Colleges Across The Nation Raising Tuition For Next Year
With universities already charging prices much higher than inflation, college is expected to see a massive tuition increase next year.
As if the debate on whether or not college is actually worth the expenses isn’t already relevant, multiple colleges across the nation are once again imposing a tuition increase. For years now, students have complained about crippling student loans, the growing number of required electives (which have nothing to do with focused fields of study), and political bias. Now, not only will they have to worry about all of these issues, but also the added price tag.
In looking at the data, between the period of 1980 and 2020 college fees have gone up 169%, yet students are not finding as many benefits as they did in the earlier period. Of college students who graduated in 2020, 45% of them reported difficulty finding a job. There are many varying factors that may contribute to this issue. With more and more vanity degree programs like “gender studies,” and “ethnic studies,” which have little to no real-world job potential, students who face a tuition increase may question their degree choices or forego college altogether.
Choosing the proper degree has never been more important. Students who wish to find success after graduation must pick their field of study carefully, as many popular programs are being considered useless. From Art History to Ethnic Studies, plenty of degrees do not offer many career opportunities. Even many journalists no longer complete their college education as trust in the mainstream media is at the second-lowest rate in our country’s recorded history. Coupled with the tuition increase, enrollment isn’t likely to go up.
Just as public education is experiencing an enrollment decline, so is higher education. This is not the first time college students have experienced a nationwide tuition increase. Plenty of individuals and institutions will blame the pandemic, or the war in Ukraine, but this has been escalating for decades. Many families are tired of being misled by over-priced degree programs, many of which add extra requirements each year. Parents supporting young adults and students who come from diverse areas are now expected to pay for Critical Race Theory-based classes that are damaging the college experience for many.
Countless colleges require a list of unnecessary courses, but they have become more and more politically biased in recent times. For instance, every student at Kent State University must pass a “Diversity Course” in order to graduate. This is not uncommon, even community colleges, and technical schools are requiring, “Cultural Diversity,” or “Racial and Ethnic studies.” These classes may sound inclusive and informative, but students within the North Carolina State University programs are subjected to material vilifying white people for “whitesplaining” and decrying “toxic masculinity” which is often used as a tactic to teach misandry. This university even went so far as to produce a video that explains the dangers of equality. How these classes help students learn to be productive engineers, teachers, nurses, and more is unclear. Yet, with tuition increases coming, students will have to pay more for this rhetoric.
Inflation is a top issue that affects everyone in the country, but none are so hard hit as college students who are just entering adulthood and still learning how to make ends meet. It has been reported that since 1985 inflation has been a constant concern for Americans. Add in the fact that most of the money in circulation today was printed in 2020 or later, and it seems as if the United States is being flooded with an inflation crisis. The dollar is worth less than ever. These mass tuition increases will not aid the economic uncertainty, but universities are approving them nonetheless.
