Invest in making sure all students can attend college
Provide opportunity to the needy
Keep tuition down by making colleges more efficient
An education, particularly a college education, is the key to getting ahead in this country. In today's economy, a college degree has overtaken the high-school diploma as the minimum requirement for the workforce. But college is becoming ever more expensive -- in much of the country you can buy a house for what it costs to attend an Ivy League university -- and it's harder and harder for middle-class parents to afford. Schools themselves have to control their costs to avoid pricing the middle class out of the market. Government also needs to make sure that college is available to all students who want an education, by providing tax credits for tuition expenses and expanding all forms of financial aid.
There's no doubt that higher education represents a ladder out of poverty; the problem is that the poor and minorities have trouble reaching the first rung. Poor and minority families often have trouble raising the money to send their children to college, and even when they do, these students often aren't prepared for the rigors of college because they attended failing high schools. If, as a society, we're serious about giving people a chance to get out of poverty, we need to focus our higher education resources on the people who need it most. We must give them every opportunity to succeed. That means financial aid should be based on need only and colleges should factor socioeconomic status and race into their admissions decisions. Colleges should also provide remedial help to students who need it: You can't shut people out of the American dream because they were unlucky enough to attend a bad high school.
The reason so many families struggle to send their kids to college is simple: tuition keeps going up, outpacing both inflation and family income. Colleges have to take responsibility for prices that go up so far, so fast, and the best way to solve the problem is for colleges to become more efficient and competitive. Colleges need to make better use of new techniques like distance learning to reach more students at lower cost. For-profit educational institutions are experimenting with new ways of teaching and should be encouraged -- if nothing else, the competition will keep colleges sharp. We also need stronger accountability for public universities and community colleges. Unlike the K-12 education system, there aren't many yardsticks for measuring the quality of a college education and few ways of knowing whether taxpayers and students are getting what they pay for.
Invest in making sure all students can attend college
Provide opportunity to the needy
Keep tuition down by making colleges more efficient
What should be done?
Provide tax credits for college tuitionIncrease the number of federal grants to studentsOffer free or reduced tuition at state universities for high school students who maintain a certain GPAExpand tax-deferred savings programs to help families save for collegeExpand programs that pay for college if students promise to serve in public service jobs like teaching, law enforcement or public health.Increase overall state spending on higher education
Channel federal and state financial grants to students based on their economic needIncrease state funding to community colleges, which often serve low-income studentsWork with inner-city high schools to ensure their curriculum prepares students for college and expand collaborations between high schools and college to identify and support promising studentsStrengthen remedial programs for college students who are struggling with their workUse affirmative action plans in making admissions decisions
Push colleges to use nontraditional teaching methods, like extension courses and courses conducted over the Internet or television.Establish objective measures, such as testing, class size and faculty qualifications to find out how much college students are learning, and monitor dropout rates. State governments should consider these results when making funding decisions.Encourage the expansion of for-profit institutions in higher education. Require public colleges to become more efficient, dropping unpopular or irrelevant programs, adapting new business methods and focus on teaching.
Arguments For This Approach
As a society, we have to invest in higher education: It's the best way of expanding economic and social opportunities. We know that an investment in a college education pays off handsomely in extra earning power. The more students who attend college, the better off our society will be. Middle-class students don't have much of a choice if they want a professional job in today's workforce: They have to find the money for higher education or they simply won't have any job prospects. One of government's primary roles is to ensure the country's economic stability, if not success. If today's employers require college degrees, it is imperative that government do its share to ensure there will be enough future workers.A democracy depends on educated citizens; literate people who can think critically. College is the best place to produce such citizens.
Low-income students, even if they are academically prepared, still struggle to pay for college and pursue college degrees at much lower rates than students from higher income levels. They simply need more financial help than they're currently receiving.A high percentage of the students needing remedial help are minorities, and the track record is promising in terms of their ability to go on to academic success. Is it fair to foreclose opportunity for them just because they may need a little extra help?Affirmative action not only helps minority students, it helps expose all college students to the diverse society they'll encounter the rest of their lives.
U.S. taxpayers spend millions of dollars a year on higher education, either directly to colleges or indirectly via financial aid. Yet they don't even know if they're getting their money's worth. No one would accept this situation in their local police, fire department or school system. Why should public colleges be any different?This is simple consumer protection. A college education is one of the most important -- and expensive -- purchases a family makes and yet they rarely have any better information than the best colleges lists published in magazines.The traditional campus setting is great, but it isn't the only way to learn. Courses offered over the Internet, on television, or in other nontraditional ways can reach more students at less cost.
Arguments Against This Approach
This choice overstates the problem. True, private colleges can be quite expensive, but on average, a state college costs less than one-quarter as much. The government should help students pay for college, but it doesn't have to subsidize an Ivy League-level education for everyone, any more than it should subsidize a Mercedes in every garage.Although college is expensive, middle-class families have lots of options to save or borrow for their children's education. Education dollars should be directed toward those students -- the poor -- who haven't been able to scrape together the funds for college. In these days of budget cuts and belt-tightening, precious resources should go to those who need the help the most. It sounds like heresy, but maybe everybody doesn't need to go to college. The country needs electricians, cooks and florists as much as it needs doctors and lawyers. Some technical jobs can be learned at community colleges, but they can also be learned in vocational schools, technical schools or in apprenticeships. By focusing on college, we're promoting a one-size-fits-all educational system.
If students aren't prepared for college coursework, they shouldn't be admitted, regardless of their background. College admissions should be based on merit alone.There are lots of middle-class students who need financial and academic help in college. Why focus on just one segment of the student population when resources could be spread more evenly? If these students aren't prepared for college because they went to troubled high schools, shouldn't we spend public money on fixing the high schools rather than pass the problem on to colleges?
A college education isn't like a K-12 curriculum. There isn't any consistency among college curricula, and it's very difficult to measure the higher-order thinking skills that colleges aim to teach. Education isn't like making widgets. College is about academic exploration. Standardized testing would obliterate this academic freedom and turn colleges into factories that just churn out workers, not thinkers. Colleges aren't businesses. They can?t be concerned solely with what sells. Colleges have the important role of passing culture to new generations. Understanding literature, art and the humanities are part of what makes an educated person.Tuition at public colleges usually goes up when state governments cut back on higher education funding, which they often do in lean budget years. If the public really wants to keep tuition affordable, they should invest more of their tax dollars into the university system.
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