A vicious and unending cycle

As mentioned on last post,  I noted in the fashion insinuating that the government intervention is what to blame for skyrocketing tuition. 

It would be much idealistic if the federal government suddenly steps out of this secondary education sector and let other private sectors to jump in, creating "perfect competition". 

However, there are practical issues confronting the government intervention issue. 

Let's recap. 

Public four-year post-secondary institutions : 76 percent increase on average over the last decades.

Private four-year post-secondary institution: 62 percent increase. 


Another problem that can rise is that the speed of increasing tuition is clearly surpassing the rate of inflation, increase in income amongst middle-class family which is 5 percent. 

If government grant more aids, more student will head to colleges  = we might face the future where getting PhD is a social norm. 

If government steps back and let private sectors to compete = less students will pursue post-secondary degrees. 

If that happens, public institutions will lower their tuitions in order to prevent loosing students who are pursuing private institutions. 


But!! all those possible solutions bear one big problem that keeps this unsolvable cycle; what about people who are intellectually eligible without sufficient financial supports from their households??


The point that I'm trying to emphasize here is that the government intervention in college tuition wasn't intentionally aimed to correspond to skyrocketing tuition. It all started to purely "support"
students with very potential futures who are in need. 

But as always, once positively implemented policy is now has turned up by "business-minded" people, who are trying to make plethora amount of profits by taking advantage of the government intervention. 



So.... What are some REAL solutions when it comes to skyrocketing tuitions?? 


According to Dr. Fichtenbaum, professor at Wright State Univesrity and the president of the American Association of Univesrity  Professors, he claims that, actually, put blames on three distinct factors that are quite different from my previous condemnation.  In agreement with Dr. Fichtenbaum, he picks the first factor controlling price at public colleges is the decline in state support for higher education; between 1987 and 2012, statistically, government support has diminished from $8,497 to $5,906/ student (Fichtenbaum).

His statement is further buttressed by the fact that there has been a decrease in maximum AMT available from a Pell Grant for the last five years (solutionsforfuture).

Fichtenbaum's second factor is surprisingly, faculties salaries. 
But, don't be fooled, "When measured in constant dollars, salaries for full-time facutly at public institutions have actually declined." 

This can be explained by looking at University presidents, who act verisimilitude as CEOs' of multinational companies. 
It is a big business, and they don't seem to voluntarily stop earning profits when they can. 


Last but not least, rising costs can simply a result of growth in luxurious entertainments and amenities of universities. For instance, Penn State has just finished polishing up Burrows and Steidle. Universities borrow or have already borrowed millions  to attract students visionally by building luxurious dorms, new dinning halls, and not to mention subsidization of college athletics (Fichtenbaum).

In the end, he finally comes down to TWO solutions, which are extremely underlined by me. 

In order to reduce the federal presence in financial aid; 


1) reducing enrollments, the demand for higher education, lowering the ability of colleges to raise prices. 

By doing so, the pattern of reduction in size would lead universities to reduce its size, deducting administrative dues, and maintain the minimally required departments.

2) Cost-cutting ideas, such as three-year bachelor degrees or opening more online-based courses. 

In this way, universities can keep students motivated and likely to increase competition among them.  Eliminating quite pedagogical focus and freshly changing the aim to encourage students to demonstrate workplace competency. Nowadays, practicality and precision are required to survive in the saturated pool with influx of 2 million college graduates.

I have a lot of friends  in Canadian universities who are currently in Co-op program. 

Also, in Thailand, sponsorships from companies are very common and affective among Thai international students. 

Next week, let's change the scope and let's see how the world is dealing with the skyrocketing tuitions.