How The Cost Of College Went From Affordable To Sky-High
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Transcript for file: 20140318_me_how_the_cost_of_college_went_from_affordable_to_sky-high.mp3
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we’ve been hearing a lot about the stunning upward spiral of student desk
and here’s a number for you it has now surpassed a trillion dollars higher than
America’s collective credit card debt as part of a month long look at how Americans
Americans are paying for college and your Claudio Sanchez examines house or in college
College cost at 4 Stanley still put a much larger share bear income towards higher
occasion if you want to get an earful about paying for college listen to parents
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sunstate for tuition and fees skyrocketed in the last 5 years in Arizona
example parents of seen a 77 percent increase why addictive
steps to? Parents ask the shelf grace lemon role of Sun City Arizona says
person couldn’t afford to stay in college she worries for granddaughter won’t even though she’s trying to
trying to help her with tuition how much is going to come out of my pocket where am I going to get that money
parents in Georgia 75 percent Washington State
870 percent even in Oklahoma which which increases have been among the lowest in the name
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the nation parents I just made Jeffrey Corbett is from Stillwater Oklahoma
his daughter is attending Community College Corbett a fundraiser for a non profit
says a highschool diploma just won’t get you very for he knows he doesn’t have
have a college degree what think about all the time because I realize what it has limited
Limited me by not having a piece of paper and that experts say is the source of parents for stray
stration today a college education sings on Affordable the worst possible
Apple time college president going up so fast when people are really struggling the unemployment rate
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red high nobodys we just have gone up in recent years sandy bottom senior fellow
felattio Institute has spent much of her career studying trans in college cost
cost increases in college tuition at public colleges particular in recent years have really been done except
unacceptable and is no question but that is a much higher percentage of median
median incomes Bennett used to be and yet says bomb somehow people are paying for
and the reason people are paying for it is because the returned to the investment is so high
hi no matter what you pay for higher education most Americans think it will be worth it
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sit down but it was a different story 70 years ago the most Americans sought
what college was only for the weather feel
changed after World War 2 the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
for better known as the GI Bill of Rights the GI Bill
rather an American Way
man plays once again in the community and get some of those things
occasions
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GI bill made
Dade College affordable for an entire group of veterans
who never would have thought of going to be on high school John C when is a professor
the University of Kentucky and I am the author of a history of American higher education
asian teen says the GI Bill with an unexpected success in Rolling just under 18
8 million veteran 10 times a number the office of the bill have protected
the sudden normal to Manchester England cruise ports College cost higher but it didn’t
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did because States embrace the idea the booming postwar economy allowed
allowed to spend on Presidents on money to expand higher education the biggest
the biggest problem that was facing governors of legislators could we build campuses fast
bath whilst eat when fasting the federal government was coming out of huge
can you roll for itself helping families pay for college its bum the Nash
national defense to know which later became the Perkins Loan Program it did for sale
for civilians with the GI Bill have done for veterans opening college Gates even wider
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then with the civil rights movement as a backdrop the landmark 1960
6502 quetion X push for greater College axis for women and minorities
again John Cena and also what’s important to know is that the same period 1960
265 to 1972 colleges and universities dog very deep into your own palm
pockets to provide grants to student financial aid
in partnership with the new federal programs Americans flock to campuses with exp
the expectations of the government was going to put part of the cost for many more America
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American system in college became a portable I think the turning point with a round 90
1970 double digit inflation and oil embargo aspiring economy
a perfect storm begin to build college tuition and fees climb this much or more
more than the inflation rate private loans heavily subsidized by the federal government
gradually replaced federal grants as the main source of money for both por
poor and middle class college students as family income cell borrowing to pay for college
College took off while public investment in higher education dropped sandy
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sandy bottom of your brain Institute says that drop has been the single biggest reason
the increase in college cost so its not that the colleges are spending more money to educate
it’s that they have to get that money from someplace to replace the lost state
state funding and that from tuition and fees from students and family most Institute
institutions try to keep house down box has some to advantage of a public perception
Sheneneh high tuition mean a quality education the show me evidence that people
people don’t know how to measure the quality of a college education they think benefits expensive
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must be better I don’t think colleges want to have high prices but I do think they C Street
the strategic reasons why it may be in their interest to have high prices for the average time
which family does the pricing of a college education has become a shell game colleges
point out there’s the sticker price and is the real price which is great for the future
you can navigate the labyrinth of financial aid sources and discounts Institution say they offer
the office which princess back to those bewildered if not wearing parents Lucy knowing
when to the rise in college cost parents like having to let a mother of two from
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who from suburban Seattle her daughter attends Washington State University when she study to be
to be a veterinarian never question at my kids were going to go to college was always the disco
discussion from the time they were babies that’s what they were going to do but it does come down to the Paradise
the parent making a decision about what they can afford the realization that a college education
never will be the entitlement that many Americans thought it was dirty
30 and 40 years ago Deli Sanchez NPR news
If you want to get an earful about paying for college, listen to parents from states where tuition and fees have skyrocketed in the last five years. In Arizona, for example, parents have seen a 77 percent increase in costs. In Georgia, it's 75 percent, and in Washington state, 70 percent.
