit the university's endowment??? Maybe they should have tried that
Our young people have had it much too soft
Just the ones whose parents have money!
I paid nearly my entire way, with only a little help during one transition where my second school wanted money up front (the previous wanted it before the start of the next quarter).
It gets even harder when you are in a one-parent family most of your life, and then your one parent gets married right before your college years. Even though none of my [step]parents helped me, them getting married put me in a worse position with regard to government funding.
Can it get worse?
Yes. I was 18 with no credit history, so my mother had to co-sign a loan to pay for the rest of the first year. (They said room and board was $3400, but they didn't say that was how much it was PER QUARTER for a 9 x 16 room.)
The second year comes, and my one parent can no longer co-sign any loans because one of my siblings had a car repossessed (she cosigned the lease) and she refused to pay the remainder.
Thus, I was officially on my own for every source of funding, even though I set out to have everything in my name anyway.
But this story's real problem is not about young people being given a college education (though I think they should all have to work for it before, during, and after college). It is about how obnoxiously expensive college tuition is becoming.
I would like to begin by complementing Metaphorohosis for his thoughts. I would like to tell KAST 1 that the Republicans only had a majority in the House and Senate for 2 years under Bush ( Republican administration ).
Further no one seems to remember that the President can not spend a dime. On the House and Senate can authorize expenditures.. All revenue spending as with most any bill at the Federal Level must begin in the House. So KAST 1 look to your liberal house and senate members, they did you in, not the Republicans.
Now following up on Metaphorphosis ( his spelling not mine ):
I went to college in the early 1960's. My single mother parent wanted me to go to one college and I wanted to go to another. Result, I went to the university of my choice, graduated in 4 years with 136 credit hours, or carried 17 hours per semester. Also at that time without a parent providing a tax return I could not get student aid ( grant ) or student loans for she wanted to control my university time as she controlled my youth. Thus I paid for all 4 years by working 32 hours a week during school and 72 hour weeks ( 2 jobs ) during the summer. I worked for the local government in the summer doing whatever I could for 40 hours and put in 32 hours at the grocery store. I walked or rode a bike to school and to work, OH I also had to move from home, thus I lived in a boarding house for $7.00 a week.
Our young people have had it much too soft, and yes I wanted more for my children and I provided for them. All three of my children went to state universities with me paying for their undergraduate degrees, again no federal funds or student loans for I made to much money. Each children then paid for their Master's Degrees on their own and some went to the local university staying at home and one went away for her studies. Eve though I paid for tuition and board, they had to provide for their spending money and car insurance. Yes, I bought them new Saturn's when they went off to college. All three are great children, married and have provided me with grandchildren. That was all I could ever hope for and they have been successful.
To those youth of today complaining about college costs, I say, get a life. If you want go into the military and after 4 years of service, you can go to college all expenses paid for your time in service. To the young men complaining, I say grow a set of B's. To the young women grow a pair of O's. Take responsibility and do something for yourself and then you will appreciate what is available to you.
I would like to begin by complementing Metaphorohosis for his thoughts. I would like to tell KAST 1 that the Republicans only had a majority in the House and Senate for 2 years under Bush ( Republican administration ).
Further no one seems to remember that the President can not spend a dime. On the House and Senate can authorize expenditures.. All revenue spending as with most any bill at the Federal Level must begin in the House. So KAST 1 look to your liberal house and senate members, they did you in, not the Republicans.
Now following up on Metaphorphosis ( his spelling not mine ):
I went to college in the early 1960's. My single mother parent wanted me to go to one college and I wanted to go to another. Result, I went to the university of my choice, graduated in 4 years with 136 credit hours, or carried 17 hours per semester. Also at that time without a parent providing a tax return I could not get student aid ( grant ) or student loans for she wanted to control my university time as she controlled my youth. Thus I paid for all 4 years by working 32 hours a week during school and 72 hour weeks ( 2 jobs ) during the summer. I worked for the local government in the summer doing whatever I could for 40 hours and put in 32 hours at the grocery store. I walked or rode a bike to school and to work, OH I also had to move from home, thus I lived in a boarding house for $7.00 a week.
Our young people have had it much too soft, and yes I wanted more for my children and I provided for them. All three of my children went to state universities with me paying for their undergraduate degrees, again no federal funds or student loans for I made to much money. Each children then paid for their Master's Degrees on their own and some went to the local university staying at home and one went away for her studies. Eve though I paid for tuition and board, they had to provide for their spending money and car insurance. Yes, I bought them new Saturn's when they went off to college. All three are great children, married and have provided me with grandchildren. That was all I could ever hope for and they have been successful.
To those youth of today complaining about college costs, I say, get a life. If you want go into the military and after 4 years of service, you can go to college all expenses paid for your time in service. To the young men complaining, I say grow a set of B's. To the young women grow a pair of O's. Take responsibility and do something for yourself and then you will appreciate what is available to you.
Taxes never need to be raised...SPENDING needs to be cut.
Did these people get the memo? Times are tough, we cannot afford things we could afford a few years ago. We need to cut spending because revenue is down... Oh, wait we are government, we never cut back, we squeeze the downtrodden when they are least able to afford it...
thanks yukester, your crappy attitude towards anyone who doesn't think like you is certainly helping people.
you are the typical american who wants everything given to them now, and nuts to anybody else. take your selfish attitude and go congregate with others of your ilk.
This country has already the unhealthiest population among western/developed nations now it’s going to be the dumbest as well.
This changed once I transferred to a UC to finish my 4-year degree, as they usually only have one offering of each class, so you are completely stuck with whatever time they set for it. It makes for a class schedule that no employer will want to accomodate. The only way to get a class schedule that allows you to maintain a decent job is to delay taking classes you need, prolonging your graduation.
As for the funding crisis at the UC's, neither liberals nor conservatives can take full blame. In the state of California, it takes a 2/3rd majority to approve a budget, and the legislature is typically 55/45 dem/rep. As a result, all budgets California passes have to come with CONSERVATIVE blessing.
In any case, a lot of money could be saved on the state budget if they just released non-violent offenders. Instead we insist that someone caught with 1 gram of crack serve 5 years. That, and ending the water subsidy California farms get. They get water at a heaviliy discounted price, and as a result see little incentive to improve water efficiency. Make them pay what everyone pays per gallon. If their farm is no longer profitable, well, its their fault for trying to irrigate a dustbowl.
One last thing, to the poster that said we should cut funding for "useless" preschool programs, I have to heartily disagree. The returns to dollars spent on education are highest at the youngest age. Preschool is where money is best spent in getting children in the right direction educationally and socially.
A college degree is an invaluable asset, with millions of people competing for it. That means it will be pricey.
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