tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/tuition-free-college-29152/articlesTuition-free college – The Conversation2020-02-25T13:52:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1299622020-02-25T13:52:03Z2020-02-25T13:52:03ZWhat Americans think about who deserves tuition-free college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316052/original/file-20200219-11000-1ynyipl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Americans support free community college more when students are seen as 'deserving,' new research suggests.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-multi-ethnic-friends-standing-in-corridor-royalty-free-image/1171000286?adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tuition-free college has gotten a lot of momentum of late. </p>
<p>Front-runners in the Democratic presidential field – including <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/free-college-cancel-debt/">Bernie Sanders</a>, <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/affordable-higher-education">Elizabeth Warren</a> and <a href="https://joebiden.com/beyondhs/">Joe Biden</a> – have all come out in support of federally funded tuition-free college. </p>
<p>And it isn’t just Democrats. <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/future-statewide-college-promise-programs/?agreed=1">Nineteen states</a> have passed tuition-free college policies, including Republican strongholds Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky. So have <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17742653">nearly 300 cities or counties</a>.</p>
<p>But there is <a href="https://www.educationdive.com/news/report-program-design-key-to-successful-free-college-programs/556511/">still</a> <a href="https://edtrust.org/resource/a-promise-fulfilled/">debate</a> about <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/policy-design-matters-rising-free-college-aid/?session=1">who should be eligible</a>. Should there be an income cap, for instance, so that only poor or middle-income families are eligible? Should there be a minimum high school GPA requirement? </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1706015">recently published survey</a>, I found that Americans view tuition-free college more positively when it’s open to everyone – compared to when it is reserved for families who make US$50,000 or less. I also found that the public is more likely to support tuition-free college when it includes a 2.0 minimum high school GPA requirement, or basically a C average.</p>
<h2>Affordability matters</h2>
<p>How the public views tuition-free college matters because colleges are widely seen as <a href="http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/college/">engines of upward economic mobility</a>. Yet, college <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/indicators/reports_2018.shtml">remains out of reach</a> <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2019-03-20/dropping-out-of-college-why-students-do-so-and-how-to-avoid-it">for many American families</a>, <a href="https://www.educationdive.com/news/study-lack-of-equity-in-college-access-contributes-to-job-disparities/565390/">especially for</a> <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/reports/2018/05/23/451186/neglected-college-race-gap-racial-disparities-among-college-completers/">people of color</a> and <a href="https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2018/june/facts-figures">the working class</a>.</p>
<p>Policymakers and scholars often differ on the best way to design tuition-free college. Some argue that <a href="https://edtrust.org/resource/a-promise-fulfilled/">fairness</a> is the most important consideration. Others stress the need for government to be able <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/future-statewide-college-promise-programs/?agreed=1">pay for the program</a>.</p>
<p>I believe that my research, along with <a href="https://www.freecollegenow.org/polling">other recent polling</a>, is the first to dig into what the American voters actually think about different versions of tuition-free college. And my project, in particular, is the first to speculate as to why.</p>
<p>In my study, I surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,500 Americans in 2017 regarding tuition-free college. Overall, the majority of Republicans (65%) and Democrats/independents (74%) support the idea of tuition-free college. But when asked to consider different versions of tuition-free college, people’s views start to shift.</p>
<p>For instance, when a family income limit is included, respondents were 3.3 percentage points less likely to view the policy as fair, compared to tuition-free college that is open to all students regardless of family income. However, if a 2.0 minimum high school GPA is required to be eligible for tuition-free college, respondents were 6.5 percentage points more likely to view the policy as fair, when compared to tuition-free college that is open to all students regardless of high school GPA.</p>
<p>So why are there these differences in the level of support? I argue that people are evaluating the target population. Research shows that policymakers and the public are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592705580496">more likely to support</a> benefits to groups that are powerful and considered deserving. </p>
<p>Making tuition-free college available to everyone may be <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/free-college-stay/">more politically beneficial</a> to politicians catering to middle-class and high-income voters – two groups that are <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/income-gap-at-the-polls-113997">more likely to vote</a>. But when tuition-free college is made available for everyone, it is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ets2.12161">harder to pay for</a> and <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/highered/research/Documents/Legislative/SB-81-Report-Oregon-Promise-1st-term-2016.pdf">less efficient</a> because when tuition-free college is universal, it gives money to families that could have afforded college anyway. For instance, in Oregon, <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/highered/research/Documents/Legislative/SB-81-Report-Oregon-Promise-1st-term-2016.pdf">more than 60%</a> of the $10.9 million in 2016 for the Oregon Promise – the state’s free community college program – went to students in the highest two income brackets, while students in the lowest two income brackets only used about 17% of the funds. The middle income bracket used about 23% of the funds.</p>
<p>Merit-based policies may be more popular because students who make at least a C average in high school are seen as as more deserving. However, by supporting a C average minimum threshold, these policies also <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/GS_9202018_Free-College.pdf">shut out many students who need help the most</a>.</p>
<p>The critical challenge for policymakers, as I see it, is: How do you design a tuition-free college plan that is perceived as fair, that helps those who need it most and that government can actually afford?</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Bell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As tuition-free college plans gain momentum, a researcher examines public views about whether free college should be extended to everyone or just those who have earned it.Elizabeth Bell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1298592020-02-10T13:58:18Z2020-02-10T13:58:18ZA college president’s advice to college students of the future: Don’t borrow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313402/original/file-20200203-41532-em8htt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">West Texas A&M University Walter V. Wendler stands alongside the SUV he drove on a speaking tour to urge Texas high school students not to borrow too much for college.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Back in 2017, I started regularly leaving my office at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, to speak to high school students in the Texas Panhandle. This past fall, I did the same thing in the South Plains. These two areas are the northern most 46 counties in the state of Texas.</p>
<p>Driving a silver SUV owned by the university, I logged a total of 14,000 miles throughout these two regions over a total of 10 months. I visited 132 high schools with student populations of all sizes.</p>
<p>For instance, in the South Plains tour this past fall, I visited 66 schools that ranged in size from <a href="https://www.lubbockisd.org/lhs">Lubbock High School</a>, where I spoke to 975 juniors and seniors, to <a href="https://www.dawsonisd.net/">Dawson High School</a>, where I spoke with all 12 high school students in ninth through 12th grades.</p>
<p>No matter where I went – and no matter if I spoke with students and families that had a concrete plan for college and others that were less certain – I heard concerns about the cost of higher education.</p>
<p>And my message and response was always the same: “Do not borrow money to attend West Texas A&M University (or any university) for the first two years. If you must borrow, attend community college, but don’t borrow a penny for community college either. Pay as you go.” And I should have added: Live with your parents rent-free as long as possible.</p>
<h2>Planning for the future</h2>
<p>You might think I was simply on a recruiting tour for the university where I serve as president. Yes, of course, I hoped that my visits helped make the university more appealing. My primary purpose, however, was not recruiting students, but helping them determine a long-range plan to enable them to become what I call “<a href="http://walterwendler.com/?s=noble&submit=Search">noble citizens</a>” ready to work, engage, think and vote.</p>
<p>Of course, you can still be a noble citizen and have a lot of debt. It’s just a lot more difficult. If you are saddled with debt, you’re less able to contribute to the community, at least financially, or purchase a home. As I spoke with students, I shared a few statistics to help illustrate the point.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2019/09/30/70-of-college-students-graduate-with-debt-how-did-we-get-here/">Seventy percent of college students</a> graduated with debt in 2019 — on <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2019/09/30/70-of-college-students-graduate-with-debt-how-did-we-get-here/">average, US$30,000</a>.</p>
<p>Some of those graduates will still be paying off their student loans decades later, when they get Social Security checks – either voluntarily or by having those checks garnished. Of <a href="https://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-2017/student-loans-debt-repayment-retirement.html">Americans</a> over 60, 2.8 million have student loans. While 73% of those are cosigners paying for children or grandchildren, the rest are students paying off their own education loans.</p>
<p>Additionally, a growing number of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-loan-debt-seniors-owe-billions-in-student-loan-debt-this-will-follow-me-to-the-grave/">aging Americans</a> have college debt that they will not pay back before dying. </p>
<p>Default rates for borrowers over 65 are nearly 40%, according to the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/14/more-older-people-are-bringing-student-debt-into-their-retirement.html">Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</a>.</p>
<p>Pell Grants, which are federal grants to help low-income students to pay for college, once <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2019/09/30/70-of-college-students-graduate-with-debt-how-did-we-get-here/">covered 79% of tuition and fees in 1975 but only covered 29% by 2017</a> — a downhill slide caused by escalating costs and easy loans.</p>
