I try to read as much about personal finance as possible in order to provide you guys with valuable information that actually matters to you. I try to read as many reputable and credible sources as possible so that whatever I share with you is accurate. For my Friday Finding I want to share with you guys some interesting information I obtained from an article on CNN Money in regards to funding issues with state universities.
I will start off by sharing the most interesting pieces of information from this article:
1. The University of California system has turned down more applicants than the previous record in 2000.
2. State University of New York has increased tuition 14%. Here’s the best part- the students will never see any of this money because it will go directly to the state to help pay the deficit down.
3. Arizona State University wants students to pay a $1,200 surcharge.
4. Florida State University President admits that the student-to-faculty ratio is too high and that students are not being challenged enough.
You get the point. I could go on for another couple of thousand words highlighting some of the depressing facts in regards to the lack of funding for public state universities.
College students will greatly suffer because of all of these funding issues. How? Here’s why I think college students/potential college students will be impacted by this:
Lower college enrolment numbers
With tighter admissions and higher turn down rates, less potential college students will have the opportunity to attend the state college that they wanted to attend ever since they were a little kid.
Less motivation to attend college
Most young people would rather work than go to college anyways. Now that tuition has increased and odds of getting into the school of your choice are against you, more twenty somethings will be motivated to work instead of attend college. It does make sense in a way because some people are in a position where they need to save as much money as possible to pay the bills and spending over $15,000 a year on an education is simply not an option.
College will become a debt sentence/major financial burden
It’s already debatable that a post secondary education has become a debt sentence. If tuition continues to rise then some college graduates will not have their student loans paid off until well into their 30s. There are some people that will have their educational costs covered by parents or through a scholarship but the majority of students will have to work long hours in the summer or acquire massive amounts of debt.
College students will not be prepared for the work force
The President of The Florida State University admitted it himself that he feels his students are not being challenged enough with their studies. He may be the only president willing to come forward and state something like that but I’m sure many public college presidents around the nation are sharing the same thoughts. Let’s say you somehow manage to get a college education without completely going into debt, you will still have to cope with the stress of not being prepared for the challenges your career will throw your way.
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I attended California State University – Sacramento from 2005 through 2007 (and will again for grad school starting this August, where I will pay $1,900 per semester in tuition) and tuition/fees increased nearly every semester I attended. They also climbed nearly each semester I attended community college the two years prior, but not nearly as much. I live in the proximity of the University of California – Davis, and the UC fee hikes have been big news in my region. It’s sad that education–the backbone of progress and future success for so many young Americans–is being cut because of defecit troubles. In this day and age, it’s extremely difficult to succeed without a college education, and each cut in education spending (both higher education as well as elementary, middle school and high school) takes that dream further out of reach of young people like myself. No wonder community college enrollment is booming–it provides an affordable and convenient alternative.
I’m about twice your age, but I remember a tuition-room-board hike across both private and public universities in 1990 that amounted to 10-15%. Helloooooo drop-out rate! And don’t get me started on how the biggest coffers of scholarship money reward sports prowess and beauty pageantry.