Higher Education Cost

Higher Education Cost

Higher education is essential to both the developing and the developed countries. College, professional and graduate schools are currently expensive than ever. The cost of higher education has risen by 540% since the year 1985. Interpreting the percentage means that the price for higher education is currently 4.5 times higher as compared to about 30 years ago. An increment in the value of higher education is attributed to the fact that the demand for higher education is high while the institutions offering t higher learning are few. The rise of the higher education cost is a great challenge worldwide. Qualified talented students can miss a chance to join the institution for higher learning if they cannot afford the tuition fees hence resulting in the killing of great talents within some of our youths. Third world countries find themselves in a complicated situation because it’s tough for the government to finance higher education systems and hence causing the higher learning institutions to the cost per student to high figures. A study carried out by Abraham(1998)showed that the money allocated to a particular higher education institution does not necessarily end up being spent in the institution .Therefore misuse of the available resources may be one of the factors resulting in the rise of the higher education cost in recent years.

Factors contributing to the rise of the higher education cost in recent years emanates from both within and outside the institutions. Annual budget by the government in each country is one of the significant factors contributing to the rise in higher education cost. Budget cuts by the government have hit the institutions of higher learning. The less annual allocation of money to institutions of higher learning by the government disrupts the normal operation of these institutions. The institutions are then left with no other alternative rather than raising the costs of the higher education to provide the necessary services to the students. A 2012 report by American Institutes for research showed that taxpayers in America paid fewer costs for higher education as compared to the other years because the government had allocated more money for higher learning institutions. Students loans also contribute to the rise of the higher education cost. Settling the tuition fees using the student’s credits makes the students and their parents not to feel the effect of the increased cost of higher education. Institutions then rise the costs again to provide better services because the students are comfortable providing the fees using the student’s loans.

The significant amount of fees paid to the institutions of higher learning is used in other activities rather than in tuition. Events such as sporting and athletics contribute to hike of the cost for higher education. Higher learning institutions offering some sport oriented courses, therefore, may have to increase their costs to cater for both the tuition and the co-curriculum activities. Co-curriculum activities are essential to relaxation. Institutions, therefore, increase some co-curriculum activities to achieve their goals of producing competent professionals who are all around. Additional co-curriculum activities consequently lead to an increase in the cost of higher learning for the institutions to cater for both the tuition services and co-curriculum activities.

The college dropout rate has increased by a significant percentage due to lack of fees. Some students and parents find themselves in a situation where they are not able to raise the required college fees. Automatically, if the student cannot raise the required amount, then they are forced to drop out and engage in other activities. According to the study conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2011, almost 44% of the students enrolled in college fail to complete their studies within the required duration of time(johnstone,298). Students dropping out of the college has a significant effect on any country. Great professionals who would have helped the country in the future end up giving up in their lives when they are not able to afford for the higher learning education. An increase in the cost of higher education is also one of the factors contributing to the low transition rate of the students from the secondary level to the tertiary level of education.

Generally, government budget cut for every country is the primary factor contributing to the increase in the higher education cost. Increase in the higher education cost has severe effects on students and their parents. Dropping out is one of the impacts of the increased cost of higher education. The government loses professionals and great talents due to dropping out of college(Massy,2247). Therefore, more research should be conducted in this topic to ensure that the causes of increased higher education costs are well known, and properly dealt with for the institutions of higher learning to achieve their goals and produce competent professionals.

increased higher education costs are well known, and properly dealt with for the institutions of higher learning to achieve their goals and produce competent professionals.