Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Scouting the territory
Through a couple google searches I have found a couple articles pertaining to my topic. So far, key terms such as "discouragement" and "rising college tuition" have been helpful. Although, factors such as family income and ethnicity are repeatedly being brought up in the articles. From these articles I have looked at so far, I am feeling better about my topic. I was not sure if I was going to be able to find a lot of information but it seems like there may be more than I had thought. I have found a study (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/15/study-finds-differential-tuition-can-influence-enrollment-levels) which talks about how higher tuition rates can cause negative influence to certain students. Another article I found (http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/11/15-surprising-side-effects-of-rising-college-costs/) talked about 15 side effects of rising college tuitions. The number 1 effect was a rising enrollment of 2-year colleges. The other side to my topic can be found in this article, (https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/nov/03/tuition-fees-poor-students) which talks about how a rising tuition price "won't put off poor students." Their stance is mainly supported by Michael Gove, a British politician, who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014 and Secretary of State for Justice from 2015 to 2016. I am definitely going to have to do more research this week but I think I have found a solid foundation for my paper so far.
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I only received your blog yesterday in class, so I have not been able to comment until now. I think discussing tuition could be an interesting topic, and there are probably several angles on it. There are also some fairly basic research questions you can ask.
ReplyDeleteThe simplest question would be to ask what has caused college tuition to go up so fast (especially compared to other things)? And if state college tuition has gone up dramatically because of cuts in state support, why have private colleges hiked tuition just as fast? And why should something be done about it?
I think most of the cause of tuition rise is caused by state cuts:
http://www.cbpp.org/blog/state-higher-ed-cuts-largely-driving-recent-tuition-hikes
But there is quite a bit of controversy around what is driving tuition hikes, and it could at least be said that there are multiple inter-related factors. For instance, as states cut and tuition rises, schools are also thrust into a market and consumer-orientated mode that requires new construction (especially of nicer dorms) and other amenities, which cost a lot. And more conservative groups have put together research suggesting that it is not state cuts that have contributed the most to tuition hikes but a host of other things, including faculty salaries (which I don't find persuasive, but it is out there).
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/09/study-increased-student-aid-not-faculty-salaries-drives-tuition
Or staff bloat might be to blame.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/05/report-says-administrative-bloat-construction-booms-not-largely-responsible-tuition
I just give you some quick online references for your information. You will want to look at the original sources that these stories mention and do more academic research on these issues.
The consequences are also important -- because, most of all, the rise in tuition is at least helping to maintain inequality and more likely helping widen the divide between rich and poor.
There has been a lot of reporting on "why tuition is so damn high," and it would pay to take a look at these articles to see what sort of answers are generally proposed. Just surveying the field of possible answers would be worthwhile. There was even a ten-part series in the Washington Post a few years back that took on the question:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/26/introducing-the-tuition-is-too-damn-high/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/27/the-tuition-is-too-damn-high-part-ii-why-college-is-still-worth-it/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/28/the-tuition-is-too-damn-high-part-iii-the-three-reasons-tuition-is-rising/
And you will have to look up the rest -- use the search terms (without quotes): "washington post," "tuition too damn high" and "dylan matthews"
One answer to why tuition keeps going up is "administrative bloat." In fact, as universities have cut the numbers and average salaries of faculty, the numbers and average salaries of administrators have risen. I saw an article just today on this topic that might be of help:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/ballooning-bureaucracies-shrinking-checkbooks/503066/
Of course, the main driver of rising tuitions is declining state support. But it is definitely interesting how much the administrations are growing even as state support drops. I personally do not have an explanation for what is driving that, and it definitely could be contributing to tuition hikes.