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Michigan Daily
Spring 20167 Issue 4
Discussing and outlining the issues surrounding postsecondary education in the United States.
Access to Post-Secondary Education in the United States One of the biggest areas where the
state, and local governments
system is still not perfect. By 2020,
United States falls short compared
contribute about 1 percent of the
65 percent of jobs in the United
to other first world countries is
nation’s GDP to postsecondary
States will require their workers to
access to post-secondary education.
education. 2
have some form of postsecondary
The biggest issues facing college education in the US include a lack of access, high costs, low returns, and high amounts of student debt. There are currently 21 million people in the United States attending a postsecondary institution.1 Most high school students in modern days aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, as people with these degrees earn 50% more than those without. Colleges are funded by the government, tuition money, and donations/endowments. Federal,
Even though many people still feel that college is out of reach for them, more Americans than ever are
education, but only 39 percent of U.S. working-age adults actually have a post-secondary degree4.
attending college. This is in part due
Another issue surrounding higher
to the increase in access to financial
education in the United States is the
aid: Pell grant recipients have
extremely high costs associated with
grown to almost 40 percent of
it. The average cost attending a
students and the maximum award
private four-year university this
3
has risen by more than $1,000 .
school year was $31,231, as
Additionally, there has been a
opposed to a yearly cost of
greater push for affordable
$1,832 in 1971. At public, four-
community colleges, for those who
year schools, cost of attendance is
can’t obtain or don’t want to obtain
$9,139 on average compared to
a bachelor’s degree. However, the
$500 (in current dollars) in 1971.
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College Price Inflation7 This may not seem like much, but is 6 percent above the rate of inflation5. Because of this, many eligible students aren’t able to attend college. Many eligible students are also choosing to skip college altogether – finding it unnecessary. Peter Theil, for example, cofounder of PayPal, is offering entrepreneurs $100,000 to skip college6. People are starting to believe that college is no longer preparing students with the skills necessary to enter the
1
https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publica tions/docs/23_01_FullJournal.pdf 2 https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publica tions/docs/23_01_FullJournal.pdf 3 https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/new-usdepartment-education-report-highlights-collegesincreasing-access-and-supporting-strong-outcomes-lowincome-students
workforce, especially in STEM and business fields. 4
Additionally, the levels of debt students take on in order to obtain a bachelor’s degree does not align with the incomes they can earn with the jobs available to
http://www.futureofchildren.org/publications/journ als/article/index.xml?journalid=79&articleid=578 5 https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debtstatistics/ 6 http://time.com/money/collection-
them after graduation. As of 2017, Americans owe almost $1.3 trillion in student
post/3829776/heres-what-the-average-grad-makes-
loan debt, with about 44 million borrowers. The average graduate last year
right-out-of-college/
wracked up $37,172 in student loan debt7. In a conversation with Kathleen Bird,
7
a current University of Michigan student, she informed me that she has to take out
costs-are-so-high-and-rising.html
$40,000 of student loans a year to pay the $59,000 average cost of attendance at the University. The average student graduating with a bachelor’s degree makes $50,556 a year, making it difficult to repay these loans8. Although there have been some improvements in college enrollment, this lack of access and high cost associated with obtaining a bachelor’s degree still posing a problem for American students.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/16/why-college-
