Value of Higher Education Increase Thesis

According to the UCSD Guardian (2008), voters throughout the nation demonstrated their commitment to opposing budget cuts this past Tuesday that would have further increased the private cost of college education by reducing available state funding:

Voters nationwide made clear their support for higher-education initiatives, including rejecting a proposal in Massachusetts that would have eliminated that state income tax and in turn dealt a crippling blow to the state's education sector, which relies heavily on income taxes for support. In New Mexico, voters approved two bonds with major implications for higher education: Bond C, which delegates $40.5 million to universities for health facilities, and Bond D, which supports a new $19-million arts facility for New Mexico State University. Voters in Arkansas and Maryland approved lottery measures whose profits will help bolster education programs, and Montana voters said yes to property-tax levies to support the University of Montana."

Conclusion:

The cost of education in the United States has risen steadily for the last few decades, to the point that the vast majority of all college students now require substantial financial assistance, even to attend public state colleges. Certainly, advances in it resources and equipment warrant their costs, but that is the only real change in the actual quality of education in America during that time. While it systems and similar beneficial additions capable of improving the quality of modern higher education are indeed expensive, they do not account for more than a small fraction of the overall increased cost of education.

By far, most of the increased cost of modern education is a function of the many factors included in the rising cost of living. In 2008, the collapse of the financial markets and the effects on the American economy only further increased the skyrocketing costs of education as educational institutions across the country scramble to maintain public funding threatened by the need to cut costs to cope with the realities of the financial crisis.Nobody doubts the value of higher education and voters across the country demonstrated their opposition to budget cuts that would have increased the private costs of college education on Election Day 2008. If anything, the current economic climate, collapse of the financial markets and the loss of thousands of jobs it represented, along with the increasing unemployment rate only reinforces the fundamental value of higher education. However, there is not direct causal relationship between the increased quality of modern college education and the main reasons that its costs have risen so dramatically in the last few decades. References Glod, M. (2008) Cost of Sending Kids to College Increasing. Fox26News, Houston, TX; November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008, at http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7807583&version=2&locale=EN-U.S.&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Hendrix, S. (2008). Cost of Higher Education Heading Up: Tuition Increases Likely, Group Says. Washington Post, October 30, 2008; A15. Retrieved November 6, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102901642.html?nav=rss_nation

Katz, J. (2008). On COLLEGE: Cost of college concerning in tough economic times

Palo Alto Daily News; November 1, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008, at http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_10873727

SUNYNP (2008). Gradual Tuition Increase: The Rational Method; the New York State University at New Paltz Oracle, November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008, at http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?id=3963

UCSD (2008). California Should Take Note: Higher Education Is Worth the Cost; University of California San Diego Guardian, November 6, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2008, at http://ucsdguardian.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10537&Itemid=3.....