SYNTHEIS TWO

Rising Tuition and Student Debt

Increasing tuition costs has been trending now for over
a decade and become a common problem with the rising
generation. The rising tuition costs bring unreachable prices
for the average American resulting in a search for a way to
achieve higher education. Student loans are financially an
easy and quick way to get ahold of a college degree right
away, but could the overall price of paying back large
amounts of debt be worth it? In reviewing the literature on
rising tuition and student debt, it is easy to show that the
causes of the increasing cost of school differs from the
effects of that increasing cost and ultimately what solutions
can be used to change the trend.
Rising tuition is the increasing cost in which it takes to
attend an institute of higher education such as a university
or college. Tuition payments include the direct instruction
for classes, and other services at the universities such as
maintenance, and student services. Along with rising tuition
come growing student loan debts. In order to pay for all that
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tuition covers, students are seeking extra financial help by

taking out student loans. Student loans are financial aid for
higher education granted by either the government or
private banks distributed to the institution to cover the cost
of tuition and expenses. When one takes out a student loan,
that person now has acquired student loan debt until the
money is paid back in full to the bank.
The overall cause and effect discussed in this paper is
rising tuition leading to increasing student loan debt. More
specifically, why tuition costs are continually rising and the
effects on students after taking financial moves such as
student loans to achieve such an expensive matter. Along
with that come solutions on the use of money by the
university to help this growing issue in todays society.
Why tuition costs are rising
It is no secret that the cost of higher education is on the
rise and doesnt seem to be slowing down. In a study posted
on usnews.com Travis Mitchell discussed the significant
change in tuition at universities over the past 20 years. The
average tuition and fees at private national universities have
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increased by 179% since 1995 while public national

universities have increased tuition and fees an astonishing
226% (Mitchell).
The realm of higher education has become very
competitive throughout the years. Between different
universities and colleges there is a competition to provide
the best experience and education in order to gain more
credibility resulting in more students willing to pay the high
price. As stated by Ronald Ehrenburg in Tuition Rising: Why
Colleges Cost so Much, Universities aggressively seek out
all possible resources and put them to use funding things
they think will make them better by spending the increased
tuition money on things that will better compare to other
institutions, like improving facilities, faculty, research, and
technology, universities gain popularity through student
body and future applicants.
Throughout society, attending a four-year university is
becoming more and more crucial to gain reliability in the
working world. College enrollment has increased by 27%
from 2002 to 2011 and is still on the rising trend (Gale,
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Harris, Renaud, and Rodihan). With such a large flow of

additional students, schools must keep up with the growing
population by increasing funds to accommodate everyone.
In the article Debt and Graduation from American
Universities it states In public universities, the expansion
of enrollment has occurred simultaneously with the
defunding of higher education by states (Dwyer, McCloud,
and Hodson). Universities and colleges cannot support a
larger student body with decreasing funding from state and
federal sources. When public schools no longer have as
much financial support from the state, it now will result in
the rise of tuition prices as the cost is passed onto students
and their families.
The Effects of Student Debt
Any type of debt will lead to consequences, good or
bad, depending on the situation. In a college students case,
the effects are abundant.
As discussed in the article, Student Loans Rising: An
overview of Causes, Consequences, and Policy Options, the
authors point out that student debt has a significant impact
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on choice of major, pushing some students towards jobs with

higher expected wagessuch as those in engineering and
economics (Gale, Harris, Renaud, and Rodihan). Student
debt causes a great deal of pressure to be able to pay off
such a large amount of money. By looking for higher paying
jobs and majors opposed to what actually may interest the
student, they feel more at ease about paying off debts.
In the article Student attitudes to student debt in
talks about how the impact debt can have on an individual
after getting a degree is significant. Substantial student
debt can influence the quality and timing of marriage or
children (Davies, Emma, and Stephen EG Lea.). Students
dont want the burden of serious amounts of debt when
approaching a new life style shared with a significant other
or spouse. Taking on the added responsibility of children
who require immense amounts of time and money are also a
hard task to take head-on when the student debt is still in
the picture. Furthermore, debt delays other major life
decisions such as purchasing homes and cars.