<h2>Mixed results on borrowing</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.educationnext.org/benefits-of-borrowing-evidence-student-loan-debt-community-college-attainment/">Some studies</a> suggest borrowing yields an increase in credits earned and academic performance. Despite those benefits, other research shows that student loan debt can have a negative, long-term effect on people <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/04/student-debt-is-stopping-u-s-millennials-from-becoming-entrepreneurs">financially</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/122/563/1094/5079467?redirectedFrom=fulltext">emotionally</a>.</p>
<p>I told the students if they must borrow, to never borrow more than 60% of their anticipated starting salary of the first job. This is consistent with what I call the “<a href="http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/about-us/60x30tx/">60% Rule</a>,” which a state higher education agency developed to make sure students don’t borrow more than their degree is worth.</p>
<p>For example, if someone wanted to teach in a small Texas community with a $40,000 starting salary, they should not borrow more than $24,000 to attain a bachelor’s degree. Similar – although more lenient – advice can be found in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencelight/2019/10/04/when-does-student-debt-make-sense-and-when-doesnt-it/#4e596bb71370">Forbes</a>, which urged borrowers to never borrow more than their expected first year salary. (For information about the expected salary for a particular job, check the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>.)</p>
<p>In urging students not to take on too much student debt, I also highlighted other paths – aside from college – to <a href="http://walterwendler.com/2018/05/noble-citizenship/">noble citizenship</a>: military service, certification programs or family businesses.</p>
<h2>A duty to inform</h2>
<p>I recognize the responsibility of university leadership to point out the challenges for students and families when borrowing for education. It is difficult for middle-income families to pay the increasing costs of a college education. Informed borrowing is the key issue for students. The need is highlighted for students who are first in their family to attend college and may accept the advice that any college degree is worth whatever it costs. It is not true. And, it is an unfair burden for university leadership to place on students.</p>
<p>But if students borrow for college, in my view, they should be aware that they are possibly being sucked into what I like to call a troubling triangle of treachery.</p>
<p>One side of the triangle is represented by elected officials who <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/26/growing-number-democrats-run-free-college-pushing-issue-mainstream">encourage everyone to go to college</a>.</p>
<p>The second side is represented by lenders, who – in my view – do little to assess an individual’s ability to repay a student loan. If a student borrows to enroll in a program, limits placed on amounts borrowed are <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/student-loans/much-borrow-college/">quite high</a> when federal and private loans are combined. And they tend to treat all college degrees, and by inference, employment opportunities as equal. Yet, the employment marketplace reveals that is not the case.</p>
<p>The third side is represented by university leadership, which – in my view – has not done enough to let students know the pitfalls of borrowing.</p>
<p>A student’s indebtedness is eventually their own responsibility. Debt responsibility will not disappear for the student – or for parents who are helping them. It’s their responsibility too.</p>
<p>Just ask the 44 million Americans, many of whom <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/03/13/681621047/college-completion-rates-are-up-but-the-numbers-will-still-surprise-you">did not graduate</a>, who owe <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/02/25/student-loan-debt-statistics-2019/#30f6f067133f">$1.5 trillion in student loan debt</a>.</p>
<p>The tour was a learning experience. The value proposition of American higher education is changing. I saw it in the eyes of 20,000 students across 14,000 miles. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walter V. Wendler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler set out to visit high school students throughout the Texas Panhandle and the South Plains with a simple message about student loans.Walter V. Wendler, President, West Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1190732019-07-18T11:24:04Z2019-07-18T11:24:04ZWashington state’s big bet on ‘free college’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284105/original/file-20190715-173334-1pcxqcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Washington state has passed a measure to cover college tuition for students from low- and moderate-income families.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seattle-washington-usa-april-4-2019-1389435113?src=GEf_FVDB9mvWw3XcLdJzkA-1-24&studio=1">VDB Photos/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Washington state doesn’t have a problem finding educated people to work in its booming high-tech economy – it’s just most of those people come from out of state.</p>
<p>This is why Washington enacted the landmark <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/2158-S2.SL.pdf">Workforce Education Investment Act</a> into law in May 2019.</p>
<p>The main idea behind the new law is to make college more affordable. It does so by providing state aid grants that will cover much or all of tuition for more Washington resident students – 36,000 more by 2021 who are eligible based on their income, according to a Senate source with knowledge of the plan. This will be done through the new Washington College Grant. </p>
<p>The bill was passed at a time when several presidential candidates are pushing <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/02/2020-democrats-free-college/583585/">ambitious plans</a> on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2019/04/24/the-2020-presidential-candidates-proposals-for-student-loan-debt/#40402512520e">college affordability</a>. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, himself a presidential candidate, has said the bill puts Washington state <a href="https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-signs-package-of-education-bills-ushers-in-one-of-the-most-progressive-education-87f2a490d755">“ahead of the nation”</a> in providing college access, but has not made it a centerpiece of his campaign.</p>
<p>I’m the author of a book about <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=tus&q=financing+american+higher+education+in+the+era+of+globalization">how states finance higher education</a>. Here are what I see as the most significant aspects of what has been described as Washington state’s <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/could-you-go-to-college-tuition-free-in-washington-heres-how-to-find-out/">“free college” plan</a>. </p>
<h2>1. Businesses will pay for it</h2>
<p>Since the new Workforce Investment Act will benefit employers, they’re the ones who are going to pay most for it. Firms hiring workers with advanced skills will pay various amounts more in business taxes. For instance, under the new law, advanced computing businesses with gross revenues over US$100 billion – meaning Amazon and Microsoft – will <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/2158-S2.E%20SBR%20APS%2019.pdf#page=1">pay the highest rates on their state business taxes</a>. Under the new law, both firms will pay an increase of two-thirds on what they already pay in business taxes, up to a $7 million annual limit per firm. </p>
<p>If it seems unusual that this tax surcharge is directed at specific firms, that’s because it is. The firms’ <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/how-the-business-community-can-support-higher-education-funding/">willingness to pay increased tax rates</a> in order to produce more of the workers they need at home was a big factor in building legislative support for the new tax. Employers in Washington state have long complained about the “skills gap”: that is, <a href="https://www.waroundtable.com/wa-kids-wa-jobs/">how hard it is to find skilled workers locally</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, the state <a href="https://www.wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2017.ASkilledAndEducatedWorkforce.pdf#page=8">ranks third in the nation</a> for attracting workers from elsewhere with a bachelor’s degree or higher. But when it comes to producing an educated workforce among its own citizens, Washington comes up short. It is in the <a href="https://wsac.wa.gov/sites/default/files/KeyFacts2012.pdf#page=67">bottom 10 states</a> in producing college graduates.</p>
<h2>2. Funding for financial aid is guaranteed</h2>
<p>One of the most significant features of the new law is that it <a href="https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-signs-package-of-education-bills-ushers-in-one-of-the-most-progressive-education-87f2a490d755">guarantees</a> for the first time that funding will actually be available to cover the grants. This is important because, since the Great Recession, the state has been unable to fund all of the eligible students who applied for the State Need Grant. In 2018, for instance, more than a quarter of eligible applicants, some 22,600, were <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/2158-S2.E%20SBR%20APS%2019.pdf#page=2">turned away</a>. This has been <a href="https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2019/05/11/financial-aid-fixes-mean-guaranteed-tuition-states-neediest-students/1166670001/">deeply unpopular</a>.</p>
<p>The fact that the grant money is guaranteed may lead students – especially first-generation college students – to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764217744821">do more to prepare for college</a>, because they know the cost is covered, according to to research by Laura Perna, a higher education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<h2>3. More money, fewer rules</h2>
<p>Washington state’s new college affordability initiative differs from the “free college” efforts being undertaken by other states such as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002764217744821">Tennessee and Oregon</a>. In other states, such as these, Rhode Island and, soon, Massachusetts, the “free college” initiatives are mostly limited to <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/states-continue-push-ahead-free-college/">tuition-free community college</a> for some students. But in Washington state, the Workforce Education Investment Act provides money for students to attend not only a community college, but four-year public and private colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Other states’ free college initiatives, for the most part, are “last dollar” programs. The most prominent example is Tennessee. In last dollar programs, the state money students get is applied toward their college costs only after they have gotten other financial aid, such as federally administered Pell Grants. These last dollar state grants typically cover only tuition and cannot be applied to living costs.</p>
<p>The new Washington program, however, offers “first dollar” grants. This allows students to apply Pell and other aid to college costs besides tuition, such as books, room and board, and transportation. This lowers the amount that students have to borrow for college. </p>
<p>Also, unlike in some states’ “free college” programs, there is no residency requirement after graduation. This is not the case in, for example, New York, where students who get their tuition covered by an <a href="https://www.ny.gov/programs/tuition-free-degree-program-excelsior-scholarship">Excelsior Scholarship</a> must live and work in New York for the same number of years that they received the scholarship. Otherwise, their scholarship becomes a repayable loan.</p>
