College Debt: a Literature Review

John Mangano

Writing 1, Section 3

Professor Gordon

3 December 2012

A commonly discussed issue in regards to college is debt. Is the amount of debt students graduate with too much? Is college reasonably priced? Should students have to pay this much for an education? All of these are questions that plenty of people want to know the answer to and have different opinions about. Some people think college’s pricing is astronomical and unreasonable, like Tom Harkin states in “The Debt Crisis in Higher Education”.  Other people believe that there’s nothing wrong with the price of furthering ones knowledge, a point made clear in “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely.”

Too much debt

The college model has never been particularly cheap for students; however, as Gene Block explains in “The Debt Crisis in Higher Education”, the price of some schools have increased to 10 times what they cost 20 years ago. For example, UCLA cost approximately $1,600 twenty years ago, whereas in the past few years it has rose to about $12,000 per year, and exorbitant increase. And furthermore, state schools have now become just as expensive as private Universities were in recent years. “Public universities were created to expand access to higher education, but funding cuts are driving tuition up to the level of private institutions” says Block. I feel that this really speaks a lot about how much prices have risen, even more than just statistics because it really gives you a reality check of how much the prices have changed. Later in the article, Tom Harkin makes the surprising statement that student debt has now surpassed credit card debt in the US, over a 50% increase in the past 4 years, or, in the time it takes to receive a bachelors degree. Though these authors make strong points about how much college can cost, Robin Wilson argues that this isn’t commonly the case.

Reasonably priced

Wilson explains in “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” that while for some students, the price of college may seem outrageous or unfair, it’s not the norm. Wilson compares the cost of college to a motor vehicle, essentially saying that while it’s not pocket change, it’s also not a choice that will put you on the streets without a penny to your name.  Later in the article, Wilson quotes Anthony P. Carnevale, director of Georgetown University's Center on Education in saying “From an economist's point of view, debt is the very best way to pay for education because you're shifting the cost forward until you'll be earning more money. You borrow cheap money. It's really a very good bargain." In essence, what this seems to say is it’s not as if the colleges are demanding their money back the day after you receive your diploma, rather it’s spaced out enough so you can pay for it over time without it taking over your life.

Barry Glassner and Morton Schapiro would tend to agree, saying that students, for the most part, graduate with much less debt than everyone makes it out to be. They explain that, while there are many “doomsayers” and people who feel as though the college model is broken and needs to be fixed, people are still willing to go to schools and pay for it. If it were so unreasonable and overly expensive to pay for then wouldn’t people stop going? This however isn’t the response you might get talking to a student.

Personal opinion

As a student myself, I can’t seem to agree or disagree with any of the authors in these articles completely. While all of them raise very good and well researched points, it’s difficult to tell how expensive college really is, because every students individual circumstance is different and you can’t base whether college is ridiculously priced on one person versus another. Some students may be getting a full scholarship while others have to go directly from their last class to a night job where they work everyday in order to be able to afford their education. No matter what, a student has to work hard in order to go to college, whether it be in high school to obtain a full scholarship, or after school through diligent work at their job.

Conclusion

In conclusion, college is ultimately what you make of it. You are primarily the one responsible for your debt and the amount of it that you have. You choose your college, You choose what scholarships to apply for and you choose whether or not to try hard in school. Even though students don’t choose the price they pay to attend college, they do have some say in it as far as getting money for doing well in class. Everyone’s situation is different and college prices have risen in recent years, but that doesn’t make college impossible to attend. With some hard work, research and motivation, lowering the price of attending college is possible.

Works Cited

Block, Gene D.; Harkin, Tom; Rawlings, Hunter;, “The Debt Crisis In Higher Ed.”, University of California, Los Angles, 29 Oct. 2012, Web

Glassner, Barry, Morton Schapiro, “Give colleges more credit”, 3 July 2012, Los Angles California., Web

Wilson, Robin, “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely”,  22 May, 2009, print

Larkin, Malinda. "Higher Debt, Lower Salaries A Continuing Concern For Grads." Journal Of The American Veterinary Medical Association 240.3 (2012): 242-247. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2012.