Governemt Should Intervene to Lower College Costs

Here, I will attempt to prove that college costs are rising faster than the public can afford, and there is no forseeable decline, which necessitates government intervention. Con will attempt to prove that college costs are acceptable on their current path. Because of this, BoP is shared. I. Rapid Increase in College Costs and Student Debt The cost to go to college is becoming insurmountably large in the modern era, and is still increasing. College tuition is inflating almost twice as fast as the rate of baseline inflation in the economy[2]! What this amounts to is college tuition is rising far faster than purchasing power per capita (PPP) is increasing, saddling both students and their families with more debt after college. College costs, historically, have gone up about twice the rate of inflation each year, amount to approximately an 8% tuition inflation rate per annum, while GDP per capita (PPP) historically increases approximately 5% a year. This means that college costs double every nine years[2], while GDP per capita (PPP) has only gone up by approximately 25% since 2003, and this rate has also been historically constant[4]. Family incomes, meanwhile, increase on average by only 1% a year. With this wide disparity in increases, it would be foolish to suggest anything other than that debt among US students will continue to increase, saddling the "new competitors" of our globalized economy with more they will have to worry about, and more they will have to pay for. In fact, the average (this does not account any graduate programs the student might wish to partake in, nor does it take into account debt taken on by the parents of the student) debt after college was over $25,000 in 2010, over 5% higher than the average debt of 2009[3]. Of 1,100 schools surveyed under the Project on Student Debt study, 98 (9%) said that their students were graduating on average with $35,000 of debt[3]. However, as these numbers were voluntarily reported by the collleges themselves, the numbers have the potential to be significantly higher, and they will be significantly higher as college tuition continues to skyrocket and average GDP per capita (PPP) and family income remains growing slow and steadily[5][6]. II. Lack of Free Market Forces Normally Associated with Reducing Costs and Making Services More Affordable "Top institutions have chosen to maintain and increase quality largely by spending more, not by increasing efficiency, reducing costs, or reallocating funds"[1]. Normally, when business compete to gain a greater share of the market and attract more customers, they try to put out better products and reduce the cost of business, to make their products as cheap and attractive as possible to the consumer. However, as this quotation shows, colleges and universities are not doing this. In their drive to increase quality, they have thrown cost considerations out the window. Frankly, there is no incentive to do this for most colleges. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Rice, Johns Hopkins and many, many others will all have students apply to them, as it is becoming increasingly apparent a college education is necessary for survival in today's hypercompetitive economy (this will be further looked into next section). With this guarantee that they will receive business no matter what, the only thing colleges need to do to compete is increase the quality of their facilities. However, while this is all well and good, it costs money, money which is then dumped onto the backs of students in the form of additional tuition. Now, one might argue that this sort of competition is only for schools like the Ivys, and that less-well-known schools would be working on lowering costs to appear more attractive. Not so. On average, Ivy League schools have in increase in tuition per annum lower than the average tuition rate per annum of all colleges[7][8]. In reality, those lesser-known colleges are increasing their quality faster than the well-endowed Ivys to catch up to them, and they do not have the high level of endowments the Ivys are typically associated with. So here we have it; the high-level colleges and universities are incredibly costly already, and smaller schools are fast reaching that level of costliness. There are no free market forces going, "Wait, stop! This is too much! "; those students who wish to pursue a higher-level career cannot choose to not go to college, and as such there is no possibility of not buying the product as it is an absolute necessity. In fact, the free market forces present are driving the cost upwards; when cost is irrelevant as it is to the institutions of higher learning, quality is all that matters, further pushing the price upwards[1]. Meanwhile, the federal government, while it has the potential to be a positive force, has been a negative one. As the government has pressured universities to cut indirect costs rather than making advancements in efficiency, the price of research has skyrocketed, which has been dumped on tuition[1]. All of these factors are contributing to making the cost of higher learning skyrocket at a time when it is necessary more than ever. III. Necessity of a College Education Nowadays more than ever, a college education is a necessity. Beyond the well-cited benefits of even a bachelor's degree (between $250,000 and $500,000[10]) vs a high school diploma, there are vast social benefits, garnered by all of society, that result from students graduating college. When access to higher education was easier, a healthy middle class and US economic dominance resulted, long past the time when Europe and Asia recovered from World War II[11]. However, as student debt has soared, income disparity and a shrinking middle class have been the result[9]. Competition from Europe and Asia has increased, and while much of this can be attributed to growing Chinese economic might, at least some of it must be attributed to a more costly education system. Additionally, college grads are less likely to commit crimes, live longer, healthier lives, and make more informed political decisions, on average[12]. All of these things benefit not only the graduate, but society as a whole. Thus, it is more important now than ever to go to college, but as has been shown, college costs and student debt are increasing rapidly, putting a strain on students, their families, and society as a whole. IV. ConclusionsWith students, on average, coming out of college with $25,000 of debt (an article in the Wall Street Journal recently said that the total amount of education-related debt still circulated has surpassed $1T) and college and university tuition rising faster than family incomes and GDP per capita (PPP), the current education system is becoming too expensive to bear. At a time when a college education is being needed most, it is becoming harder and harder to get. Without normal free market forces available to drive prices down, the federal and state governments must take a hand. I propose state and federal governments act to best lower costs. Their hand should be minimal, but government monetary aid of some sort will be necessary to curtial these rising costs. It is also important to remember that this expenditure would be investment rather than another government program with no return in sight. Your turn, Mr. Franklin. Sources will be posted in the comments, as I do not have room here.