In this series, students and industry experts share stories and perspectives from inside the student debt crisis. Share yours here using #StudentDebt.
The price of college has skyrocketed over the past decade and so has student debt. Yet, access to higher education is essential and American families have been forced to make less than ideal choices – sacrificing quality or taking on debt. This dilemma is why so many people, including myself, have spent years trying to find solutions; trying to modernize college for the 21st century and make it reasonable.
It may seem like a mystery as to how we got into this predicament, but the reasons are actually quite simple:
State funding has plummeted.
A sharp decrease in state funding has had a profound impact on public college and universities. The average state is spending 20% less per student today than in the 2007-2008 school year. Per-student funding in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina is down by more than 35 percent since the start of the recession
When this funding is cut, colleges and universities raise tuition.
Facing a lack of state funding, public colleges and universities have been forced to raise tuition and cut services across the board. Annual published tuition at four-year public colleges has risen by $2,068, or 29 percent, since the 2007-08 school year, after adjusting for inflation. At the high end, the published tuition in Arizona is up more than 80%!
Higher tuition = higher debt loads.
This should be no surprise -- the rise in tuition leads to students borrowing more and higher student debt when they graduate. A secondary impact of students being forced to take on more debt is that it widens the gap between the middle and upper middle class. This is a terrible loss for first-generation and low-income students.
The solutions to these problems, on the other hand are not so simple. With no central federal authority to govern public colleges and universities, reforms that can be enacted at the state level take much longer than if you just had to pass a law nationally. Each state and each university may be working on solutions to these problems, but it could take a decade or more to see the effects, which is too late for current high school students.
Even as some states start to increase funding, there is still so much work to be done to get students out of debt and make schools affordable. It’s also important to note that the cost of college isn’t the only issue that we should address -- just because we can make it affordable doesn’t mean we should pack 500 students into a lecture hall.
So what can students and parents do in the interim?
Stop treating college as if it hasn’t changed.
For our parents, college was a time for endless exploration both in the educational sense and the social sense. Today, it’s more important than ever to know what you want when you enter, so that you spend your time with purpose and meaning. They should also know how to get the most out of their experience. Show up on campus with a sense of what clubs, organizations, mentors, and program can help them achieve their goals faster.
Consider new programs that exist to complement and supplement the college experience.
There is a breadth of amazing programs and opportunities out there today that our parents did not have. It’s up to parents and students to explore online courses, bootcamps, and gap years to make sure they have exposure to real-world experiences and possess the skills when they graduate that HR managers look for in new hires. (If you haven’t read about the current disconnect between grads and HR managers, read this).
Be so good university financial aid offices cannot ignore you.
Get out and develop a real portfolio before you apply to college. For example, if you enjoy graphic design, then seek out opportunities to develop marketing assets companies, participate in hackathons, and take advantage of the resources mentioned above that can me you more valuable in the real world. These kinds of portfolios can help with scholarships, getting paid internships and much more.
These extra expectations are not fair to ask of students and parents today, but they great ways to ensure success at the next level even after you graduate from college. Change is coming for higher education, but not in time for any high school or maybe even middle school student. As a young person today, you have to take responsibility for your own learning.