<p>The new law also seeks to help those who need training that doesn’t necessarily involve college. For instance, students can use the grants for <a href="https://www.apprenticeship.gov/registered-apprenticeship-program">Registered Apprenticeship</a> programs, which sometimes charge tuition. The act also provides substantial new money – $11.5 million for the next two-year budget cycle – for <a href="https://careerconnectwa.org/">Career Connect Washington</a>, an effort to bring employers and educators together to design programs that emphasize the skills employers seek.</p>
<h2>Will it work?</h2>
<p>Washington state already keeps tuition from rising more than the rate at which average wages grow. Now, with this new initiative that provides state aid grants to more students, the state is attacking the college affordability issue on multiple fronts.</p>
<p>The grant program is being funded by <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/2158-S2.E%20SBR%20APS%2019.pdf#page=6">$162.7 million</a> that has been set aside to finance the new student aid grants over the 2019-21 budget cycle. This is beyond the roughly $648 million reserved for the current grant program and represents a significant 25% gain in a state that was already a <a href="https://www.nassgapsurvey.com/survey_reports/2016-2017-48th.pdf#page=24">college aid leader</a>. </p>
<p>The new college grants will be made available beginning in the 2020-21 school year to students with <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/2158-S2.E%20SBR%20APS%2019.pdf#page=3">family incomes up to the state median</a>, which is $92,000 for a family of four, according to the Washington Student Achievement Council. Under the old grant program, the cutoff was at 70% of the median.</p>
<p>The Workforce Education Investment Act also provides <a href="http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2019-20/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/2158-S2.E%20SBR%20APS%2019.pdf#page=6">$17.1 million in funding</a> for more seats in college programs in high-demand fields, such as nursing and IT. It also provides for increased faculty salaries in those fields.</p>
<p>Given student living costs, there is no guarantee that Washington College Grant recipients will graduate debt-free. And it remains to be seen whether the Workforce Education Investment Act will pay off in the way that employers hope. But through the program, Washington state seems better poised than it was before to ensure that its own citizens are able to get one of the state’s high-paying jobs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Zumeta received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a project relevant to the design of the Career Connect Washington program. </span></em></p>A new law in Washington state that makes college mostly free for many students is meant to prepare more residents from the state for jobs in the local economy. Whether it will work remains to be seen.William Zumeta, Professor of Public Policy and Governance and Professor of Education, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040512018-10-31T10:40:16Z2018-10-31T10:40:16ZThinking about borrowing against your home to send your kids to college? Think again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243698/original/file-20181102-83651-91p4h4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers found that families who send their children off to college face an increased risk for foreclosure.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/parents-helping-teenage-son-pack-college-184855727?src=ubyjeY5Qg3MdUQ5mxhIvQQ-1-1">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the time comes to send their children off to college, many parents in the U.S. take out loans, draw from savings and earnings and – as some financial advisors recommend – borrow against their homes.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13524-018-0702-7">study</a> we published earlier this year, we found a hidden danger that parents face when they borrow heavily to pay for their children’s college education.</p>
<p>We are sociologists who specialize in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d816HY4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">housing and the Great Recession</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mdERDMIAAAAJ&hl=en">structural inequalities</a> in access to education.</p>
<p>For our study, we leveraged foreclosure data and tax return data to show that, between 2006 and 2011, a 1 percent increase in college attendance among 19-year-olds was followed consistently by about 19,000 additional foreclosures the following year nationwide.</p>
<h2>Odds of foreclosure double</h2>
<p>We also used three independent data sets tracking individual households over time to confirm the connection between college attendance and foreclosure. We found that the odds of foreclosure are twice as high among homeowners with a child in college, even after we account for their income, mortgage interest rate, the presence of other children, race, householders’ education and marital status, and region. </p>
<p>These foreclosures are not explained by the sub-prime lending that led to the Great Recession and the unemployment that followed, according to our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13524-018-0702-7">research</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13524-018-0702-7">analysis</a> also accounts for other concurrent changes in economic, demographic and housing conditions, as well as state-level changes in tuition and student debt accumulation. </p>
<h2>Tuition rises</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429968372/chapters/10.4324%2F9780429499821-10">value of a college education</a> is well-established. Compared to workers with a high school degree or less, college degree holders receive a substantial wage premium that pays <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/rest.90.2.300">lifelong dividends</a> in health, security and wealth accumulation. </p>
<p>This may explain why, between 1980 and 2014, college enrollment among high school graduates has increased 16.3 percentage points even as average inflation-adjusted tuition for two- and four-year institutions <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016014.pdf">more than doubled</a>.</p>
<p>The sharp rise in tuition coincided with a well-documented increase in student debt and an effort by many institutions of higher learning to institute a sliding scale for tuition, based on need. This scale uses an algorithmically determined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/05/opinion/columnists/what-college-really-costs.html">net tuition price</a>, which is adjusted by grants and other financial aid.</p>
<p>Even with these offsets, families often still confront a large <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/next-steps/how-calculated#efc">“expected family contribution</a>.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, we find that the statistical relationship between college attendance and foreclosures is consistent across income levels. This suggests that, all else being equal, sliding scale tuition and need-based offsets may not be enough to make college affordable for poor, middle-class and even affluent households.</p>
<p>For many families, investments in education and homeownership – pillars of the American dream – require taking on tremendous amounts of debt with the promise of improved economic status. In an era of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/opinion/leonhardt-income-inequality.html">widening inequality</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-evolution-of-household-income-volatility-3/">increasing income instability</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-budget-cuts.html">retracting social welfare policy</a>, this promise has become far less secure. A question policymakers and college financial offices ought to ask is whether it’s a good idea for families to basically put up their homes to pay for their children’s college education.</p>
<p>This question is particularly relevant given the decades-long trend of increasing tuition.</p>
<p>Some have suggested that college spending must be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/opinion/trustees-tuition-lazy-rivers.html">reined in</a>. Others argue that college financial aid must become <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/01/20/should-college-be-free">more generous</a>. Both approaches would help reduce the pressure for families to borrow against their homes to send their children to college.</p>
<p><a href="https://whyy.org/articles/tuition-free-community-colleges-public-universities-proposed-in-pa/">Proposals for free tuition</a> for low- and moderate-income households are also an important part of the solution. The need for such efforts is even more evident in light of the fact that <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/a-lost-decade-in-higher-education-funding">many states have increased tuition</a> since the Great Recession. Further, state funds for higher education are still below pre-recession levels in <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/a-lost-decade-in-higher-education-funding">all but five states</a> – Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming.</p>
<h2>What can be done</h2>
<p>The fact that so many foreclosures are connected to college attendance also shines light on why the federal policy response to foreclosures was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511482.2012.749933">relatively ineffective</a>. Foreclosure prevention needs to look at more than mortgage terms. Rather, foreclosure prevention must also deal with a broader range of financial burdens that cause families to overextend themselves financially. </p>
<p>Anti-predatory lending policies, which have been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2011.00556.x">shown to rein in unscrupulous lenders</a>, should also be expanded and strengthened. And mortgage lender reporting requirements, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/22/613390275/congress-to-undo-part-of-dodd-frank-easing-rules-for-mid-sized-smaller-banks">under assault</a> from a business-first and consumer-last administration and Republican Congress, must continue. </p>
<p>As novel as our findings may be, they might not fully reflect the consequences of rising college costs. For instance, the <a href="https://ticas.org/content/pub/student-debt-and-class-2017">growing amounts of student debt</a> may pose a threat to housing stability for college graduates in the future.</p>
<p>Indeed, research has shown that higher rates of student loan debt are associated with <a href="http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2017/04/diplomas-to-doorsteps-education-student-debt-and-homeownership.html">lower rates of homeownership</a>. In essence, what this could mean is one generation will be barely holding onto their homes to put their kids through college, while their kids may find themselves so saddled with student loan debt that they are ultimately unable to buy a home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob William Faber receives funding from The Russell Sage Foundation and the William T. Grant Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our work on this project was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation (Award 83-14-09).</span></em></p>The odds of foreclosure double for families who send their kids off to college, according to two researchers who say their findings show a need for new ways for Americans pay for higher education.Jacob William Faber, Assistant Professor, New York UniversityPeter Rich, Assistant Professor, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982842018-08-29T10:47:20Z2018-08-29T10:47:20ZMaking college more affordable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227517/original/file-20180712-27021-sf3pco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has the cost of higher education in the U.S. put college out of financial reach?
