Colleen27
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
And that hits on a factor that I don't think has been mentioned yet - the starting pay for a lot of jobs that require degrees hasn't increased, even as tuition has gone through the roof. It isn't so bad for those in STEM fields, but to go back to an earlier example... My SIL's first teaching job paid $26K in the early 90s, when college cost a (ridiculous, to hear my inlaws tell it) $2500/year. Now, a new teacher starts at $32K and tuition at the same university costs $12,500. Even commuting, not taking into account transportation or books and assuming the family doesn't expect any contribution towards living expenses, the Pell grant doesn't cover even half of the tuition bill.
But with the job prospects for non-degreed workers getting dimmer all the time and wages in those fields falling even further short of keeping up with inflation. In fact, in my area some jobs are paying the same in actual dollar terms as they did when I was in high school, 20-odd years ago. My brother and my high school boyfriend both made $10-12/hr working construction in the summers in the late 90s; my son and his friends are earning $10-12/hr working construction in the summers now.
I think it is a different set of problems. Disadvantaged kids don't seem to get themselves into as much trouble with student loans, but I think that's because they often don't have co-signers to help them do it. But they can end up in an equally bad situation because the max Pell grant and the federal loan limit often do not go far enough to complete a degree program. They also seem to struggle more with commuting for lack of reliable transportation, and with mandatory internship requirements because they can't afford to take time off of their paying jobs to work for free without increasing the amount they borrow. Two of the better students I encountered when I went back to school faced their senior years with absolute panic because their Pell grant covered less than half of the tuition, they were running out of borrowing ability and had no one to co-sign or take on parent plus loans, and had no idea how they were supposed to manage to get to and from an internship (neither had a car - room & board can be cheaper than the cost of car ownership here in the most expensive state for auto insurance). And these were poor kids from single-parent homes in Detroit, not suburban kids spending freely to mimic the standard of living they had at home.
That's an interesting idea, and one that might help a bit. I know just in the 2.5 years it took me to get my bachelors (after transferring from community college), tuition went up about $70 per credit hour - a 17% increase. In-state undergrad tuition is now $480/credit.
Yep that's about right, I graduated in 1988 and my tuition for all 4 years was $12,000. I'm still having a bit of a disconnect on why the tuition jumped so much if it wasn't for the fact that the government started handing out all these loans. And really not as many kids went to college back then to get pell grants compared to the numbers in college today. I hear about the cut in state funding, but honestly I have no clue who much money the states paid toward college anyway
State have slashed education funding over the years, some by as much as 70%. At the same time, federal aid has shifted from supporting grant-based models (like the Pell grant, which would be more than twice the amount it is now if it had been indexed to educational inflation, but also research grants and other indirect supports) to pushing public-private partnerships with a profit motive. That drives up costs as well, to raise revenue to be able to provide profits in addition to covering operating costs. Plus there are changes within the schools themselves, in terms of what administrators are paid, how much they pour into athletics and facilities (which is in part an indirect reaction to funding cuts, as public universities actively try to attract out-of-state and international students who pay higher rates), etc.
But a lot of people don't have schools within commuting distance, and not all schools offer something for every field of study. I commuted to the closest school to my house to finish my degree, as an adult student with a family, and I wouldn't recommend it to any high schooler in my community - it is 1.5 hours without traffic, I had to leave by 6:30 for a 9am class because of traffic, and the first two positions I applied for after graduation went to former classmates who lived on campus and were thus able to build a stronger resume via student jobs and internships while I was busy driving back and forth. And if if she wanted to, my daughter doesn't have that choice - it is well over 2 hours to the closest school that offers something close to her intended major.
Even working can backfire- the FAFSA assumes half of student income is available for college expenses, but a kid working a $10/hr job in my area barely has half his income leftover after paying taxes and insurance/gas on the car he needs to get to work. So the hours worked can end up reducing grant aid, rather than loans, for kids from lower/middle income families. Unless something is done to contain costs, big loans will continue to be the price of a college degree for many students.
