Cost of High Education for Low-Income Students

Abstract

The research focuses on the cost of high education in relation to low-income students. The research will demonstrate that number of students in higher education institutions depends on the amount charged for the acquisition the education. When the price is high, the students with low income cannot afford to pay the price and hence low population in the higher learning institutions. On the other hand, when the cost of high education is low, many low-income students can afford the price and hence an increased number of students in the institutions. The research is important since it will also focus on the strategies that can be used to solve the low population resulting from the high cost of high education.

Literature Review

According to Monks, the students’ debts in colleges in the United States of America have risen greatly in the past few decades. He calls for the intervention for the state to implement some policies that can solve the problem (Monks, 2014). The debt in the colleges is linked to the inflated tuition costs in the institutions, and thus it is important for the involvement of the state to help both the low-income students and the colleges suffering from the debts. His arguments propose that the state should increase the financial aid offered to the students.
Additionally, Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson examined the goal of the United States to offer a college education for all students. However, the strategy has faced a lot of challenges due to the rising tuition, and stagnant financial aid.

Also, the daily budgets of the families have increased thus calling for more college debts. Their study discovered that high college loans could reduce the possibility of the student completing education (Dwyer, McCloud, & Hodson, 2012). Therefore, it was recommended that the loan offered to the students should not be too high.

Cost of High Education for Low-Income Students

Houle discussed that the cost of education in the colleges had gone very high making the students depend on college loans or parental assistance for financial assistance (Houle, 2014). Therefore, the loan debt of the students depends on the income of the parents.
Furthermore, Price researched the relationship between student’s debts and race, gender, income, and ethnicity (Price, 2004). The research discovered learners from low-income families, Hispanics and Blacks experienced large debt burdens.

Addo, Houle, and Simon also discovered that students who were Black had more student loans than whites. Similarly, the debts were high when the parents’ net wealth was low (Addo, Houle, & Simon, 2016).
According to Burke and Johnston, the dream of America to achieve high education learning has not been successful for everyone in the country. It is argued that some marginalized groups of people lack the opportunity to experience the education system. Thus, they call for changes that would include justice and fairness to everyone in the education system despite their financial ability (Burke, & Johnston, 2004).

According to Marcotte and Hemelt, public education costs have been rising greatly in recent years. The costs have made many students be angry and drop out of college. Their research showed that the states where the tuition was raised had a low student enrollment and contrary to where the cost was low. The high costs made the students look for education in the less prestigious institutions (Hemelt, & Marcotte, 2016).

Mumper explains that from 1980, the price of education became expensive and most of the low-income students could not afford the education prices. The federal students’ aids ad changed and thus few students could be admitted. The aid could benefit the middle and upper-income students and thus widening the income levels since the graduating students would be from the middle and upper classes (Mumper, 2003).

References
Addo, F. R., Houle, J. N., & Simon, D. (2016). Young, black, and (still) in the red: Parental wealth, race, and student loan debt. Race and Social Problems, 8(1), 64-76.
Burke, J. B., & Johnston, M. (2004). Students at the Margins: Searching for the American Dream in Higher Education. Race, Gender & Class, 11(3), 19-35.
Dwyer, R., McCloud, L., & Hodson, R. (2012). Debt and Graduation from American Universities. Social Forces, 90(4), 1133-1155.
Hemelt, S. W., & Marcotte, D. E. (2016). The changing landscape of tuition and enrollment in American public higher education. RSF.
Houle, J. N. (2014). Disparities in debt: Parents’ socioeconomic resources and young adult student loan debt. Sociology of Education, 87(1), 53-69.
Monks, J. (2014). The role of institutional and state aid policies in average student debt. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 655(1), 123-142.
Mumper, M. (2003). The Future of College Access: The Declining Role of Public Higher Education in Promoting Equal Opportunity. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 585(1), 97-117.
Price, D. (2004). Educational Debt Burden among Student Borrowers: An Analysis of the Baccalaureate & Beyond Panel, 1997 Follow-Up. Research in Higher Education, 45(7), 701-737.