THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION AS A BARRIER 1

The Cost of Higher Education as a Barrier

Caden Rhoades

Appalachian State University

R_C 2001-124: Introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum

Professor Kevin Young

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Abstract

It’s no secret that higher education, such as college and university, is incredibly expensive. Over

the last decade, the cost of education has risen significantly and little has been done to combat

this. The minimum wage has not risen to keep the cost within the range of affordability for

young workers attending one of these institutions. Students are expected to consider higher

education when they graduate high school, yet the thousands of dollar price tag is often daunting

for such young students. These high prices prevent many students from continuing their

education, pursuing their ideal degree/ideal career, and leaves those who are able to attend in

thousands of dollars of debt for their foreseeable future. There have been many instances of

partial student loan forgiveness but this “solution” is not favored by all and only provides a

temporary fix. Other solutions, such as set prices to prevent price gouging, offer longer-term

solutions that aim to benefit students for years to come.

Key Words: affordability, cost, education, higher education, minimum wage, loan forgiveness,

student loans
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The Cost of Higher Education as a Barrier

Since careers in fields like education, science, healthcare, technology, and more are only

achievable for those with a college/university degree (usually a bachelor's degree or more),

higher education has become the expected next step for many Americans graduating high school.

While the many issues surrounding the expectation of attending college or requiring specific

degrees for entry-level positions (where said degree sometimes isn't necessary) deserve a paper

of their own, the extreme cost of higher education is one of the most impactful issues regarding

education today. The cost of attending college/university ranges dramatically due to the

institution's public or private status, the student’s family’s economic status, the student's

eligibility for financial aid (federal or otherwise), whether or not the student is in-state vs.

out-of-state for that particular institution, and more. These costs act as a rather impenetrable

barrier for many students seeking higher education, often forcing them to take on a huge

financial burden, incredible debt, and/or not pursue their education after high school.

American students during the 2019-2020 school year paid on average $19,081 in tuition

and fees alone to attend 4-year higher education institutions, such as college or university

(NCES, 2020). Add on the cost of room and board for an on-campus student and the average

jumps to $30,880, which does not include the approximately $4,500 spent on books, supplies,

and other fees/expenses (NCES, 2020). Using these figures, a student attending a 4-year

institution who lives on-campus for all 4 years will graduate having spent $76,324 in tuition and

$47,196 in room and board, a total of $123,520 (excluding the cost of books, supplies, and other

expenses). This exorbitant amount of money coupled with a student's hard academic work is

their ticket to potentially entering the career of their dreams. As one can expect, this price for
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education is difficult for many students to pay due to personal or family economic circumstances.

The median household income for an American household in 2021 is $70,784, subtracting the

average cost of living in North Carolina ($38,295 per year) leaves said household with $32,489

for all other expenses, including funding the education of their children (Kollar, 2022; SoFi,

2022). It would take the median American household saving 100% of their remaining income 3.8

years to cover the average cost of one student's 4-year education, a more realistic 25% of their

remaining income ($8,122.25) would take 15.2 years to cover the same education. While

financial aid can cover some of these costs most aid is given through loans that must be repaid,

often with additional costs from accumulated interest.

From 2000 to 2020 the average cost of higher education (tuition+room and board) has

jumped $20,062, approximately $1,003 per year (National Center for Education Statistics

[NCES], 2007). During this same period of time, the federal minimum wage in America has

risen only $2.10 and has remained the same since 2009, sitting at $7.25 an hour (United Stated

Department of Labor, 2009). A person working full time, approximately 40 hours per week, at

minimum wage all year round in 2020 would earn $15,080 while a person doing the same in

2000 would earn $10,712. Using these figures, it would take a full-time worker using 25% of

their income 16.2 years to pay off a 4-year degree in 2000 while it would take a full-time worker

using 25% of their income 32.8 years to pay off the same 4-year degree in 2020. Like Sisyphus

and his boulder, students try to pay off as much as they can only for prices to get bigger each

year while their wages remain relatively the same.

There are endless ethical and social implications of students across the country sharing

concerns and stress related to the insurmountability of student loans. The cost of higher
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education is an incredible barrier for many young people graduating high school. Many students

are simply unable to even consider college due to finances, despite any desire they may have to

pursue a degree-requiring career. Others change their intended career path so they can afford to

repay student loans or their ideal career requires a more expensive degree they can't afford. As a

student studying science education, I would need to attend graduate school to become a college

professor like I want but I am unable to do as paying for my “regular” 4-year degree is already

difficult enough. Young students beginning higher education right after high school are often too

young to get a piercing or tattoo without parental consent but taking on the debt required to

afford $30,880 a year for education is hardly blinked at in our society. Ethically it is incredibly

wrong to push young people with minimal financial knowledge (given financial literacy courses

are not required, and often not even present in American high schools) into thousands of dollars

of debt while they are pursuing higher education is nothing more than a trap seemingly designed

to keep said students in debt for years and years to come.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Preventing passionate students from obtaining the education needed for their dream

careers over the inability to afford the Sisyphean cost of higher education has become a major

source of political debate. Forgiving student loans is a very common way to address this issue;

By reducing (or eliminating) a student’s debt they are able to continue their career (or education)

without the financial burden of paying off student loans. Some parties view this as a simple fix,

others think the money used to forgive loans should be allotted to other national issues, and some

think it's unfair to those who paid their loans off without forgiveness. Each of these views can be

seen as both right and wrong. Unfortunately, loan forgiveness is not a simple fix even if it would
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dramatically reduce the burden of loans on students, it would cost the government incredible

amounts of money that have to come from somewhere. The amount of money necessary for the

government to give out even partial loan forgiveness would be such a large amount that it would

be very useful in other national issues, such as unemployment or food stamps, but either way, the

money would be used to improve the life of citizens. Lastly, the view that it is unfair to those

who paid off their student loans without forgiveness in the past is an understandable thing to be

upset about. Despite that, preventing change that benefits others because those in the past didn't

have it is a very sedentary mindset that can be harmful to the state of today and the future.

I believe that student loan forgiveness acts as a temporary bandage to the issues of higher

education costs when the issue needs a more permanent solution. Capping the cost of tuition/fees

regardless of intuition type and regardless of in-state vs. out-of-state status would create a more

stable base cost for students across the country. Colleges and universities would be unable to

manipulate students by gouging tuition cost only to later lower them with “blanket” scholarships.

They would be forced to exist on the same playing field as all other colleges and universities in

their geographic area. The cost of room and board, meal plans, and books and supplies will

fluctuate from institution to institution as well as from student to student. Some students will live

on campus at a small institution with an expensive meal plan and the desire to own physical

copies of all their books, some will live on campus at a large institution with a cheaper meal plan

and rent/borrow all their books, and others will live off-campus without a meal plan and find

their books through shops unaffiliated with the institution. But with a constant formula for

tuition, where each student pays a set amount multiplied by the number of course hours they are

taking, the rising cost of tuition will not present a barrier to students regardless of the institution
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they attend. While this policy would not be a simple fix to the extreme cost of higher education,

it could reduce the ability for institutions to set their prices willy-nilly and plunge their students

into thousands of dollars of debt in pursuit of a degree.

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References

Cost of living in North Carolina (2022). SoFi. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from

https://www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-north-carolina/

Digest of Education Statistics, 2007. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home

Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022,

from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_320.asp

Digest of Education Statistics, 2020. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home

Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2022,

from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_330.40.asp

History of federal minimum wage rates under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 2009. United

States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2022, from

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart

Kollar, J. S. and M. (2022, September 13). Income in the United States: 2021. Census.gov.

Retrieved October 29, 2022, from

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-276.html