Creating a Sustainable Solution to Reduce College Costs

Recommended reading for current members of state and federal government as well as university

administration officials

By Alex Walaschek

July 2021
Creating a Sustainable Solution to Reduce College Costs

Alex Walaschek

College costs have tripled in the last 20 years. In 2001, a four-year degree from a public
university in the United States cost less than $30,000 on average. In 2021, a four-year degree
from those same schools will cost nearly $90,000. Those numbers do not include other necessary
college expenses such as room, board and books. What that boils down to is that tuition has risen
almost 4 times faster than the rate of inflation. It's a non-sustainable model for the future of this
country.
While solving this pressing problem is a little bit like multi-variable calculus, we must start
somewhere. My proposal outlines a few recommendations to begin to bring college costs down
in a timely fashion. This three-pronged approach focuses on these areas:
1. An increased cooperation between learning institutions such as high schools, community
colleges and college board AP testing to allow for college credits to be acquired in less
costly situations.
2. Reduce the salaries of the top-level college employees. These include coaches and
presidents.
3. Reduce the number of General Education requirements in the path to a bachelor's degree,
therefore allowing a student to complete their degree in a shorter period of time.
A problem of skyrocketing proportions

Penn State University just recently announced another tuition increase. This makes Penn State

the most expensive school in the Big Ten for in-state students and it’s in the Top 10 of most

expensive non-private schools in the nation. This means if a student lives at home and only pays

for tuition at Penn State’s main campus in University Park for eight semesters, the cost to attend

(and hopefully graduate) Penn State stands at $75,592. If you add room and board, it’s estimated

to be another $12,000+ a year. It’s a staggering amount of money for a 4-year degree.

Penn State is not alone, however. On a national level, college costs have tripled in the past 20

years. That works out to an annual increase of 6.8%. U.S. News & World Report puts it another

way: “Between 2001 and 2021 in-state tuition and fees at public and national universities has

grown the most, increasing on average 212%.” That’s nearly 4 times the rate of inflation. Where

does this leave these generations of college students? Many will not be able to afford to go to

college at all. Many more of those who do, will be saddled with debt in amounts that will affect

their ability to buy a home or a car or have a family in their futures.

Around 60% of all college students take on student loan debt during their four years of

undergraduate studies. In 2018, that debt averaged around $30,000 per student and in 2021 that

amount is approximately $36,000. It means a monthly payment of around $400. If you have two

college graduates that are married, that is $800 a month. How do you achieve the “American

Dream” if you’ve been handicapped from the starting blocks?

Where does it end?

At this current rate of increase, a child who is 9 years old in 2021 will pay over $143,000 for

tuition at a state school or a whopping $325,000 for a private university. This is quickly

becoming an unsustainable trajectory. How do we make college affordable and worthwhile?

Equally as important, how do we make college as worthwhile for the doctor as we do for the

teacher as we do for the social worker? We need people with all different passions to have a

well-functioning society. It cannot just be all engineers and doctors.

While this issue definitely hits close to home for many, it must be solved on a national scale.

There has been a lot of talk about student loan forgiveness in the media. As good as this idea

sounds to all of those currently struggling with loan payments, how do we justify paying off

some or all of the current student loan debt, but not doing anything for those who paid off their

loans in the past? It seems that a better approach maybe be to start at the bottom and work up. On

a national and state level, governing bodies can begin making changes to improve the education

system for current and future students.

An easy, quick way to make a difference

A good state and local level starting point is to encourage better partnership between institutions.

Make it easier for credits to transfer from community colleges. Make AP exams more widely and

readily accepted at universities. Encourage high school students to attend dual-enrollment

programs to earn college credit while still in high school. Offer online courses for a reduced fee

since participation uses less university resources. Instead of a steady stream of roadblocks, create

smooth and concise pathways.

If a student scores a 3 or above on an AP Exam, allow those credits to count toward the class it is

meant to fulfill. Universities should not be able to decide that those tests cannot count as they are

expected to because they may lose the money on those class enrollment numbers. A simple

guarantee from colleges and universities on this issue is a quick fix that assures thousands of

high school students that the cost of the AP exams are not wasted.

