Why do you think that the colleges in th USA are raising fees so high that only the rich can afford it?

Question

This country is making it more difficult for a person to afford college, yet most careers require the higher education. Brazil is considered a third world country but their colleges are FREE! What does that say about us?

Answer 1

There are two reasons why schools are raising tuitions and fees. The first is actually to combat the problem you mention. By raising fees, it allows schools to give more aid to needy students at the expense of those who can afford it. Unfortunately, it is often the middle class who get hurt.

The second reason is that they are trying to game the rankings. An article in today's New York Times (see link below) indicated that the University of Florida is charging an extra $1,000 in order to hire new faculty. They are doing this so that the faculty to student ration will decrease and their rankings will go up. They are currently ranked the #13 public university and are doing this to get into the top ten.

Answer 2

The simplest answer is to do away with government loans. You heard that right. Colleges know that anybody can get a student loan, and they even have an entire department set up to do nothing but help kids process those loans. It is an infinite money pool that anyone can get access to. Seriously, if Bill Gates went back to school and filled out the FASFA he could get thousands of government dollars. So why wouldn't colleges raise the prices? They know kids will just keep taking out loans to pay them. It's just supply and demand. Now, if those loans were cancelled, colleges and universities would suddenly have to make the decision between enrollment and tuition rates. Plus there would be significant competition between schools. What we would see is the free market taking over again, and colleges pricing themselves at a level that may still be high but within the grasp of most people. Capitalism isn't the problem, it's the solution. Government intervention is the problem.

Answer 3

College does seem to be getting more expensive. I was going to college in 1997 and it would only cost me a weeks paycheck to get my classes paid for and my books if I took three classes a semester. Now I have returned to the college world to get my degree and I got a bill from the collge the other day for almost four thousand dollars for four classes. I was appauled by the amount. I said by the time I have my degree I will owe back more money than I will make in a year. I guess that is the price we have to pay for a better education!!!!

Answer 4

Actually, for the extremely poor, college is entirely free in Arizona(not sure about elsewhere). For people like me, however(family makes under $25,000), there is still plenty of grants and loans avaliable from the state). And you can always work, too.

I'm managaing to pay for college without any help from my family(because they can't afford it). Its easy to do, no matter how rich you are.

Everybody who wants to can go to college, friend. Isn't that the way it should be? In Cuba, college is free for everybody, but what is the point? Most people end up taking menial jobs anyway. There just isn't demand for 25 million doctors. People with graduate degrees are working as ditch diggers there.

Answer 5

Actually anybody can afford it because you can get lots and lots of school loans.

But I do believe the rich want the fees to be high because that means you will have to borrow money from the rich to go to college and pay interest all your lives.
So in a sense high college tuition makes us slaves to the very rich for the rest of our lives. :)

Answer 6

Federal and State governments have cut back drastically on their contributions to higher education. So, the costs of supplementing higher education are passed on to the students.

I live in Ohio. The costs for higher education have skyrocketed. You are right- it is getting more and more difficult to finance a college education on a low-moderate income.

What does that say about us? Our state and federal governments have other priorities and higher education isn't one of them.

Answer 7

The fees are huge, yeah - but often, I think, the tuition (like $40 thousand a year) doesn't even cover the cost - the school's still paying for its students out of their endowment. Other countries pay with taxes - they're way more socialist.

Answer 8

Since a lot of financial aid is available only to women and minorities, it's only difficult for white males to get an education. However, since education in the US today only seems able to teach you how do to well in crossword puzzles, no big loss there.

Answer 9

Because they can. My alma mater raises its fees not because it needs the money, but to "remain competitive" with the other universities.
Every year they still get a full class of freshmen.
I'm sure the fee raising will stop when kids stop applying to the most expensive schools.

Answer 10

Basic supply and demand. the demand for higher education has gone up, so the prices go along with it. More and more people enroll each year into college, so there is a greater demand for college.