Even in Oklahoma, where tuition increases have been among the lowest in the nation, parents are dismayed. In Stillwater, Okla., Jeffery Corbett's daughter is attending community college. Corbett, a fundraiser for a nonprofit, says a high school diploma just won't get you very far. And he knows; he doesn't have a college degree.
"I think about it all the time, because I realize [how] it has limited me, by not having that piece of paper," he says.
And that, experts say, is the source of parents' frustration today. A college education seems unaffordable at the worst possible time — when "people are really struggling," says Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who has spent much of her career studying trends in college costs.
"The unemployment rate is high. Nobody's wages have gone up in recent years," she adds. "Increases in college tuition at public colleges, particularly in recent years, have really been unacceptable. And there's no question that that is a much higher percentage of median [family] incomes than it used to be."
And yet, Baum says, somehow, families are paying for it. "And the reason people are paying for it is because the return to the investment is so high." No matter what a higher education costs them, most Americans think it will be worth it, she says.
It was a different story 70 years ago, when most Americans thought college was only for the wealthy elite. That changed after World War II with the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill of Rights.
The law made college affordable for a group of veterans who never would have thought of going beyond high school, says John Thelin, a professor at the University of Kentucky and author of A History of American Higher Education.
The GI Bill was an unexpected success, Thelin says, enrolling just under 8 million veterans — 10 times the number the authors of the bill had predicted.
This sudden, enormous demand, Thelin adds, could have pushed college costs higher — but didn't, because states embraced the idea. The booming postwar economy allowed them to spend unprecedented sums of money to expand higher education.
"The biggest problem that was facing governors and legislators was, could we build campuses fast enough?" Thelin says.
While states were investing, the federal government was carving out a new role for itself: helping families pay for college. It spawned the National Defense Student Loan program, later called the Federal Perkins Loan program, which did for civilians what the GI Bill had done for veterans — and opened college gates even wider.
Then, with the civil rights movement as the backdrop, the landmark Higher Education Act of 1965 pushed for greater college access for women and minorities.
At the same time, Thelin says, from "1965 to 1972, colleges and universities dug very deep into their own pockets to provide grants and other forms of student financial aid in partnership with the new federal programs."
Americans flocked to campuses with the expectation that the government was going to foot part of the bill, and college did become affordable for many more Americans.
But a turning point arrived around 1970, Thelin says. With double-digit inflation, an oil embargo and a sputtering economy, a perfect storm began to build. College tuition and fees climbed as much or more than the inflation rate. Private loans, heavily subsidized by the federal government, gradually replaced federal grants as the main source of money for both poor and middle-class college students.
As family income fell, borrowing to pay for college took off, while public investment in higher education dropped. Sandy Baum of the Urban Institute says that drop has been the single biggest reason for the increase in college costs.
"So it's not that colleges are spending more money to educate students," Baum says. "It's that they have to get that money from someplace to replace their lost state funding — and that's from tuition and fees from students and families."
While most institutions tried to keep costs down, Baum says, some took advantage of the public perception that a high tuition means a quality education.
"There's certainly evidence that people don't know how to measure the quality of a college education," she says. "They think that if it's expensive it must be better. I don't think colleges want to have high prices, but I do think they see strategic reasons why it may be in their interest to have high prices."
For the average family though, the pricing of a college education has become a shell game. As colleges love to point out, there's the sticker price and there's the real price. That's great for the few who can navigate the labyrinth of financial aid sources and discounts that institutions say they offer.
Experts say parents are slowly but surely becoming smarter consumers of higher education and are helping their kids find less-expensive options — like community college — while coming to the realization that a college education never will be the entitlement that many Americans thought it was 30 or 40 years ago.
That brings us back to those bewildered, if not wary, parents who see no end to the rise in college costs. Parents like Heather Gillette, a mother of two in suburban Seattle. Her daughter attends Washington State University, where she's studying to be a veterinarian.
There was never any question that her kids would go to college, Gillette says. The only question is what they would study. Even so, she says, "it does come down to the parent making the decision about what they can afford."