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/investment-education-concept-conception-fee-expenses-659689999?src=2xQeZglNENWOjh3EuWS-Ww-6-0">DRogatnev/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: When it comes to the cost of higher education in the U.S., signs of trouble abound.</em></p>
<p><em>For instance, states now <a href="http://www.sheeo.org/news/sheeo-releases-state-higher-education-finance-fy-2017">rely more heavily on tuition</a> to finance their public colleges and universities than on government funding.</em> </p>
<p><em>Private colleges and universities are also struggling to make ends meet, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/30/nacubo-report-finds-tuition-discounting-again">steering a record amount of tuition revenue</a> toward grant aid for economically needy students.</em> </p>
<p><em>Meanwhile, the number of student borrowers who defaulted on their student loans <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-national-student-loan-fy-2014-cohort-default-rate">edged up</a> last year as did the <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/2017-trends-in-college-pricing_1.pdf">price of higher education itself</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>So we asked our panel of presidents – from Xavier University of Louisiana, Colorado College and Penn State: Given this reality, what are the top two or three things that you believe need to happen to make college more affordable – particularly for low-income students, students of color and the working class?</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>More than one funder has to step up</h2>
<p><strong>Jill Tiefenthaler, President of Colorado College</strong></p>
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<span class="caption">Jill Tiefenthaler, president of Colorado College.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.coloradocollege.edu/us/giving/campaign/phonecast.html">Colorado College</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>A college education has many funders. Federal and state governments provide support, as do the institutions of higher education themselves. And then, of course, there is the money paid by the students’ families. Improving access will require additional support from one or more of these sources.</p>
<p>To start at the local level, an increase in state funding would make college more affordable. After all <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_303.70.asp">over 70 percent of all undergraduates</a> attend public institutions, and historically, states have been the primary source of funding for both two- and four-year public institutions.</p>
<p>However, states have <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/higher-ed-lower-spending-as-states-cut-back-where-has-money-gone/">reduced their support in recent years</a> and, as a result, the burden has fallen on students and their families. The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-many-new-yorkers-are-benefiting-from-the-states-free-college-plan-2017-10-03">“free college”</a> plans in New York and a <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/01/05/why-free-college-tuition-is-spreading-from-cities-to-states">few other states</a> are examples of commitments to improve access. However, given the pressure on budgets resulting from underfunded pensions, Medicaid and K-12, I am not optimistic that students can count on increased support from states. In addition, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-new-tax-law-affects-homeowners-it-could-be-more-than-you-think-2018-02-05">recent tax changes</a> that limit federal deductions for state taxes will increase pressure to keep state income and property tax rates down, further hindering state funding.</p>
<p>Additional support from the federal government, by increasing the <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell">Pell Grant</a> program, could make a big difference. The maximum Pell Grant for the 2018-19 academic year is $6,095. This is sufficient to cover the annual tuition at most community colleges. For example, the average tuition at <a href="https://www.ppcc.edu">the community college in my city</a> is $4,651. However, only students with family incomes of less than $60,000 qualify and the amount of the grant declines significantly as family income increases. Increasing the income cut-off and providing the full $6,095 to all who qualify would make college much more accessible for low- and middle-income students.</p>
<p>Private nonprofit colleges and universities educate <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_303.70.asp">about 20 percent of all undergraduates</a>. The “sticker price” at these institutions gives the impression that they are not accessible to low- and middle-income students. However, privates provide significant institutional aid. </p>
<p>The major source of this support is philanthropy, made up of earnings on endowments and annual gifts. Private institutions with smaller endowments also provide aid from tuition revenue by using the revenue from some students to provide financial aid to other students. However, increasing institutional aid by using tuition revenue is not sustainable. Therefore, the key to making private institutions more affordable is increasing endowments through philanthropy. Although it is true that the new <a href="https://econofact.org/the-university-endowment-tax-who-will-pay-it-and-why-was-it-implemented">“endowment tax”</a> on large endowments and any changes to the tax deduction for charitable giving reduce the funds available for financial aid. In addition, private institutions could reduce “merit aid” – aid that is awarded on the basis of academic, athletic or artistic merit – and reallocate those funds to need-based financial aid. </p>
<p>Of course, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/26/forget-the-marketing-gimmicks-its-time-for-colleges-to-cut-costs/">some may argue</a> that rather than finding new sources of revenue, colleges could simply cut their costs and reduce tuition. This would make college more affordable but it would also reduce the quality of the education provided. </p>
<p>Higher education is a very competitive market, and students and their families demand quality – as they should. We must do our best to educate students in a global environment, keeping pace with technological innovations, teaching critical thinking, fostering comfort with ambiguity, and graduating nimble leaders who will thrive in a rapidly changing era.</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs discussing is the total cost of a degree</h2>
<p><strong>Eric Barron, President of Pennsylvania State University</strong></p>
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<span class="caption">Eric Barron, president of The Pennsylvania State University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://president.psu.edu/biography.html">The Pennsylvania State University</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The high level of tuition in U.S. universities can be blamed on many factors. On top of <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/higher-ed-lower-spending-as-states-cut-back-where-has-money-gone/">shrinking state appropriations</a> there are more technology-intensive degrees in every field; an <a href="https://news.psu.edu/story/475363/2017/07/21/administration/trustees-hear-update-proposed-university-capital-plan">aging campus infrastructure;</a> a sharp increase in compliance and <a href="https://regulatorystudies.columbian.gwu.edu/reg-stats">regulations</a> reporting; and soaring health care costs.</p>
<p>University administrators should be deeply concerned that our price is limiting access to an education that enables upward mobility. Interestingly, the conversation on access and affordability seems to be fixated on controlling, first and foremost, the increase in tuition. We need to broaden the framing of this discussion considerably.</p>
<p>The first step is to change the conversation to one of the total cost of a degree. The simple fact is that timely completion of a degree is a critical mechanism to control total cost. A tuition increase pales in comparison to going to school for another year.</p>
<p>The second step is to recognize that the only thing worse than going five and six years in order to graduate, is to accumulate debt and drop out before graduation.</p>
<p>Universities like Penn State are justifiably proud of their <a href="https://budget.psu.edu/factbook/StudentDynamic/gradretratesummary.aspx?&ratetype=grad&repyear=2017&YearCode=2015&FBPlusIndc=N">high graduation rates</a>. However, when you dig deeper, you discover that first-generation, need-based students have <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-graduation-rates-lag-for-low-income-college-students-96182">a dramatically lower graduation rate</a> than most of their peers. At Penn State, they graduate 22 percentage points below the average. We can point to many factors that cause [this graduation gap], but it’s clearly not due to lack of ambition.</p>
<p>Sixty-two percent of these students work an average of 22 hours a week, usually at minimum wage jobs, so they can’t take a full credit load. It is impossible to graduate in four years. They drop classes more frequently than other students and tend to have lower grades because of their work load. Sadly, they also don’t have time to participate in advantageous activities, such as research or internships. They get discouraged. They either give up or end up attending a fifth or sixth year at a significant cost. If they graduate, they have paid more and gotten less from the experience than other students.</p>
<p>Our universities need a laser-like focus on mitigating all factors that slow the time to the completion of a degree. Every student should have access to financial literacy advisers and tools that help students take the most cost-efficient way to achieve a degree. We need “completion” programs to be a priority and not allow students to slip away because of finances or other hardships.</p>
<p>We can serve our mission of upward mobility and save students millions in costs and debt if we help every student, regardless of financial capability, to graduate, and graduate on time.</p>
<hr>
<h2>The importance of pre-collegiate preparation</h2>
<p><strong>Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana</strong> </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.xula.edu/president/">Xavier University</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>By 2020, nearly <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED584413.pdf">two-thirds</a> of jobs will require postsecondary education. Yet, fewer than <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_603.20.asp">45 percent of adult Americans</a> currently have earned an associate degree or higher, as reported in national data.</p>
<p>The cost of higher education and its impact on access and opportunity is a major barrier to more students earning degrees. Talent and ability are not relegated to those of higher means. Our present challenge is to assure education and opportunity for students from all backgrounds. Sadly, we as a nation have been comfortable with very good schools for the haves and less than good ones for the have-nots. </p>
<p>On the federal level, <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell">Pell awards</a> should be increased and eligibility expanded for students with the greatest need. Pell awards should also be allowed to continue to apply during the summer terms so that students persist and graduate on time. </p>
<p>On average, an American student takes 5.1 years to earn the bachelor’s degree. <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport11/">Time to degree completion</a> has increased over the past decades due to a number of factors, such as the need to work and inadequate pre-collegiate schooling. Each extra year increases the cost of the bachelor’s degree by 25 percent. The time it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree could be reduced if students didn’t have to take courses to acquire math and language skills that are normally mastered in high school.</p>
