It’s week 12 of the semester and I am heading into my final projects and papers for all my classes. This is the most stressful part of the semester for me and tons of other students and so if you’re reading this, STAY STRONG! LETS GET THIS BREAD!!!

Assignment’s one and two provided me with a lot of good information to include in my final research paper but assignment 3 proved to be superior. For assignment 3 I conducted a focus group consisting of 4 other Ball State students. Their majors all vary as well as their ages and genders. I made sure to have variety in characteristics of those I asked to participate in the focus group. One of the main takeaway’s from the focus group that I plan to include in my final paper is that something needs to change, and it needs to change soon. Throughout our conversation, it was emphasized more than once that the problem of high secondary education costs has been unnoticed, and no actions have been taken regardless of all the research and proposals for change. This connects with the idea that of all the major problems in the world, this one has been ignored even though it affects millions of students in the United States.

Also in assignment 3, I conducted a duoethnography (what?) with someone from the financial aid and services office at Ball State. My conversation partner has asked to remain anonymous and so I will refer to her as Rachel Smith. (not her real name)One away from our conversation that I will now include in my final paper is a negative aspect of the problem but one I see important to realize. Sometimes no matter the amount of financial assistance, some people in extreme financial situations are not be able to afford secondary education. It is very easy to get wrapped up in our own worlds and problems so much so that we forget what other people are struggling with.

There have been MANY times in my academic career where I have been assigned homework that I view as pointless and that I take nothing away from. This assignment does not fall under that category. I am honestly satisfied with the information I obtained through assignment 3 and I’m excited to see what it adds to my final paper.

Peace out blog!

While doing my research for assignment 2, I found a source that should really be shared. The source is from Business Insider and it includes the projections for the cost of secondary education for the year 2030, while following inflation trends. This source reports that if college prices increase by 5% each year, by 2030 the cost of college tuition will have doubled! Additional topics covered in this source include the projected costs of both public and private universities by the year 2030. More topics include future four-year college costs and tuition inflation verses other expenses through the cumulative percent price change since 1983.

The main argument of this source is very similar to my main argument for this whole project. The source argues that college tuition is too expensive and if it keeps rising following inflation trends, the cost of college in the near future will be utterly unaffordable for the majority of the population. This source is extremely useful to me because it shows how this problem will continue to affect future generations and in such a big way. This is one of the most important sources in my bibliography because it gives a projection of rising tuition rates; an aspect of secondary education that is already forcing students to struggle financially.

I think it’s important to look towards the future of tuition prices because many of us will be involved with universities or will have children to help support in paying for it. I know that I do not want to pay $185,000 for my child to attend a 4-year public university. Let’s not forget that this would be the price PER YEAR. I can’t even begin to fathom a bill arriving at my house for that much money.

 

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-college-in-the-future-is-scary-2014-5

 

So far I have found research for this topic a little challenging. The same ideas are repeated a lot and some sources tend to include bias. Free tuition? Of course everybody wants that! Free tuition sounds great but in reality, would the American government really go for it? With recent decreases in school funding and importance on education – probably not. If the sources are not biased or a repetitive idea, they tend to be too far fetched or in my opinion beneficial enough to the student.

Finally though, I came across the idea of personalized higher education. This would mean more flexible, cost-effective, and personalized pathways for college students. I also admire the idea of income-based tuition. Income-based tuition is essentially paying off your tuition and loans based on your salary after graduation. I really admire a Ted Talk from Sajay Samuel where he talks about income-based tuition and says;

“By tying the cost to the income, college administrators would be forced to manage costs better, to find innovative ways to do so. For instance, all of you students here pay roughly the same tuition for every major. That is manifestly unfair, and should change. An engineering student uses more resources and facilities and labs and faculty than a philosophy student. But the philosophy student, as a consequence, is subsidizing the engineering student. Who then, by the way, goes on and earns more money. Why should two people buy the same product, pay the same, but one person receive half or a third of the service. In fact, college grads, some majors, pay 25 percent of their income servicing their student debt, while others pay five percent. That kind if inequity would end when majors are priced more correctly.”

I think Sajay describes the benefits of this plan perfectly. He puts into perspective how wrongly majors are priced at Universities. Both income-based tuition and personalized higher education would be a big step in correcting the student debt crisis and ending the treatment of whole student bodies as the same throughout.

 

After reading my first blog post, you might be wondering why I even care about the College Collections Crisis. First, I am currently a college student who pays for their own schooling and – it sucks. For someone who was never taught in high school about college loans and how to pay them, its confusing as hell and expensive. Not to mention the stress I feel knowing that when I graduate I will already be neck deep in college debt.

Secondly, I care about the cost of tuition because I was unable to attend the colleges of choice regardless of getting in, because I could not afford it. I had proven myself through college applications and essays that I had the work ethic and smarts to attend these higher level schools but because they were so expensive, I had to limit myself. (I am definitely not trying to trash the school I currently attend but I am not afraid to say that it wasn’t my first or second choice.)

Lastly, I care about the rising costs of tuition because I have brilliant friends at home who could not attend any college because they could not afford it. I know that there are many other brilliant minds out there that are missing out on college because it’s too expensive. Some of these minds could go on to do great things for our world but they can’t.

I feel a personal connection to this topic and have a passion inside for making changes to the cost of college tuition because it impacts me personally, along with thousands of others on an every day basis. If college tuition costs decreased, think of all the ideas of those who can’t afford secondary education that would rise to the surface and potentially better our world.

The CCC stands for the College Collections Crisis. This refers to the rising college tuition rates in the US. I believe that this rate should be re-evaluated for the sake of the students it is burying in debt. What bothers me most about the cost of college is that the debt follow you forever and grows in interest. Also I feel tuition is too expensive while including fees for services that some students may not need. The position I want to take is an upset/concerned college student who is intaking more debt with every class I take. Arguments against my position could be the professors need to be paid, the equipment used in classrooms is expensive, and that there is no way around paying this high cost. I do not want to settle for “it is what it is”. Tuition prices, parking prices, and book prices all can be changed/modified but some see it as too long of a process. Even though that may be true, this process would be worth it for all students attending now and in the future.