The rising cost of higher education – for schools to provide and students to procure – has created a complex challenge for many would-be students, families, institutions and policymakers, all of whom are well aware that the value of a higher education is in many ways immeasurable, but its price tag could not be clearer or more alarming. The federal government has been active, and relatively effective, in addressing problems with student loans and has at least temporarily addressed rising loan rates. That is good, but as President Barack Obama recognizes, is just part of the equation.
More important, and more challenging, is how to rein in the spiraling cost of education itself. Obama laid out a stark image in a speech at the State University of New York at Rochester last week: The cost of higher education has increased 250 percent during the last 30 years, while incomes have risen just 16 percent. That gap, as Obama points out in a mastery of the obvious, is not sustainable. But the problem is compounded by the fact that state legislatures are decreasing their funding of higher education at an alarming rate, shifting the cost burden further onto students as tuition increases to offset diminishing state support. It is a complex problem that has spiraling ramifications on students who choose to take on significant debt to pursue an education despite its growing cost as well as those who forgo college – and its corresponding lifelong opportunities – so as to avoid crushing debt. It is also a problem for U.S. taxpayers, who guarantee billions of dollars in student loans that are in too many cases unaffordable for borrowers.
Nevertheless, as Obama succinctly puts it, education is essential: “So whether we’re talking about a two-year program, a four-year program, a technical certificate, bottom line is, higher education cannot be a luxury. It’s an economic imperative: Every family in America should be able to afford to get it,” Obama told the crowd at SUNY Rochester.
To do that, Obama is proposing a slate of reforms that identify and increase the value that schools offer students. This a fundamental shift in how colleges rank themselves and would provide students and their families a much more clear sense of how institutions would prepare students for later success by answering questions such as: “How much debt does the average student leave with? How easy is it to pay off? How many students graduate on time? How well do those graduates do in the workforce?” Schools would be rated according to these and other meaningful value-based questions that go far beyond cost and graduation rates.
Then, institutions would be challenged to innovate their education-delivery systems. This can include all sorts of emerging concepts, including online coursework, self-paced advancement or partnerships with high schools to combine secondary and college work to expedite student matriculation – and reduce cost. Encouraging and supporting these innovations that provide effective education and prepare students for success – all while keeping tuition costs down – is in everyone’s best interests and Obama is right to support such methods. It is at the core of higher education values.
Finally, Obama proposes to help connect those carrying burdensome student loan debt with means of handling that obligation to reduce the liability on taxpayers and make debt repayment attainable without forcing graduates to compromise job opportunities or family decisions to manage their student loans. Through Pay-As-You-Earn-Programs – expanded to reach more borrowers – the proposal would have positive implications on students and the broader economy alike.
These reforms will not be easy to enact, nor would they solve all the problems making higher education more of a reach for more students each year, but they are sensible steps toward closing a troubling gap and representing the best of American values.
