2036: The Year No One Can Afford College

Posted on December 3, 2008
Filed Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Mike Dang

If you think paying for tuition is tough right now, wait until the year 2036 — that’s when things will really get bad. According to The New York Times, a biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a non-partisan group, found that if college tuition and fees continue to soar (as it has been for the last 25 years), higher education will become virtually unaffordable for most Americans. From 1982 to 2007, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent while the median family income rose only 147 percent, the report found. Although more students enrolled during that time period, the debt burden of students also increased because families were willing to get their kids through college no matter what it took. Even community colleges are becoming unaffordable. The net costs of a year in a community college was reported to be 49 percent of the poorest families’ median income last year, up from 40 percent in 1999-2000.

So what’s there to be done? According to David Shulenburger, the co-author of the report, colleges should continue experimenting. This could mean playing with quality, such as teaching a course with a 1,000 students remotely rather than in a classroom and see how well students can learn and thrive. Recommends a Times reader:

“Maybe the answer is a ‘no frills’ education … just bare-bones classrooms, virtual libraries and dedicated instructors.” — Frederick Singer, Huntington Beach, CA

We’ll provide more info on this story as the recession continues, so keep you eyes peeled!

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6 Responses to “2036: The Year No One Can Afford College”

  1. JokerOC on December 3rd, 2008 7:57 pm

    They could stop running schools and their sports programs as for profit business’ and take education as the main goal and purpose.

  2. Gail Ellis Duncan on December 3rd, 2008 8:51 pm

    Bring back trade schools. Stop most export and go back to Made In America! People need/want work! Simple. Stop making the issue so complicated. Harvard, Yale…bul3-8-459359 Please get a grip and wake up!

  3. Mike Dang on December 3rd, 2008 9:27 pm

    Good points. The article says when the economy is good, tuition is only slightly raised and when it’s bad, that’s when it’s hiked (Harvard’s endowment just lost $8 billion). While colleges look at how they can make their education cost-effective, perhaps the federal government should begin looking at aid programs to make sure they don’t lose sight of struggling students.

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