Crippling Cost
CRIPPLING COST
Every spring high school students across the country celebrate over recently received acceptance letters to college. The thought of attending a top American institution is thrilling for young scholars, and with a letter of admission the dream is almost a reality. Parents are often less enthused since they know college in this country is far from cheap. For many families the cost of higher education is a large hurdle on the road to success. Over the last 30 years the cost of private, and public, universities has skyrocketed upward, leaving individuals across the states scratching their heads about education. A controversy has formed as to why college tuition is not only expensive, but keeps increasing in price almost every academic year. Higher education is spiraling out of control, the cost of college is much more than it needs to be. The value of college is not only too much for students, but also for the entire country. In 2009 a report was released detailing that “spending by Americans for post-secondary education totaled $461 billion, an amount 42% greater than in 2000.” (CNN, Why does College Cost So Much) Such a statistic is greater than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many countries. Universities need to look at students as product of potential rather than duplicated clones. Students should come to college to be instructed and refined, allowing them to benefit society in a direct and positive manner. More often than not educational institutions view students as customers, the idea of getting premium dollar amount from each individual seems to be the consensus. This leads to the notion of universities making it a goal to be top notch firms rather than academic establishments. When assessing prestigious universities in America, one observes they have great financial stability and indeed make large amounts of money. A financial endowment consists of assets that have been donated to a specific institution. Generally
Every spring high school students across the country celebrate over recently received acceptance letters to college. The thought of attending a top American institution is thrilling for young scholars, and with a letter of admission the dream is almost a reality. Parents are often less enthused since they know college in this country is far from cheap. For many families the cost of higher education is a large hurdle on the road to success. Over the last 30 years the cost of private, and public, universities has skyrocketed upward, leaving individuals across the states scratching their heads about education. A controversy has formed as to why college tuition is not only expensive, but keeps increasing in price almost every academic year. Higher education is spiraling out of control, the cost of college is much more than it needs to be. The value of college is not only too much for students, but also for the entire country. In 2009 a report was released detailing that “spending by Americans for post-secondary education totaled $461 billion, an amount 42% greater than in 2000.” (CNN, Why does College Cost So Much) Such a statistic is greater than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many countries. Universities need to look at students as product of potential rather than duplicated clones. Students should come to college to be instructed and refined, allowing them to benefit society in a direct and positive manner. More often than not educational institutions view students as customers, the idea of getting premium dollar amount from each individual seems to be the consensus. This leads to the notion of universities making it a goal to be top notch firms rather than academic establishments. When assessing prestigious universities in America, one observes they have great financial stability and indeed make large amounts of money. A financial endowment consists of assets that have been donated to a specific institution. Generally