<p>Bold steps are needed. This includes building an equitable K-12 educational pipeline that provides better college readiness for all of America’s students. Quality K-12 requires great teachers who remain in the profession and teach in schools with the greatest need. The teaching profession must be elevated and the nation’s best students should be encouraged to become teachers. For their service, school loans should be forgiven or repaid. Colleges and universities should also create postsecondary certificates and credentials meeting the needs of students entering careers that do not require college degrees.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/">HBCU</a> where I serve as president, Xavier University of Louisiana, has been leading the nation in educating <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/a-prescription-for-more-black-doctors.html">African-Americans who go on to achieve medical degrees</a>. The school also excels in preparing students who achieve Ph.D.s in the STEM fields. A 2017 study has ranked the university <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/opinion/sunday/americas-great-working-class-colleges.html">6th in the nation</a> for social mobility, whereby students from the lower 40 percent of the U.S. income distribution enter the upper 40 percent. Our success and the <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Are-Black-Colleges-Doing-/243119">success of other HBCUs</a> should dispel any notion that talent is associated with socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>The education of our citizens is not only an individual but a collective benefit: America thrives if it develops all of its talent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Tiefenthaler is affiliated with the National Association of Colleges and Universities (NAICU), serving as treasurer and on its executive committee; and with the Annapolis Group, serving as chair of its board of directors. She has received funding from foundations in support of education and research. These include Blue Shield of California Foundation and National Consortium for Violence Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric J. Barron is currently a member of the University Corp. for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Board of Trustees, APLU Board of Directors, CICEP Chair, College Football Play-off (CFP) Board of Managers, Council on Competitiveness: EMCP Steering Committee, Universities Research Association (URA), Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors and American Talent Initiative (ATI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reynold Verret and Xavier University of Louisiana receives and has received funding from federal agencies and foundations in support of education and research. These include the NIH, NSF, NASA, DOD and the Howard Hughes Medical institute</span></em></p>As students head back to campus, the ever higher cost of a college education is once again top of mind. The presidents of Colorado College, Penn State and Xavier University weigh in on what’s to be done.Jill Tiefenthaler, President, Colorado CollegeEric J. Barron, President, Penn StateReynold Verret, President, Xavier University of Louisiana, Xavier University of LouisianaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794752017-06-30T01:04:50Z2017-06-30T01:04:50ZFrom public good to personal pursuit: Historical roots of the student debt crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176124/original/file-20170628-31318-1k59itt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has student debt changed because the purpose of education has changed?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Collier/Library of Congress, Ermolaev Alexander/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">promise of free college education</a> helped propel Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination to national prominence. It reverberated during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk4imizwSlA">confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos</a> as Secretary of Education and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/04/pf/college/bernie-sanders-tuition-free-college/index.html">Sanders continues to push the issue</a>.</p>
<p>In conversations among politicians, college administrators, educators, parents and students, college affordability seems to be seen as a purely financial issue – it’s all about money.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://tadamtransnationalhistory.com">research</a> into the historical cost of college shows that the roots of the current <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#49139fbd5dab">student debt crisis</a> are neither economic nor financial in origin, but predominantly social. Tuition fees and student loans became an essential part of the equation only as Americans came to believe in an entirely different purpose for higher education.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176111/original/file-20170628-31335-exg1la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students took to the streets to protest their debt burdens as part of Occupy Boston in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/campusgrotto/6235272007">CampusGrotto/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>Cost of a college degree today</h2>
<p>For many students, graduation means debt. In 2012, more than <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/">44 million Americans</a> (14 percent of the total population) were still paying off student loans. And the average graduate in 2016 left college with more than $37,000 in student loan debt.</p>
<p>Student loan debt has become the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/business/dealbook/household-debt-united-states.html">second-largest type of personal debt</a> among Americans. Besides leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027">depression and anxiety</a>, student loan debt slows down economic growth: It <a href="http://www.asa.org/site/assets/files/3793/life_delayed.pdf">prevents young Americans</a> from buying houses and cars and starting a family. Economist <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/alvaro-mezza.htm">Alvaro Mezza</a>, among others, has shown that there is a negative correlation between <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2016.010">increasing student loan debt and homeownership</a>.</p>
<p>The increase in student loan debt should come as no surprise given the increasing cost of college and the share that students are asked to shoulder. <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/statesupport">Decreasing state support for colleges</a> over the last two decades caused colleges to raise tuition fees significantly. From 1995 to 2015, tuition and fees at 310 national universities ranked by U.S. News <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/07/29/chart-see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities">rose considerably</a>, increasing by nearly 180 percent at private schools and over 225 percent at public schools.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, tuition has gone up. And students are paying that higher tuition with <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics">student loans</a>. These loans can influence students’ decisions about <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_graduates_earnings_growth_debt_repayment/">which majors to pick</a> and <a href="https://qz.com/680954/millennials-please-dont-waste-your-money-on-graduate-school/">whether to pursue graduate studies</a>.</p>
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<h2>Early higher education: a public good</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176122/original/file-20170628-1009-1bsghsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Stanford University crew team, between 1910-1915. Stanford was founded on the principle of providing a free education. The university did not start charging students tuition until 1920.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2889448163">Library of Congress</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>During the 19th century, college education in the United States was offered largely for free. Colleges trained students from middle-class backgrounds as high school teachers, ministers and community leaders who, after graduation, were to serve public needs.</p>
<p>This free tuition model had to do with perceptions about the role of higher education: College education was considered a public good. Students who received such an education would put it to use in the betterment of society. Everyone benefited when people chose to go to college. And because it was considered a public good, society was willing to pay for it – either by offering college education free of charge or by providing tuition scholarships to individual students.</p>
<p>Stanford University, which was founded on <a href="https://founders.stanford.edu/stanford-history">the premise of offering college education free of charge to California residents</a>, was an example of the former. Stanford did not charge tuition for almost three decades from its opening in 1891 until 1920.</p>
<p>Other colleges, such as the College of William and Mary, offered comprehensive tuition scholarship programs, which covered tuition in exchange for a pledge of the student to engage in some kind of service after graduation. Beginning in 1888, William and Mary provided <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RBUSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA454">full tuition scholarships</a> to about one third of its students. In exchange, students receiving this scholarship pledged to teach for two years at a Virginia public school.</p>
<p>And even though the cost for educating students rose significantly in the second half of the 19th century, college administrators such as Harvard President <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/history-presidency/charles-william-eliot">Charles W. Eliot</a> insisted that these costs should not be passed on to students. In a letter to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Adams_Jr.">Charles Francis Adams</a> dated June 9, 1904, Eliot wrote, “I want to have the College <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hxpvsfxjfMAC&pg=PA22">open equally</a> to men with much money, little money, or no money, provided they all have brains.”</p>
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<h2>College education becomes a private pursuit</h2>
<p>The perception of higher education changed dramatically around 1910. Private colleges began to attract more students from upper-class families – students who went to college for the social experience and not necessarily for learning.</p>
<p>This social and cultural change led to a fundamental shift in the defined purpose of a college education. What was once a public good designed to advance the welfare of society was becoming a private pursuit for self-aggrandizement. Young people entering college were no longer seen as doing so for the betterment of society, but rather as pursuing personal goals: in particular, enjoying the social setting of private colleges and obtaining a respected professional position upon graduation.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176114/original/file-20170628-12666-1xsr7sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John D. Rockefeller was instrumental in bringing about the modern day reality of college tuition and student loans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_D._Rockefeller_1885.jpg">The Rockefeller Archive Center</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1927, John D. Rockefeller began campaigning for charging students the full cost it took to educate them. Further, he suggested that students could shoulder such costs through student loans. Rockefeller and like-minded donors (in particular, <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001974372">William E. Harmon</a>, the wealthy real estate magnate) were quite successful in their campaign. They convinced donors, educators and college administrators that students should pay for their own education because going to college was considered a deeply personal affair. Tuition – and student loans – thus became commonly accepted aspects of the economics of higher education.</p>
