College is expensive and therefore, the cost of tuition is an important and relevant issue to college students. Recently, politicians with platforms to make college free or to lower the cost of tuition have become popular, and there is a mindset that college should be available to everyone. However, what many people do not realize is that one of the biggest reasons tuition costs so much is the same reason that many people believe is the solution to the problem: the federal government tuition loan program.
In 1980, a year in college cost approximately $3,400. Now, a year of college costs approximately $23,000. Even after taking inflation into account there is a large price difference, but why is that? The loans and financial aid programs that the federal government gives out to help students pay for their tuition significantly increased during this time period. Although well intentioned, the increase in student loans allowed colleges to raise their tuition rates. As students are able to take out bigger loans more easily and frequently, colleges experience an increase in demand from students and as a result, raise their tuition. While the increase in demand is the result of money the students have received from the government and not the individuals’ own money, all colleges see is that students have more money for college.
Thus, one of the first steps that can be taken to creating more affordable college costs is to scale back the federal loan program. Perhaps returning to caps on loans, as was previously done, would help bring down the cost because students will have less money to spend. Another possible solution is scaling back on financial-aid programs. There is no question that college should be available to more people, but a large federal loan program increases the cost of tuition. Additionally, students must pay back their loans, so they are not saving any money but instead are delaying their payment. In that case, college is not more affordable, just paid for later.
As such, high college tuition rates are not just the result of the infamous “inflation,” but also the federal loans on which we rely so heavily. This is a difficult topic and not easily solved, but one thing is clear: we should not have to spend our entire lives paying off student debt.
Brittany Gamlen is a junior majoring in international studies.
While there’s some truth to this analysis, it does seem fairly incomplete.
The biggest cause of tuition increases in public schools is state funding cuts, for non-profit private schools the main culprit is increased administrative costs and for for-profit schools the access to loans seems to be what is driving prices up. However, they don’t act individually, all those factors affect all three types of schools. But to say that federal loan programs are the main reason/exclusive reason for rising tuition is false.
Here’s an excellent quantitative analysis of the problem http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fancy-dorms-arent-the-main-reason-tuition-is-skyrocketing/