Losing Ground Is an Analysis

Losing Ground

is an analysis that examines the affordability of higher education in the United States. The report is published by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (herein referred to as NCPPHE or National Center), a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose main advocacy is to stimulate public policies that will improve the effectiveness and accessibility of higher education (NCPPHE, 2002). The findings of the report are based on multiple data sources. It contains information on both public and private education, but with emphasis on public colleges and universities, and the implications of the findings on state policies for affordable higher education.

In this report, the principal basis for assessing the affordability of higher education is to examine tuition and other costs of attending college vis a vis family income. According to the author/s, this perspective best captures the reality of what it really means to pay for college (NCPPHE, 2002). The analysis suggests that most families today, compared to those of 20 years ago, must spend a larger proportion of their income to pay for college. Factors that appear to contribute to this trend include budget cuts in higher education funding, tuition increase, and misappropriation of institutional financial aid. As a result, more students and families at all income levels are borrowing more than ever in order to pay for a college education (NCPPHE, 2002). Thus, the conclusion of the author/s on the issue of higher education affordability is that Americans are "losing ground." (NCPPHE, 2002).

The current paper attempts to argue "Losing Ground" primarily from a consequentialist view. Consequentialist reasoning bases its conclusion on the consequences of certain actions rather than rules (http://web.utk.edu/~nolt/courses/prescrip.html). It is the type of reasoning that is particularly useful when dealing with public policy, where there is likely to be a diversity of moral opinion (http://web.utk.edu/~nolt/courses/prescrip.html).

In this paper, the "conclusion" refers to three (3) of the national trends in the status of higher education in America (NCPPHE, 2002):

(1) Increases in tuition have made colleges and universities less affordable for most American families.

(2) Federal and state financial aid to students has not kept pace with increases in tuition.

(3) Students and families are borrowing more than ever before to pay for college.

II. Overview of Chapter 7, Losing Ground

Much of the National Center report uses data from various sources to come up with the trends mentioned above. However, these trends are no more poignantly illustrated in the report than in Chapter 7, which offers as a look at six students and the challenges they face in paying for college. The profiles do not only reveal the diversity of American college students but also illustrate an overwhelmingly complex lifestyle comprised of concurrent work, study, and sometimes, family commitments. All throughout college, these students juggle these commitments, while finding their path through a web of financial aid forms, part-time jobs, volunteer work, and credit card debt (NCPPHE, 2002). Their stories, written by journalists, is the context of the support for the arguments written in this paper.

Some generalities found among the students' profiles are the following:

1. All students receive multiple financial aid packages. One student had six (6) different sources of financial aid at one point.

2. All students have multiple part-time jobs and/or work-study positions.

3. The students spend up to 40% of their income and grants on tuition fees alone.

4. Almost all students have a debt burden. The debts range from $4,000-$25,000 in subsidized and/or personal loans

III. The Main Arguments of Losing Ground

"Losing Ground" lists down five national trends on the status of college education affordability in America. Only three trends, specifically the major ones, are discussed here.

1. Increases in tuition have made higher education less affordable

The fundamental finding of the report is that most American families have lost ground in college affordability. The supposed primary driver of the increased cost of attending college or university is high tuition rates. Over the last twenty years, the cost of attending two- and four-year public and private colleges has risen faster than inflation and family income (NCPPHE, 2002). As a result, most American families devote larger shares of their income for college education.

Only the wealthiest families have seen their incomes keep pace with tuition fee hikes (College Board; U.S. Census Bureau, 2001, in NCPPHE, 2002). The most affected families are those in the low-income brackets. Statistics show that in 2000, the lowest income-families spent up to 25% of their income to pay for tuition in public four-year institutions (College Board, 2001 in NCPPHE, 2002). In some cases -- like those of two students profiled in the report -- they spend even up to a whopping 40% of their total income to pay for tuition alone (Valigra, 2002, in NCPPHE, 2002).

2. Grant aid to students has not kept pace with increases in tuition

A major component of college education affordability is financial aid for needy students. While federal and state governments have provided most of this aid, the increase in budget allocation for financial aid has not kept up with tuition fee increases during the last two decades (NCPPHE, 2002). There are other sources of financial assistance that may be tapped by students such as institutional grants. However, these resources are increasingly used either to recruit academically gifted students to the institution or awarded as research grants to faculty and post-graduate students (NCPPHE, 2002). In other words, university and college grants are becoming merit-based rather than need- based.

As a consequence, needy students have had to be extra-resourceful and aggressive in seeking other sources of financial aid. One student applied for 50 different scholarship grants during her freshman year (Valigra, 2002, in NCPPHE, 2002). To quote another student: "I apply for as many (scholarships) as possible. I can't wait for the spring term so I can apply again." (Russo, 2002, in NCPPHE, 2002). it's also admirable how some of them have ingeniously sought assistance from benefactors like Rotary club, women's clubs, fraternal orders, and foundations (Russo, 2002; Valigra 2002, in NCPPHE, 2002).

3. More students and families are borrowing more than ever before to pay for college

Perhaps the most alarming trend stated in the report is how some low-income students and families have ended up being in incessant debt to cope with the high cost of college education. Borrowing money has been the most prevalent response to high tuition costs, after other ways of coping -- working longer hours, reducing their course load, lengthening their time to graduation, shifting to less expensive colleges - have been exhausted (NCPPHE, 2002).

Almost all of the students profiled in the report have debt burdens, mostly in subsidized loans. Indirectly, this seems to be the consequence of the shift from grants to loans in the federal financial aid system over the last twenty years (NCPPHE, 2002). Personal loans can also be significant in some students. One of them owes family members a few thousand dollars (Witkowsky, 2002 in NCPPHE, 2002). Another student has a shocking debt of $18,000 in her credit card bills (Burdman, 2002, in NCPPHE, 2002).