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Bradley Thomas

Professor Perkins

ENG 101

July 7, 2023

The High Cost of College

While more people may be attending college now than in past years, it is certainly

costing them more now than it used to. Is it worth it? The number of Americans that believe that

college will have a positive impact has dropped 14% since 2014 (Patterson). That may be due to

the rising cost of college tuition and the rising level of student debt. Although some may believe

that students choose to take on whatever debt they acquire, the rising tuition costs are too high

for what certain degrees are truly worth, leading to fewer people enrolling in college or causing

students to take on insurmountable amounts of debt. Tuition costs are rising faster than the

inflation rate, student loans are very easy to obtain, and the value of certain degrees is not

proportional to their cost. 

Tuition rates have risen more than four times the average inflation rate, causing people to

graduate with thousands of dollars worth of debt. The average student debt is about $30,000,

which is leading to college graduates entering the workforce and feeling underemployed.

Currently, around 40% of college graduates feel underemployed in their first job (Collier). With

tuition rates rising faster than the inflation rate, college graduates are entering the workforce with

thousands of dollars in debt, forcing them to look for high-paying jobs or even put their futures

on hold just to pay off their student loans. In “College Cost,” Laura Collier explains, “In 30 years

tuition costs have risen threefold from $3,200 in the 1987-88 academic year to $10,000 in 2017-
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18, adjusting for inflation.” This dramatic rise in tuition costs is forcing students to seek out

loans to pay for their college educations.

Student loans may seem beneficial, but some college graduates are finding that their

degree path does not lead to a job with sufficient pay to pay off their loans and live comfortably.

“Students can take on huge sums of debt regardless of their earnings potential, and low-income

parents who choose to support their children’s education may find that it spells their own

financial ruin” (Chingos). These high tuition costs are the first steppingstone to a lot of financial

hardships. Student loans are also not very hard to get, almost anyone can borrow money for a

college education with seemingly no limit or questions asked (Chingos). These students or

parents of students are taking out these loans with the hope that a degree will lead to a high

enough paying job to eliminate the debt. Student Loan debt and not knowing the return on

investment for your degree is something that can turn people away from obtaining a college

degree.

Some degree fields are disproportionate in cost to their corresponding career field. More

and more jobs are requiring bachelor’s degrees as a prerequisite to employment. This can cause

the thought that obtaining a degree will automatically make a person more money when entering

the career force. While this may be true over a long period of time with the average median

salary about $20,000 higher than that of just high school graduates (Patterson), college graduates

are entering the workforce with an average of $30,000 worth of student loan debt (Collier). With

the rise in tuition fees, more students are trying to get a good return on their investment in their

education. This way of thinking leads students to flock towards “higher paying” degree fields

like law and medicine or engineering. There is now an overemphasis on degree fields where the

pay is more (Patterson). In What Is the Return on Investment for a College Degree? Patterson
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also explains that there needs to be more transparency between schools and students on the true

return on investment for specific degree fields. Since most people attending college are aged 18-

24, this lack of transparency can lead the students to believe that the high tuition costs will be

worth the time and money.

It has been argued that students should just choose their degree path accordingly;

however, this can lead to tuition costs rising even more. If a school is only receiving tuition from

the higher paying degree fields, it could cause them to raise tuition prices even more, to balance

out the lack of tuition from lower paying degree fields. This could also cause State funding to

move from lower-paying degree fields to higher ones to keep up with the overpopulation of those

degree fields. With technology advancing as rapidly as it is, resources are needed for higher-

paying degree fields to be effective, which can also raise tuition costs.

Tuition costs are currently too high and starting to turn people away from college. The

evidence of this is the rate at which college tuition has risen, the massive amounts of student

debt, and the lack of transparency from universities on the true value of certain degree programs.

School administrators need to look at the proportionate cost of a degree and the average salary

for the typical corresponding career field and come up with a cost for each degree field.
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Works Cited

Chingos, Matthew M. "Drowning in Debt." Education Next, vol. 22, no. 2, 2022. ProQuest,

[Link]

drowning-debt/docview/2733259796/se-2.

Collier, Lorna. "College Costs." CQ Researcher, 25 Oct. 2019, pp. 1-29,

[Link]/cqresearcher/cqresrre2019102500.

Paterson, James. “What Is the Return on Investment for a College Degree?” Journal of College

Admission, no. 256, Fall 2022, pp. 24–29. EBSCOhost, [Link]/[Link]?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=162094075&site=ehost-live&scope=site.