The Best Solution to the High Cost of Education

1 Introduction

            The importance of the higher education in the contemporary society can hardly be underestimated because education is important in terms of the professional and personal development of individuals. Education plays the key part in the contemporary society which is the information society because the information and knowledge play the key part in the life of people and society at large. The access to education defines career and job opportunities of individuals while career and job opportunities define the wellbeing of individuals. In such a context, the access to education is determinant for the wellbeing of individuals.

            However, today, high costs of education limit the access of students from low-income families to the higher education. The higher education becomes a privilege of representatives of the upper- and middle-class. High costs of education make the higher education unavailable for students, who cannot afford to pay for their education. The higher are the costs, the more limited the access to education becomes. Therefore, the growth of costs of the higher education deprives a large part of students of the opportunity to obtain the higher education that put them into the a priori disadvantageous position in the labor market and threatens to the stability in society in the future. Hence, the effective solution to the problem of the high costs of the higher education, on the one hand, and availability of the higher education, on the other, is essential to grant all students with equal access to education and to prevent socioeconomic conflicts in the future.

2 Background of the problem

            Historically, there was the gap between minority groups and majority and between the rich and the poor in their access to the higher education. The divide in the access to the higher education existed because of socioeconomic disparities and historical discrimination of minority groups, including African Americans, who used to be slaves and remained in the inferior position in the US society for a long time. In spite of legal changes that granted representatives of all groups with equal rights in terms of their access to education, the access of minorities still remain limited because of high costs of education which they cannot afford because often minorities have low income (Joyce, 2010). This is why even today the higher education is a privilege available to representatives of the middle- and upper-class mainly, while representatives of low-income families cannot afford growing costs of the higher education. As a result, they are just left aside of the higher education process because, in contrast to the general education, the higher education is not guaranteed by the state to all citizens.

            However, the access to the higher education defines career opportunities and competitive position of individuals in the labor market. Students that do not have access to the higher education have worse career opportunities compared to students, who receive college and university degrees (Johnstone, 2015, 4). As a result, the economic disparity between individuals with higher education and without it grows wider because individuals with higher education have better economic opportunities that individuals without it. This is why today the access to the higher education is not just the matter of education but also the matter of better economic opportunities and disparity in society. In this regard, high costs of the higher education raise almost unsurpassable barriers for students from low-income families and widen socioeconomic gaps between Americans, while, in the future, this trend will grow stronger.

3 Analysis of available solutions to the problem of high costs of the higher education

            In face of the problem of high costs of the higher education, it is possible to elaborate several alternatives that can help to resolve the problem and eliminate barriers on the way of all students to the higher education, including loans for education, the reduction of costs of the higher education by universities, and scholarships and grants. Loans for education open the way to education for students, but such loans may be difficult to receive. Moreover, loans for education becomes a serious burden which students will have to deal with, when their career starts (Troutt, et al., 1998, 31). As a result, even before they start their career, they have already bear the burden of the loan, the debt which they have to pay off. Such loans will urge students to pay off their debt rather than to invest into their further professional development or business, for example. This is why loans for education may be just a partial solution because students, who have mediocre grades and belong to low-income families can hardly count on such loans. Hence, loans for education do not resolve the problem of high costs of education and limited access to education. Instead, loans for education may even trigger the growth of costs of education because the infiltration of the higher education system with loaned money will increase the competition among students and encourage universities to raise tuition and overall costs of education even more.

            Alternatively, policy makers may consider the possibility of the reduction of the cost of education by the university, depending on the financial situation of the applicant. The reduction of the cost of education by universities would seemingly resolve the problem because costs of education would drop on the ground of the decision taken by universities. However, there is a bunch of issues which emerge and can make this solution hardly possible to apply successfully. The major issue that emerges is the mechanism that may motivate universities to reduce costs of education. Universities are autonomous educational institutions that rely entirely on revenues they obtain from education services they offer to students. Universities can provide the higher education for students but they are interested in revenues they receive. They also have costs to cover. As a rule, universities do not receive exorbitant profits. In such a situation, the reduction of costs by universities may lead to the shortage of funding of essential educational services and items in the university budget. Hence, the reduction of the cost of education by universities will raise another problem since universities have to decide how to reduce costs (Butler, 2014). For example, they may cut jobs or reduce the payment to educators as well as introduce any other policy that will ultimately lead to the reduction of costs. However, the question that begs is whether such reduction of costs will allow retaining the current quality of the higher education or the quality of education will drop. If universities cut jobs or payments to educators, they may deteriorate their performance or simply move to universities, where they receive better payment. Thus, the reduction of costs of education by universities is a good solution but technically this solution is difficult to implement technically, whereas effects of such policies may be negative for the quality of the higher education in the US.

            Scholarships and grants is another alternative for the reduction of costs of the higher education because they will provide students with the financial support they need and they will not have to pay off costs of their education as they have to do in case of loans for education (Renehan, 2015, 12). Scholarships and grants will provide students with the essential financial support and cover costs of education for students, who are interested in the higher education and who are capable to learn successfully. Scholarships and loans may be granted to students, who cannot afford the higher education but who manifest the positive academic performance and are interested in their further education. The coverage of their higher education by means of scholarships and grants gives them a chance to obtain the higher education, which, otherwise, they could not afford.