<p>The shift in attitude regarding college has also become commonly accepted. Altruistic notions about the advancement of society have generally been pushed aside in favor of the image of college as a vehicle for <a href="https://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/why-go-to-college-at-all/">individual enrichment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176116/original/file-20170628-3154-1p3kb3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dartmouth College students carving canes on campus in the early 1920s. In the early 20th century, as more students from upper-class families began attending college for the social – rather than educational – experience, many colleges began the practice of charging tuition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartmouth_College_campus_-_students_carving_canes_on_the_Senior_Fence.jpg">Council of the Alumni of Dartmouth College</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new social contract</h2>
<p>If the United States is looking for alternatives to what some would call a <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/collegeforallsummary/?inline=file">failing funding model for college affordability</a>, the solution may lie in looking further back than the current system, which has been in place since the 1930s.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, communities and the state would foot the bill for college tuition because students were contributing to society. They served the common good by teaching high school for a certain number of years or by taking leadership positions within local communities. A few marginal programs with similar missions (<a href="https://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html">ROTC</a> and <a href="https://www.teachforamerica.org/">Teach for America</a>) still exist today, but students participating in these programs are very much in the minority.</p>
<p>Instead, higher education today seems to be about what college can do for you. It’s not about what college students can do for society.</p>
<p>I believe that tuition-free education can only be realized if college education is again reframed as a public good. For this, students, communities, donors and politicians would have to enter into a new social contract that exchanges tuition-free education for public services.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176112/original/file-20170628-31297-ftmsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students from UC Davis working on a environmental restoration project in 2013. Could a tuition-free, service-oriented approach be the future of higher education?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/goodlifegarden/10842803016">Jonathan Su/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Adam received funding from the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Washington University Libraries Department of Special Collections, and the State Historical Society of Iowa.</span></em></p>About 44 million Americans are still paying off student loan debt. But it didn’t always used to be this way. As the perceived purpose of a college education changed, so too did the way we pay for it.Thomas Adam, Professor of Transnational History, University of Texas at ArlingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/709002017-01-12T02:11:18Z2017-01-12T02:11:18ZFree college explained in a global context<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152430/original/image-20170111-4591-1ckw9ot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced a proposal for free tuition at state colleges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Mary Altaffer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New York Governor <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/nyregion/free-tuition-new-york-colleges-plan.html?_r=0">Andrew M. Cuomo recently pledged</a> to make undergraduate education at the the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State University of New York (SUNY) system free for families making less than US$120,000 annually. </p>
<p>If this happens, it wouldn’t be the first time that undergraduate education has been free in New York. For most of its history, up until the 1970s when New York City was in dire financial straits and the state had to step in to bail out the City University of New York, <a href="http://www.gothamgazette.com/city/6444-could-cuny-be-tuition-free-again">CUNY was free</a> to many of the city’s residents. </p>
<p>And this is not just the case in New York. College has been tuition-free in other states as well. In 2014, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam promised <a href="http://tnpromise.gov/">to provide free community college</a> to all residents in his state. He has delivered on the promise, making Tennessee a model state in this area. </p>
<p>In a country where student debt and the rising cost of the college degree grab national headlines on a weekly basis, efforts to make college “free” can also get attention. In truth, however, a large part of tuition costs are already subsidized in the U.S. through a combination of grants, tax breaks and loans. What causes waves is the ever-increasing sticker price, rather than what students actually pay. </p>
<p>My interest, as a scholar of global education policy, is understanding how college costs in the U.S. compare to those of the rest of the world. The fact is that nowhere is college truly free. The critical difference is whether the bulk of the costs are born by the student or by the government.</p>
<p>So, what are some of the changes taking place globally as countries try to manage college costs? </p>
<h2>Who pays?</h2>
<p>Some countries follow a model similar to the U.S. by charging high tuition rates but then defraying the costs for certain students with grants, loans or tax incentives. </p>
<p>As to which country charges students the most, that depends on how one does the calculations. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152431/original/image-20170111-4591-1lkg862.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Numbers don’t tell the full story of college costs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success">Piggy bank image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Let’s look at the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm">“2015 Education at a Glance”</a> report from the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/about/">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)</a>. The report shows that public colleges in England charged the highest fees, when factoring in public aid, to domestic students (approximately ($9,000), followed by the U.S. ($8,200), Japan ($5,100), South Korea ($4,700) and Canada ($4,700).</p>
<p>But the numbers alone do not tell the full story.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.expertmarket.co.uk/most-expensive-places-for-university">simple comparison</a> between the total cost of tuition fees and the median self-reported income of the country reveals a very different picture: Hungary becomes the most expensive country, with 92 percent of median income going toward the cost of education, followed closely by Romania and Estonia. The U.S. ranks sixth on this listing. (This calculation does not factor in <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance-19991487.htm">loans and grants</a>.) </p>
<h2>Low or no tuition models</h2>
<p>Some countries take a very different approach, charging no or low tuition fees. According to the <a href="http://gse.buffalo.edu/org/inthigheredfinance/project_profiles.html">International Higher Education Finance</a>, a project sponsored by the <a href="http://www.rockinst.org">Rockefeller Institute of Government</a>, more than 40 countries offer free or nearly free post-secondary education to domestic students. These include Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, Uruguay, Scotland and Turkey.</p>
<p>A variety of approaches are used to fund higher education in these countries, such as imposing high taxes or making use of their significant natural resources (e.g., oil and natural gas reserves) to provide the financial resources for extensive social investment. </p>
<p>In other places, such as Germany, an egalitarian philosophy and deeply held beliefs about the value of a public education preclude the government from shifting costs to the students. In Germany, for example, there was a short-lived effort from 2005-2014 to charge minimal tuition, which was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/04/tuition-fees-germany-higher-education">rolled back</a> after a major public outcry. Germans strongly believe that higher education is a public good to be totally subsidized the government.</p>
<p>The point being in these countries students pay very little for post-secondary education – a policy shift going on in the U.S. </p>
<h2>The UK: A divided approach</h2>
<p>There have been attempts in other countries to shift some of the cost of higher education to students. </p>
<p>Following the great recession in 2012, England, for example, <a href="researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00917/SN00917.pdf">tripled tuition</a> in one year to approximately $11,000 (9000 pounds). The intent was to offset steep declines in government funding. Despite a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/thousands-put-off-by-university-tuition-fees-8025990.html">significant outcry</a> by students and other critics, these high tuition costs have stayed. </p>
<p>In fact, England <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2015.htm">recently</a> surpassed the U.S. in terms of having the highest tuition fees of the 34 countries in the industrialized world. While the sticker price for many U.S. institutions is higher, financial aid helps bring down the total cost. </p>
<p>However, England’s “sister country” Scotland continues to provide more substantial subsidies for higher education, providing domestic students with <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-23279868">free access</a> to college while at the same time charging significant fees to students from elsewhere in the U.K. </p>
<h2>What about international students?</h2>
<p>The free tuition debate typically is domestically focused, but it can spill over into <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors#.WHaml32GzLg">affecting international students</a>. There are now more than one million international students in the US – comprising about 5.2 percent of the total number of college students. </p>
<p>The question now facing policymakers globally is whether to extend the concept of free college to international students or to let them be a source of additional revenues to offset costs of domestic students.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-losing-its-dominance-in-global-higher-education-market-46721">no-tuition and low-cost tuition models</a> have emerged as competitive advantages for attracting international students in many countries. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="http://www.marketplace.org/2015/04/01/education/learning-curve/american-students-head-germany-free-college">growing number</a> of U.S. students are pursuing their degree outside of the U.S. in countries such as Germany and Scotland as they look for ways to escape the rising cost of college at home. Even though some U.S. students can receive subsidies to offset their education, those in the middle- and upper-income levels tend to receive minimal support and are also most likely to see studying abroad as a possibility. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152433/original/image-20170111-4601-gokazu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What do the costs mean for international students?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofpg/6162937613/in/photolist-aoAED4-aoAzHg-aoDjdA-dtzJCf-axDRtC-qPVSh8-aoDoNd-aoACyR-5B7RpA-j5aLgf-j5aLmf-aktkJq-9sUSXH-5RoJt1-aoABXe-aoDoU9-aoDfsm-bmVW27-5fHqKf-4Xfd1n-aoDie1-aoAxGp-j56wca-aoAyo4-aoAB68-aoAAsv-oU56K8-aoACgx-aoDi93-rcBamj-aoDggS-oU41KH-79A4J2-6HkJob-pbwmKA-rPkTW2-5fCNVr-5fHiaf-5B3A2R-5fCVNk-aoAvRH-axDRTh-5fCNvk-9dfKsM-8Fcjz8-CNAGm-hJoJXx-iSQkYb-6PALBd-hJoxuU">City of Prince George</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>New Zealand <a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016/indicator-c4-who-studies-abroad-and-where_eag-2016-26-en#.WHC5jX1thdY">saw the number of</a> international students quadruple from 2005 to 2014, soon after it made the decision to subsidize international doctoral students at the same level as domestic students.</p>
