The two articles excerpted below refer to two recently released studies on the affordability of higher education. Both studies explain how the affordability of access has been compromised for the last several decades. Price (tuition) follows costs, and per-student costs in higher education have been increasing for years at unsustainable rates. Spiraling net tuition increases will be the norm until higher education acts to increase productivity by using technology to redesign academic and business services -- especially academic services -- for improved service flexibility, learning effectiveness, and per-student efficiencies in operating costs.
College costs squeeze students; As tuition increases far outpace inflation, more are forced to balance jobs and school.
Mara Rose Williams and Keven Murphy, The Kansas City Star, September 14, 2006
There’s no part time in Nicole Henkle’s work and school schedule. Look for her behind the counter at Einstein Bros. Bagels during the day and shelving books at a public library in Independence in the evenings for a total of 36 to 40 hours a week. The Independence resident also is taking a 15-credit-hour load at the University of Missouri-Kansas City so she can get a second bachelor’s degree — to teach high school biology. Henkle’s hectic schedule is all about money — a familiar situation for students who are trying to pay for the rising cost of college education and to control their debt. Indeed, a report released Wednesday by the Campaign for America’s Future says that many students and their families have fallen deeper into debt trying to pay for a higher education. And the report by the nonprofit Washington, D.C., organization that bills itself as working for “progressive change” blames shrinking public aid, rising tuition and increased loan interest rates for the debt. “I think that the study is yet another confirmation of the fact that college costs are rising at a greater rate than families can bear,” said Jim Boyle, president of College Parents of America, an Arlington, Va., advocacy organization for current and future parents of college students. According to U.S. Census statistics cited in the report, the nation’s college students paid 42 percent more for tuition in 2005 than they paid in 2000. Tuition costs are rising at a rate that far outpaces inflation. For example, according to Census and federal education data, the median household income adjusted for inflation in Kansas fell by 10 percent between 2000 and 2005. In the same period, tuition increased about 59 percent. In Missouri, the median household income adjusted for inflation fell by 16 percent while tuition increased 51 percent. Read more ...
Financial Barriers Will Keep Millions From College, Eroding Nation's Competitiveness, Panel Says
Jane R. Porter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 14, 2006
Millions of high-school graduates from low- and moderate-income families who planned and prepared for college will continue to lose access to higher education because of financial strains, according to a report released on Wednesday by a committee that advises Congress and the U.S. Education Department. The report, "Mortgaging Our Future: How Financial Barriers to College Undercut America's Global Competitiveness," was released by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance and is based on analyses of data collected by the Education Department, primarily through the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, and the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey. It follows two previous reports issued by the committee -- "Access Denied," in 2001, and "Empty Promises," in 2002 -- that focused on rising college costs and insufficient financial aid as a barrier to college attendance. The new report focuses on how those factors undercut bachelor's-degree attainment. The report warns that financial barriers are disrupting other efforts to increase college enrollment, such as improved academic preparation, expanded early intervention, increased outreach to students, and simplified student-aid forms and processes. Chronicle subscribers can read more ...
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