Jessica Carpenter

November 3, 2019

Argument Essay

English 112

Have you ever wondered how college kids afford college tuition? How many high

schools have prepared seniors to make paying for college as easy as possible? Many

college students either have their parents pay, scholarships, or take out student loans.

The price of college tuition has increased throughout the years. This has become a

common problem since the rate of college students going into debt has increased

dramatically. So, what exactly is causing students to go into debt, and nothing being

done about it. The reasons stated throughout the essay shows why college tuition

should be lowered.

There is an obvious difference between University cost and community cost, this

is a fact that everyone knows. Many people didn’t know that there is a difference

between suburban community colleges and rural community colleges. Over the past

fifty years, community colleges have increased in numbers. The price of community

college has risen at a slower pace than a four-year university but still have begun rising.

Most students go to community college because it is more affordable than a university.

Location does make a difference when it comes to community colleges. Rural

community colleges tend to have a lower tuition cost than community colleges in the

suburbs. The main reason for this is because rural community colleges have the

tendency to be smaller than suburban community colleges. Community college is a good

route for students to take if they are trying to stay close to home and save money. How

are the students supposed to save money if they keep highering the price.(Glover, Louis,

“A Comparison of Tuition)

Every year college tuition and student-loan debt increase, this is another

example of why they should lower the cost of college tuition. College is expensive for a

reason, due to a surge in demand, an increase in financial aid, and a lack of state

funding. Due to all these reasonings college has become almost impossible to afford.

Many families across the United States cannot afford college tuition but also do not

qualify for much financial aid. Studies show that for public and private four- year

colleges have gone up about 4.2 percent in the costs every year and a 1.4 percent

increase for public two-year colleges. There has been a 23.8 percent increase over the

past decade. This goes to show how much college is and high schoolers have no idea

how to pay for it, but what has high schools done to help? (Cooper, Mary A. “High

School Students Not Prepared to Face Tuition Hikes”)

Many high school seniors have said that they have felt that their high school

have not prepared them for paying for college and everything that comes with it. No

one has put the effort or time to teach seniors how to pay for college and how to create

a plan to deal with college cost without stressing out about it. According to CSF, seventy

percent of students they surveyed have made the decision to save for college, less than
fifty percent are getting jobs to help with cost. In CSF survey they acquired the

information that “More and more students are realizing they need help achieving their

financial goals for colleges and are seeking their parents’ involvement in the process.”

Due to the high schools not teaching students a plan for paying for college, the students

are having to depend on their parents for their future. If high schools are not going to

prepare them then who is? (Delaney, Jennifer A. “Balancing Tuition Predictability and

Affordability)

So, what is being done about the high cost of college tuition? Currently, the

educational administrative regulation on tuition has not achieved the effects they were

aiming for because they have yet to successfully be able to lower the college tuition to a

level everyone is willing to accept. The goal of this regulation is to establish a healthy

order among the public, so everyone can agree. Going to college has never been cheap,

but it was cheaper than it is today. This year along the cost has increased by 7.7 percent

at public four-year colleges. Luckily financial aid is there for the lower income families

but the families with a medium income still struggle but does not qualify for financial

aid. The Department of Education provides more than sixty billion dollars a year for

financial aid. This is about seventy percent of all the scholarships that exist. Another

issue that has occurred with college tuition. The reason society has seen an increase in

college tuition is because after the tragic event that happened on September 11, 2019.

This led to the decrease in the amount of taxes collected which lead to higher college

costs. This is that some college students are having to pay more because of the major

they are in. It is mainly the main majors such as engineering, design, etc. The way the
colleges decide on this is between tuition increase and future earnings. College is just

wanting to make money so they know if they increased the tuition for students who are

going to make a high income then the college knows they can make money off this

advantage. As tuition levels rise, guaranteed tuition plans become more common. This

guaranteed students a flat rate of tuition over their time at the college so they will not

see any increase in their annual fees. This is the only thing being done about college

tuition, but colleges are still make the cost higher and higher.(Zeng, Xiaodong. “The

Goals for Regulating College Tuition”)

All these reasons show why college needs to lower their tuition. One of the main

reasons that colleges cannot lower their tuition is because it will hurt the school more

than help it and its students. However, colleges have considered lowering their costs

because they haven’t been able to meet their enrollment goals. College is expensive and

is hard for families and their students to afford. Finical aid does help but does not cover

everything. As the cost of college increases as the years go by it makes paying for college

harder and harder. Therefore, college tuition needs to be decreased before everyone

turns to community colleges and the big universities barely have any enrollment

because no one can afford the college.

Works Cited:
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Higher Education, vol. 16, no. 1, Oct 10, 2005, pp. 29. ProQuest,
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Cooper, Mary A. "High School Students Not Prepared to Face Tuition Hikes." The
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Delaney, Jennifer A., Tyler D. Kearney, and Bradley Hemenway. "BALANCING
TUITION PREDICTABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY: The Pitfalls of Guaranteed Tuition
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Zeng, Xiaodong. "The Goals for Regulating College Tuition." Frontiers of Education in
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