It’s no surprise when polls find that a top concern about college is the cost—because it’s been a problem for decades.
Despite many efforts to control costs over the years, college has remained expensive. Student loan debt has ballooned to untenable levels. While education and training beyond high school remain the surest path to the middle class, how is anyone supposed to afford it?
No wonder Americans are losing trust in higher education.
As the economy evolves, three-fourths of working-age Americans will need college degrees and workforce credentials to prosper—a goal that will be impossible to reach without cracking the college affordability problem.
To truly address college affordability, higher ed leaders and policymakers need to fundamentally rethink the system: Who is paying for college, and how?
Other questions, like how people earn credit for what they already know, or how long it takes to finish a credential, could lead to more creative ideas to change the cost burden of college.
Real solutions will bridge the disconnect between how higher education and students consider affordability. It’s commendable when universities keep tuition costs from rising, for example, but that doesn’t help students for whom it’s already out of reach.
To make education and training programs more accessible, they must be reasonably and transparently priced, considering that 3 in 5 students struggle to cover basic essentials such as food and housing. College costs have remained stubbornly high for students from low-income backgrounds in particular.
Students also need to know what they’ll be expected to pay each year, rather than being surprised by additional fees and having to gamble on a guessing game about how much financial aid they’ll receive each year. Cost is the leading reason why students stop out of college. Nearly 42 million Americans have left college before finishing their programs, leaving them doubly disadvantaged since they have incurred costs without receiving credentials.
And people need to know that a degree will be worth the money. To meet the needs of today’s economy, the value of learning after high school needs to increase on both sides of the equation, with a lower up-front cost leading to a quicker, higher payoff.
Here’s the good news: Over the past two decades, the share of adults with college degrees or other credentials has increased from just under 38 percent to nearly 55 percent—a significant movement advanced in part by robust efforts to address affordability.
- States are investing more in need-based financial aid, increasing funding by 55 percent from 2008 to 2023, according to the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs.
- More students are starting earlier by participating in dual-enrollment high school programs that yield college credit. In fact, 20 percent of community college students are now dual-enrolled from high school, according to the Community College Research Center.
- Most states now offer free community college, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. This is a growing trend that recognizes the interest that students, families, and employers have in fast, flexible, job-relevant learning.
Still, higher education needs bold action to tackle the heart of this complex issue. Even when relatively low-cost options or generous aid programs are available, the perception of college as expensive poses a real barrier. People have grown wary of taking out student loans, particularly when college prices seem unfair.
In Indiana, a study of student attitudes found that students and families routinely overestimate the cost of tuition by more than double the actual rate. Yet they overwhelmingly see the importance of college.
New research from Federal Reserve economists shows that the benefits of college still outweigh the costs for most students, with a typical college graduate earning $32,000 more per year than a worker with a high school diploma. This wage premium accumulates over a lifetime, and people put their money and resources back into communities.
It’s not only students who benefit from learning and training after high school, but also employers, communities, and the country. Everyone holds a stake in ensuring more adults can access and succeed in education, and students deserve a real shot at prosperity.
