Higher (Priced) Education: Part 1 of 4
A university education is the most important determinant for success in the United States. As our society moves toward a more knowledge-based economy and laborious occupations are replaced by technological advancements, we see the need for expanded access to institutions of higher learning at more affordable prices. Yet, over the last forty years there has been a dramatic increase in the cost to receive these educations. We have seen rising internal costs coupled by declining external funding mechanisms resulting in consumers (students and families) bearing the burden. What caused the egregious price increase for institutions of higher learning? In this four-part series I'll discuss the most important factors that have contributed to the increasing costs and how we let them rise so quickly.
Declining State Support
“For a long time we saw higher education as a public good; the more people we had educated, the better our society would be.”[1] There was an unwritten covenant by states to support higher education and to ensure there was an educated populace. In 1980 the State of Ohio allocated 11.5 percent of its entire budget for the State Share of Instruction. However, that number dwindled to 5.7 percent in 2016.[2] As policy makers saw increases to non-discretionary areas of the budget, specifically Medicaid, they decided to prioritize increases to correctional facilities and primary/secondary education over increases to higher education. Our legislators stopped seeing public higher education as a beneficial societal entitlement and began to disinvest.
When institutions were faced with higher operational costs but decreased funding they decided to raise tuition rather than decrease the realm of functions that they performed. Institutions began to raise their prices several percentage points higher than inflation every year yet enrollments continued to grow. Only in the face of declining enrollments and caps on tuition did higher education institutions re-evaluate their funding mechanisms and operational expenses. From 2008-2016 Ohio cut funding for higher education by 15% while tuition only grew 5%.[4] Additionally, from 2010 to 2015 Ohio lost 15.3 percent of its total enrollment.[5] Public universities saw decreased funding from the state, lower enrollments, and an inability to raise their tuition. The state tied the hands of public universities and forced them to prioritize activities and eliminate programs. While this should be a positive step in the right direction, we saw public universities prioritize varsity athletics and recreational activities over instruction. As prices continue to increase in the forms of higher student fees and living situations, students are beginning to notice a decreased return on their investment. Although declining state support is a critical component toward the increased cost of higher education, there are even more significant factors that have caused this atrocity to happen. We'll review a more significant factor next week.
Next Blog: Higher (Priced) Education: Why Have Higher Education Costs Risen so quickly? Part 2
Sources:
[1] Hopkins, David R. Interview with Lukas Wenrick. Personal Interview. (Dayton, February 10, 2017).
[2] “State - Source GRF, LPEF, and LGF Expenditure History.” (Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Legislative Service Commission, February 8, 2017).
[3] http://www.businessadministrationinformation.com/news/college-students-in-many-places-must-prepare-to-shoulder-more-education-costs
[4] “State Higher Education Funding Down, Tuition Up.” (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2016).
[5] Kilbane, Thomas; Carter, Melaney; Zhan, Wendy. “Ohio Facts, 2016 Edition.” (Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Legislative Service Commission, September, 2016).
About the Author:
Lukas Wenrick spends his days working to develop innovative solutions to the most complex issues universities face. He does so to ensure that the most marginalized students may pursue an alternative trajectory than the one laid out by their zip code. He believes that universities and other educational enterprises have the duty to expand educational opportunity to as many individuals as possible and that excellence should be judged by the students that an institution includes, rather than those that it excludes.
Lukas holds a Master's of Education in Higher Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science Education from Wright State University. His experiences at both an open access public university and an elite private institution inform the work he does every day. Currently, Lukas serves as a University Innovation Fellow at Arizona State University where he works to leverage the ASU enterprise to resolve educational and social inequities in the world.
If you'd like to know more about Lukas you can find him on the following sites:
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