Similarly, if a student begins their college career at a community college in the United States,

those credits should be widely and easily transferred to the 4-year institution of their choice. The

concerns of many community college students lie in the area of transferability. It only makes

financial sense to attend these schools if those credits are useful toward their goals. State and

local officials in many areas of the country are beginning to set up programs similar to this with

much success. Universities in Texas, for example, work with underserved populations to open

pathways to success through community college enrollment. These programs require

successfully meeting program GPA and credit requirements to guarantee transfer to one of

Texas’ many state universities. Opening programs like these to the general population. promotes

a long-term successful model of higher education at an affordable cost.

Lastly, a wider and more accepted network of dual-enrollment options for high school students

nationwide will give individuals an opportunity to get a “leg up” on their college careers without

the hefty price tag.

Many of these measures are simple solutions that can be acted upon at the state and local level.

What stands in the way? The bottom line of the institutions that are meant to serve students.

How do we shrink the bottom line?

Nick Saban, head coach for the University of Alabama football team, made over $9 million

dollars last year. The president of Auburn University Steven Leath made $1.8 million in 2019.
These overhead costs of running a university with a large staff and administration must be paid

in some way. States continue to leave funding for universities a low priority, but these schools

must continue to build nicer, larger campus buildings and athletic facilities. They must continue

to compete for the best faculty. All of these things come at the expense of the student.

A complete financial restructuring, while exceedingly difficult, would benefit many at the

expense of the few. Similar to what we see today in the billionaire space race that is occurring,

the ability for those few to make a significant and impactful difference for the many should be

seriously considered as a sustainable path forward. Those high-level employees' willingness to

adjust salaries downward (but still be in the top 1% of earners in their respective state) would

decrease the bottom line of universities nationwide.

Another approach to culling the excess would be to eliminate many redundant positions across

the campus and streamline their staffing and faculty needs. By creating a smaller, more efficient

workforce, the schools would be able to reduce further operating expenses.

While none of these changes are easy for the college and universities to implement, they would

be creating an environment that was more focused on their primary mission of education rather

than the hunt for the best football coach in the country.

With a focus on education, how do we streamline our process?

This one is much simpler - eliminate many of the GenEd requirements that don’t serve a purpose

toward the intended degree. Do we really need to take physical education classes to graduate
with a bachelor's degree in biology? By reducing these requirements to a minimal number,

universities could easily scale back the time it takes to earn a bachelor's degree to 2 or 3 years.

Even if nothing else changes, this simple task could save the average student $20,000 or more.

Do we need to have such things as “weed out” classes in the first two years of a degree-seeking

program? Are we not just able to accept that the 13 years of hard work and life experience it took

for those in the student body to be accepted into the universities of their choosing make them

qualified enough to earn a degree without useless classes at $3,000 per three credit class?

There seems to have been a steady stream of roadblocks that make such things more difficult

than they need to be. They simultaneously come at a cost much higher than they need to be. Any

of these ideas can be implemented to reduce costs and make the pathway to a 4-year degree more

attainable. Our educational systems can and should do better for those they are meant to support.

In conclusion there is plenty that could be done about the ever-rising tuition rates in the United

States. I truly believe that taking action now will lead to a better future for not only education

seeking individuals, but also for our nation as a whole. Considering the possible effects that this

fast-spreading plague of increased tuition can bring the alternative really doesn’t seem so bad.

Works Cited

Call, PETER NOAH, The Morning. “PENN STATE STUDENTS FACE 4.5% TUITION HIKE
* FACULTY SALARIES WILL INCREASE. NEW SURCHARGE FOR SCIENCE AND
NURSING STUDENTS WILL GO TOWARD LAB COSTS.” Mcall.Com,
https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1997-07-12-3164343-story.html. Accessed 24 July 2021.
ERIC - Education Resources Information Center. https://eric.ed.gov/. Accessed 24 July 2021.
 “How Much Does It Cost to Study in the US?” Top Universities,
https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/student-finance/how-much-does-it-cost-study-us.
Accessed 24 July 2021.
“Insider.” Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com. Accessed 24 July 2021.
kmcnulty. “What Is the Average Student Loan Debt?” Credit.Com, 9 July 2021,
https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/average-student-loan-debt/.
Sackstein, Starr. “Why Has the Cost of College Outpaced Inflation?” Education Week, 18 Apr.
2019. www.edweek.org, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-why-has-the-cost-of-
college-outpaced-inflation/2019/04.
This Is How Much College Will Cost in 5, 10 & 15 Years.
https://www.northwesternmutual.com/life-and-money/how-much-college-will-cost-in-5-10-and-
15-years/. Accessed 24 July 2021.