The Darker Side of Education: The College Affordability Crisis

According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, college prices have increased by 175% (Gonzalez, O’Sullivan, 2010). As a result, the total student debt surpasses more than $1.2 trillion in 2015 (Schoen, John, 2015). The college affordability crisis is based off of the ubiquitous high price of college tuition that continues to rise over the years. Thus, it is imperative that college students are aware of today’s exponential growth of both debt and college cost, because it disrupts students from having a sustainable economic future. Analyzing the socio-economical aspects of college affordability allows us to comprehend the impact of high tuition. In doing so, a clearer understanding of the intertwining between society, economy, and tuition is attained. For instance, social push factors and inflation causes college prices to drastically increase. The goal of our research is to bring awareness to college students about educational capitalism and the consequences of increasing tuition. For example, Universities prioritize providing lavish resources to their “consumers” in lieu of a quality education. (Gonzalez, O’Sullivan, 2010). With more people having a deeper understanding of college affordability and its consequences the chances of the issue continuing to be in the dark will finally be brought into light. The power of change within the issue of college affordability can only be met with discussion about what is college affordability, how will it affect today’s students, and more importantly, how it will affect tomorrow’s students