4 The best solution and rationale

            The analysis of available options reveals that scholarships and grants is the best solution because it provides students, who cannot afford the higher education with the possibility to access the higher education. The higher education is costly but scholarships and grants provide the funding of the higher education for students in need. At the same time, scholarships and grants are efficient in economic terms because they are available only for those students, who are really interested in learning and who have skills and inclinations to learning. Scholarships and grants may be provided for gifted students and students, who have positive academic achievements, but cannot afford the higher education. In such a way, they can gain the access to the higher education, which would be unavailable to them without the financial support in terms of scholarships and grants. Scholarships and grants imply the evaluation of the academic level of students because to earn scholarships and grants students should comply with specific academic standards of the particular scholarship or grant. In such a situation, their low-income is just one of criteria for the enrollment into a scholarship or grant program.

            Scholarships and grants open the way for government and non-government agencies and organization to support gifted students and students, who need their support since they cannot afford high costs of the higher education but have already achieved tremendous academic successes. At the same time, private companies are also interested in the recruitment of gifted students and they may use scholarships and grants to find gifted students, educate them and employ them. In such a way, employers can find gifted employees at the beginning of their education and they may invest into the education of their prospective employees to employ the most gifted professionals with huge potential. In such a way, the higher education will attract investments from the part of government agencies, NGOs and private capital to provide gifted students in need with scholarships and grants to cover their costs of the higher education. Scholarships and grants will make the higher education to a larger number of students and stimulate the growth of the higher education industry in the US since the growth in demand will lead to the growth of supply of educational services by universities.

            Scholarships and grants can balance economic inequality of students providing grants for those students, who have good grades and can learn successfully but cannot fund their higher education on their own. In such a way, the higher education will become more accessible to all students. In a long-run perspective, scholarships and grants will contribute to closing gaps between representatives of different classes because students from lower-class will get better educational and, therefore, employment opportunities. Hence, they will become more competitive in the labor market and closer to representatives of the middle- and upper-class. The elimination of barriers to the higher education will close gaps between Americans belonging to different socioeconomic classes and having the different level of income because education is a chance for low-income students to improve their socioeconomic standing in the future, when they start their career.

            Furthermore, the introduction of scholarships and grants for students will contribute to the transformation of the higher education from the privilege, as it is now, into the public good available to all. Such transformation will be the result of the elimination of financial gaps between students by means of scholarships and grants. Students, who are gifted and capable to obtain the higher education will have a chance to obtain it, regardless of their socioeconomic background and the level of income of their families. Scholarships and grants will provide funding of education for students, who cannot afford the higher education because of its too high costs. Students, who want to learn and who can learn successfully, will receive scholarships and grants on the ground of their academic skills and knowledge but not on the ground of their level of income. As a result, students will have a chance to apply for scholarships and grants and have a chance to obtain the higher education.

            At the same time, scholarships and grants may be offered to low-income families specifically to ensure that they have a chance to obtain the higher education. In such a case, scholarships and grants programs will have to elaborate transparent and coherent process of enrollment which includes students from low-income families only. Thus, scholarships and grants may become even more effective as the tool of the elimination of socioeconomic disparities between students which persist now. Representatives of the upper- and middle-class will receive their higher education as they do now, while representatives of the lower-class will benefit from scholarships and grants which give them funding to learn and receive the higher education. In such a way, the problem of high costs of the higher education will be resolved and gaps will be bridged.

5 Conclusion and recommendations

            Thus, the wider use of scholarships and grants can help to address the problem of high costs of the higher education because this approach provides students, who cannot afford their higher education, with the essential financial support that will not only give them a more competitive position in the labor market in the future but also contribute to the stability in society and closing education gaps nationwide. Scholarships and grants are effective tools that can help to eliminate the dependence of the access to education on costs of education because low-income students, who have good academic results, may count on scholarships and grants to get access to the higher education.

            In such a situation, it is possible to offer several recommendations: to identify student, who need financial support, to expand scholarships and grants for students in need; criteria for the enrollment of students into scholarship and grant programs. The implementation of these recommendations will help to introduce scholarships and grants programs effectively and to resolve the problem of high costs of the higher education to make the higher education universal and accessible to all students, regardless of their economic position, level of income and social status.

References:

Butler, S. (2014). 3 Ways to Lower Crazy High College Costs. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/11/12/3-ways-to-lower-crazy-high-college-costs/

Johnstone, B. (2015). Financing Higher Education: Worldwide Perspectives and Policy Options. Retrieved from http://gse.buffalo.edu/org/inthigheredfinance/files/Recent_Publications/Financing%20H%20Ed%20WW%20Perspectives%20and%20policy%20options%20revised.pdf

Joyce, R. (2010). Why can’t a university education be sold cheaper? Retrieved from http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/03/11/why-cant-a-university-education-be-sold-cheaper/

Renehan, S. (2015). Rising Tuition in Higher Education: Should we be Concerned? Vision for the Liberal Arts, 1 (1). Retrieved from http://scholar.oxy.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=liberalarts

Troutt, W. et al. (1998). Straight Talk About College Costs and Prices Report of The National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jepsen/costreport.html

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
close
Haven't found the right essay?
Get an expert to write you the one you need!
print

Professional writers and researchers

quotes

Sources and citation are provided

clock

3 hour delivery

person