<p>In contrast, nations that have significantly increased their tuition costs for international students have found mixed results. </p>
<p>Denmark, for example, saw attendance from outside the EU <a href="https://www.nafsa.org/_/File/_/ie_julaug13_change.pdf">drop by 20 percent in one year</a>, after it introduced tuition fees for international students in 2006. Sweden too saw a massive drop in international students after it introduced fees in 2011-12 – the number of international students <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2015/12/swedens-international-student-numbers-up-for-the-first-time-since-2011/">plummeted by 80 percent</a>. (Some modest recovery has happened in recent years.) </p>
<h2>Implications for U.S.policy</h2>
<p>The issue in the U.S. is that it already has the largest share of the international student market – <a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2015_eag-2015-en#.WHanyn2GzLg">approximately 15 percent</a> – and a steady stream of international students looking to study in the U.S. </p>
<p>In fact, state universities often seek to make up resource declines by increasing the number of full-fee paying international students. A recent report from the <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w22981">National Bureau of Economic Research</a> found that a 10 percent reduction in state funding resulted in an 12 percent increase in the number of international undergraduate students at public research universities.</p>
<p>A number of questions therefore arise when considering the implications for the “free college” policies in the U.S.: Could free college policies reverse the trend of more U.S. students studying outside of the U.S. to escape high fees? Could improved state funding in support of making college more financially accessible to domestic students stop colleges from actively seeking international students? Or, could it push these students into the private sector which will likely have more room as students take advantage of free public education?</p>
<p>There are far too many variables still in play to answer any of these questions. But while the push for “free college” in the U.S. may be a sexy political move, we need to think through intended and unintended consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason E. Lane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What does tuition-free college mean in other parts of the world? And what would it mean for international students?Jason E. Lane, Chair and Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership & Co-Director of the Cross-Border Education Research Team, University at Albany, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/630342016-08-01T03:08:39Z2016-08-01T03:08:39ZWant college to be affordable? Start with Pell Grants<p>In her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/live-coverage-of-the-democratic-national-convention-day-4/493385/">talked about</a> free college and student debt relief. </p>
<p>Convention speeches are not normally known for providing details of policy proposals, and keeping with tradition, Clinton offered few details of her own. Now that we are past the conventions and into the campaign, presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are likely to speak in more detail about their specific policies.</p>
<p>What is missing in the debate about free college, however, is a discussion of the role of Pell Grants, the centerpiece of the federal government’s student aid programs. These grants, which used to cover almost the entire cost of a college education for poor students, today cover less than a third. The current Republican budget proposal would erode it even further, threatening the ability of students from poor and moderate-income families to attend and graduate from college. </p>
<p>From my perspective as a researcher who has studied questions of college access for two decades, any discussion of free college has to include the role of Pell Grants in college affordability.</p>
<h2>What are Pell Grants and why are they important?</h2>
<p>Pell Grants were <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/pell_final_website_may_2015.pdf">created</a> in the 1972 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This coming academic year they will provide grant aid of up to <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#how-much-money">US$5,815</a> to students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Last year, over <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-total-expenditures-maximum-and-average-grant-and-number-recipients-over-time">eight million</a> undergraduates across the nation received a total of about US$30 billion in Pell Grants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In 2011-12, 41 percent of undergraduates received a Pell Grant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=Sb4jucmFppq674Fuw-LyQA&searchterm=student%20debt&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=241241671">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that in the 2011-12 school year (the most recent data available), <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/viewtable.aspx?tableid=10356">41 percent</a> of all undergraduate students received a Pell Grant, almost double the 22 percent of students who received them in 1999. </p>
<p>For most students, the funding they receive from the Pell program outstrips what they receive in aid from either their state or the institution they attend. </p>
<p>Using <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/default.aspx">data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education, I calculated that the average Pell Grant recipient received an amount from that program that was five times greater than what they received in state grant aid and 2.6 times greater than the amount of scholarship assistance received from the institution attended.</p>
<p>Without Pell Grants, in other words, many low-income students would not be able to attend college, or would not be able to attend full time and make good progress toward earning their degree.</p>
<h2>Pell Grant value dips, tuition increases</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/states-and-public-higher-education-policy">book</a> I edited a few years ago, I demonstrated that back in the 1970s, a student attending a public, four-year university and receiving the maximum Pell Grant would have approximately 80 percent of the price of her college education – tuition, housing, food, books and miscellaneous costs – covered by the grant. </p>
<p>If the student had no resources of her own to contribute, the remaining 20 percent of the cost was often made up through state grants, scholarships from the university, work study and perhaps a small amount of student loans.</p>
<p>Today the maximum that a Pell Grant covers is only about <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-student-aid-web-final-508-2.pdf">30 percent</a> of the price of attending college for that same student. The erosion in the value of the grant is due to two reasons: 1) the rising price of college attendance and 2) a drop in the real value of Pell Grants.</p>
<p>Since 1985, average tuition prices at public, four-year colleges and universities have increased <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/published-tuition-and-fees-relative-1985-86-sector">222 percent</a> after adjusting for inflation. The situation at private four-year colleges and community colleges is only slightly better – average prices in the two sectors have increased more than 130 percent in real terms during the same three decade period.</p>
<p>Pell Grants, in contrast, have grown much less rapidly. The average grant increased only <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">30 percent</a> in inflation-adjusted dollars during this same period.</p>
<p>In the latter half of the 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Congress and a series of presidents – Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – allowed the purchasing value of Pell Grants to decline even further. </p>
<p>The maximum Pell Grant actually dropped <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">19 percent</a> in real dollars between 1985 and 1996. While federal funding over the last two decades has allowed it to regain some of its value, the maximum Pell Grant today is still below the 1975 level in inflation-adjusted dollars.</p>
<h2>Impact of GOP proposal</h2>
<p>As bad as this situation is, it could get much worse. The current <a href="http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy16budget.pdf">Republican spending plan</a> in the House of Representatives proposes to place a cap on the maximum Pell Grant. What this means is that it would stay at its 2015-16 level for the next 10 years. </p>
<p>While it is hard to predict for sure what will happen to tuition prices over the next decade, it is fairly certain that prices will continue to rise. This will cause the value of the Pell Grant to erode even further during this period.</p>
<p>For example, again, based on my calculations, if college prices increase 3 percent per year over the next decade, and Pell Grants are held at their current level, its purchasing power at public four-year institutions would drop from 30 percent of total college costs today to only 21 percent in 2026. </p>
<p>At private four-year institutions, the Pell value would drop from 17 percent of costs today to only 12 percent 10 years from now. </p>
<p>The Republican proposal, if enacted, would undoubtedly have an impact on the college access and success of students from low- and moderate-income families. Constraining the grant aid available to them from the federal financial aid programs could force more students to drop out of college. Or, students could take longer to earn their degrees, or could afford to attend only a community college rather than a four-year institution. </p>
<p>The impact on college access for these students would be detrimental to the nation as a whole. As President Obama noted in his first <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-address-joint-session-congress">address</a> to Congress in 2009, the future growth of our economy will depend on having more workers with post-secondary credentials. Without a Pell Grant program that keeps pace with college costs, we will be unable to attain this goal. </p>
<p>Clinton and Trump should be talking about the issue of college affordability on the campaign trail. But they need to address all of the policies that help make college affordable for students and their families.</p>
<p>Funding for the Pell Grant program is a critical component of that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has in the past received funding from U.S. public agencies, non-profit organizations, and foundations for his research. He currently is not receiving external funding for his work.</span></em></p>Pell Grants, the federal aid program for low-income students, are down to covering only 30 percent of tuition, from 80 percent in the 1970s.Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621572016-07-12T02:24:56Z2016-07-12T02:24:56ZWhy debt-free college will not solve the real problems in America’s higher education system<p>On July 6, Hillary Clinton took a half-step toward <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">Bernie Sanders’ free public college tuition plan</a>. She proposed partnering with states to <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/college/">zero out tuition by 2020</a> for families making US$125,000 or less. </p>