Along with individual consequences of taking out

student loans, the family household plays a large role in the
equation. Richard Fry points out in the article A Record Onein-Five Households Now Owe Student Loan Debt that about
19% of the nations households owed student debt money in
2010, more than double the share two decades earlier. The
process of increasing tuition has created more and more
stress on the family unit. Student loan debt on families can
hurt the head of households credit score resulting in lost
opportunities for example, taking out a house mortgage and
difficulty making large purchases that the family may need.
For many Families, borrowing has replaced savingmedian
income families today spend about 18%of their earnings on
debt service (Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson). This creates a
sense of vulnerability among families financial stability
throughout economic upsets.
Solutions to the Problem
Higher education is a huge controversial topic right now
in the political world with the new presidential campaigns
ramping up. Higher education first caught wind in recent
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popular politics when President Obama proposed free tuition

for community colleges. The article Obama Proposes
Tuition Free Education at Community Colleges, Rita
Giordano states A White House official said it would cost
$60 billion over ten years in order to finance his
proposal(Giordano). Although the solution to help this issue
of the high cost of education may seem like an easy fix,
many know that this proposal by Obama will be difficult to
pass given the opposing viewpoints on the situation between
the republican and democratic parties. Similar to this
proposal by Obama is a popular platform presented by
Bernie Sanders. The popular 2016 Democratic presidential
candidate has proposed this same idea in his campaign;
America about free tuition for all. This explains, at least in
part, his popularity among younger voters. While reading
Bernie Sanders Charming, Perfectly Awful Plan to Save
Higher Education I came across the point that the lesser
discussed part of the plan involves billions of new taxpayer
dollars, and a completely government controlled education
(Carey). Overall in all sources, the democratic proposals to
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fix the rising problem is to use taxpayers money to achieve

free education while the republican approach is to use all
funding in higher education resourcefully.
In the article Tuition Rising: why college costs so
much it talks about the shared governance between
administrators and faculty almost guarantees that selective
private institutions will be slow to react to cost pressures
(Ehrenburg). Having too many people involved in decisionmaking slows processes down cost more money as time
ticks. The solution discussed by Ehrenburg is to reorganize
the structure of institutions to minimize these delays from
happening. Another point discussed by Ehrenburg and
Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson as stated by Ronald Ehrenburg
that consortia to share academic and administrative
resources both within campus and across institutions
promise significant savings in a number of areas
(Ehrenburg).
Conclusion
Rising tuition and student debt is a countrywide
problem and is not centralized to one specific region. With
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such a wide controversy for a topic, it is important to make

sure everyone is educated on every viewpoint of the
conversation.
There are several effects from rising tuition and student
debt. Many students will chose majors that dont necessarily
interest them but choose one that has a larger net income in
order to more reasonably pay off student loan debt. Along
with persuading majors and jobs, rising tuition and student
debt put off many major life decisions. Decisions include
marriage, having children, and making large necessary
purchases such as a home. Lastly, taking out such large
loans can have an impact on the family household. Many
students get help from their parents who take out the loan
for them.
The overall effects of student loan debt and tuition
rising interests me most. Not only do these problems arise
obvious effects but also they tweak and adjust so many
other things when taking a closer look. All articles read so
far have pointed out the negative effects and Im curious to

see if there are any positive outcomes to the increasing

costs.
The idea of attaining a higher education has become a
very popular belief in todays society. With that large push
growing bigger and bigger every year universities struggle to
keep costs and value reasonable with what society agrees
upon resulting in a raise of tuition costs. This raise of tuition
only creates a domino effect resulting in the popularity of
student loans.

Works Cited
Carey, Kevin "Sanders's Charming, Awful Plan To Save
Colleges" Chronicle Of Higher Education 61.41
(2015):A60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Feb.
2016.
Davies, Emma, and Stephen EG Lea. "Student attitudes to
student debt."Journal of economic psychology 16.4
(1995): 663-679.

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Dwyer, Rachel E., Laura McCloud, and Randy Hodson. "Debt

and graduation from American universities." Social
Forces 90.4 (2012): 1133-1155.
Ehrenberg, Ronald G. Tuition rising. Harvard University Press,
2000.
Fry, Richard. "A record one-in-five households now owe
student loan debt." Pew Research Center, September
26 (2012).
Gale, William, et al. "Student loans rising: an overview of
causes, consequences, and
policy options." Washington, DC: Urban-Brookings Tax
Policy Center (2014).
Giordano, Rita. "Obama Proposes Tuition Free Education at
Community Colleges." McClatchy - Tribune Business
NewsJan 10 2015. ProQuest. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
Mitchell, Travis. "Paying for College: See 20 Years of Tuition
Growth at National
Universities." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 29
July 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.

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