The ongoing rapid rise in the cost of a college education has been troubling for some time. The increasing costs are troubling for graduates and the economy.
For current college students a new reality is making an already challenging situation more difficult for those from families with the lowest household incomes. More specifically, the Hechinger Report considered the net price change students experienced from the 2008-09 school year to the 2011-12 year. This data shows that
students from families with less than $30,000 in annual income had to absorb a $1,700 increase in net price for a year of private college . . . while those with the highest family incomes saw just a $1,200 increase.
So What?
Real reform is needed when it comes to funding higher education. Shaping such reform is difficult work. Any reform put into action will never in and of itself be adequate; ongoing reform will be required.
- How has the increasing cost of higher education impacted your family? your local congregation?
- What are your primary concerns regarding this new trend in the cost increases being more dramatic for those in families with lower household incomes?