<p>We know that American higher education faces serious long-term problems. However, reducing tuition or college debt to zero isn’t the right way to solve them.</p>
<p>We have been studying America’s higher education system and <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/why-does-college-cost-so-much-9780199744503?cc=us&lang=en&">college costs</a>. Our research tells us that the deep problems in American higher education today aren’t due to the fact that students borrow or pay tuition. It is because the schools serving the bulk of America’s underprivileged students are increasingly resource-starved. </p>
<p>So, what should our candidates be worrying about when it comes to higher education? And what policies might make a dent in our real problems?</p>
<h2>Inequality in higher education</h2>
<p>Let’s first look at how higher education has been split into separate and unequal worlds. </p>
<p>As researchers <a href="https://economics.stanford.edu/people/caroline-m-hoxby">Caroline Hoxby</a> and <a href="http://economics.virginia.edu/people/set5h">Sarah Turner</a> have shown, students who attend a college ranked “most competitive” by Barron’s, a financial magazine, <a href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/assets/legacy/files/downloads_and_links/THP_HoxbyTurner_FINAL.pdf">enjoy $27,000 of instructional spending</a> per student. These include schools such as Yale, Duke, Kenyon and the University of Miami. At a “non-selective” four-year university that number drops to $5,000. This group includes many non-flagship state universities and small liberal arts colleges that accept most applicants. </p>
<p>The divide is further deepened as only a small percentage of low-income students are able to attend top universities. Only four percent of the students who attend the institutions rated as “most competitive” are from the <a href="http://www.pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2016_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf">bottom quarter</a> of the socioeconomic status distribution. Students from the bottom half of the income distribution <a href="http://www.pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2016_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf">cluster at community colleges</a> and non-selective four-year institutions. </p>
<p>Rising income inequality and declining state support for higher education further risks cementing in place this division between first class and steerage class education. </p>
<h2>Rising inequality, declining state support</h2>
<p>Consider the following facts: Most of the income growth since 1965 has gone to the richest 20 percent of American households. Since 2000, a household at the bottom fifth has lost $3,200, measured in 2014 dollars, or 13 percent of its income. But America’s richest five percent earns an extra $7,000.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129887/original/image-20160708-24105-ty0x1m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. household Income from 1967 to 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html">David Feldman</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For students from poor and middle-income families, stagnant or declining income is a real barrier to college access unless state or federal subsidies become more liberal. </p>
<p>But most states have cut funding to public universities. Between 2000-01 and 2014-15, annual state spending per full-time student <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/total-and-student-state-funding-and-public-enrollment-over-time">fell by $2,573</a>, measured in 2014 dollars. Over the same time period the annual tuition and fees paid by the average student at a public four-year university <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-net-price-over-time-full-time-students-public-four-year-institution">have risen by $2,038</a>, also measured in 2014 dollars. Tuition increases have not fully recovered state cuts.</p>
<p>Despite tuition increases, public universities, and especially the less-selective non-flagships that serve the bulk of the population, are increasingly resource-starved. </p>
<p>Our calculations, based on data from the <a href="http://www.deltacostproject.org/about-us">Delta Cost Project</a>,which conducts research on how colleges spend their money, show the following: In 1987, public universities spent 88 cents for every dollar that private nonprofit institutions spent on the wages and salaries that drive instruction. By 1999 the ratio had fallen to 81 cents. And by 2010, it had fallen further, to 73 cents on the dollar. </p>
<p>This has consequences. Economists <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/econ/people/faculty/jbound.html">John Bound</a>, <a href="http://www.human.cornell.edu/bio.cfm?netid=MFL55">Michael Lovenheim</a> and <a href="http://economics.virginia.edu/people/set5h">Sarah Turner</a> have found that falling graduation rates, especially among young men, are <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.2.3.129">concentrated at resource-starved community colleges</a> and less-selective public universities. </p>
<p>These researchers found that increases in the student/faculty ratio were the main culprit in declining graduation rates at public universities. This is driven by lack of resources. At community colleges, weaker student preparation is the problem, and this is a consequence of poverty. </p>
<h2>What are candidates saying?</h2>
<p>But these are not the issues that worry our candidates most. College debt has grabbed the headlines, so college debt has grabbed their attention.</p>
<p>Donald Trump’s website currently contains nothing about higher education. But his campaign co-chair, Sam Clovis, recently offered the outlines of a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/13//trumps-campaign-co-chair-describes-higher-education-policies-being-developed">Trump position</a>. Among the proposals is that government should get out of the loan business – handing it back to private banks.</p>
<p>What would that mean for high school students, who have no collateral and no credit record? Banks generally <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-higher-ed-proposals-could-leave-poor-students-out-of-college-59926">will not lend money</a> to 18-year-olds with nebulous plans, absent a guarantee. Clovis suggested the guarantee would come from colleges and universities, who would have to pay for student default. Their “skin” would be in the game.</p>
<p>In fact, Trump’s program would hand private banks a financial windfall, because they would earn the fees and interest, and if a student failed to keep up on payments, someone else would take the hit. In Trump’s world, those would be the schools that currently work with large numbers of “risky” underprivileged students. </p>
<p>Hillary Clinton’s platform contains a <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/12/college-compact-hbcu/">$25 billion fund</a> to support private nonprofit colleges that serve underprivileged students. This would be, in our view, a step in the right direction if it could pass through Congress. </p>
<h2>What we know about student debt</h2>
<p>The substantive proposal in Clinton’s New College Compact is the following: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every student should have the option to graduate from a public college or university in their state without taking on any student debt. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our point is there is no good reason why debt should be off the table. Substantial gains go to the students who earn a degree, and reasonable amounts of debt are a good way to finance any long-run investment. Students who borrow near the average levels ($25,000 to $32,000), and who graduate, tend to have little difficulty paying back.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.urban.org/research/publication/student-debt-who-borrows-most-what-lies-ahead">Sandy Baum</a> of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, has shown, most of the “extreme” debt is concentrated in two places. The first is graduate students. The returns to their degrees are larger and less uncertain. </p>
<p>A doctor with $160,000 in debt is in much better shape than a dropout who has $14,000 to pay. Most of the dropouts come from under-resourced schools that serve our most at-risk students – this is a problem that worsens inequality.</p>
<p>The second is the for-profit sector. Although for-profits account for only nine percent of degrees awarded, <a href="http://www.urban.org/research/publication/student-debt-who-borrows-most-what-lies-ahead">they are responsible</a> for a quarter of the total number of students whose debt exceeds $50,000. For-profits serve a lot of older students and many veterans using GI benefits.</p>
<h2>What needs to change</h2>
<p>In our view, two reforms could help break the trend toward inequality in the American higher education system.</p>
<p>The first is related to the federal government’s need-based Pell Grants of up to $5,815 per academic year. Pell Grants, which are awarded to low-income, undergraduate students, do not have to be repaid. So, they reduce the price of a year in college. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129892/original/image-20160708-24084-ql2rw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashlandctc/22040242158/in/photolist-4NjKVE-obx4SG-kWVfW6-6pSoiS-6pSqtf-9d9Zau-6pNe5P-6pSpP7-6pSoFS-6pSmJ1-6pSm2E-6pSkrU-9da1jw-a5cESF-a5cF86-8r9EYP-9d6RAB-9d6SqP-9da1uC-9da1pb-a5cEd6-a5fwaq-9d6SyM-FkViwm-a5cEuk-FBYXxb-a5cF6B-EQzzxs-Fm3w8Q-a5cEin-a5fwM5-FHJpSy-FHShJu-FEa3Zv-EQzo1u-FEapka-zzC189-FL2f2e-FEaher-EQLKTK-FkVaJY-FEi2cg-FBYJqu-FL2Cme-EQUiGF-FBRg9j-EQLSkH-FkUPnA-FkV6Q5-EQLvsa">Ashland CTC</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>In today’s dollars, the current maximum Pell Grant has <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-student-aid-web-final-508-2.pdf">slightly less purchasing power</a> than it did in 1978.</p>
<p>Yet the cost of services – which includes everything from restaurant meals and haircuts to dental care and higher education – has risen faster than the inflation rate. As a result, a Pell Grant covers a <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-student-aid-web-final-508-2.pdf">declining portion</a> of the cost of a year in college. The maximum Pell Grant covered 94 percent of the tuition and fees at a public university in 2000-01. By 2015-16 it covered only 61 percent. Congress could set the Pell maximum simply by tying increases to an index of service prices. </p>
<p>The second reform that we suggest is a federal program to encourage states to raise their own investment in public universities. Former Democratic Senator Tom Harkin <a href="http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HEAA%20-%20Bill%20Summary1.pdf">proposed</a> giving states a federal grant based on how much funding they provided per student at their own public universities. </p>
<p>In Harkin’s proposal, states would qualify for a grant if they spent at least $2,865 per student annually. States that offered more funding of their own could get a bigger grant per student from the federal government. </p>
<p>The advantage of Harkin’s bill was that it did not propose to micromanage how the grant would be used. States could use it to hold down tuition growth, but they could also use it to improve the quality of the programming to help underprivileged students. Those are the students who currently fail in large numbers at underfunded public institutions. </p>
<p>We believe these two ideas alone could be a down payment on a fairer higher education system. These ideas would help funnel more resources into the colleges and universities that educate the vast majority of America’s at-risk student population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>America’s higher education has been split into two unequal worlds. Schools serving the bulk of America’s underprivileged students lack resources. Making college free will not solve the problem.David H. Feldman, Professor of Economics, William & MaryRobert B. Archibald, Professor of Economics, William & MaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.