Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

Higher-Ed: Costly but worth it

Every year at this time parents gather at college campuses across the nation to celebrate the induction of their children into the community of the well educated. Parents are both proud of the academic achievement of their offspring and relieved that the bills for tuition and fees will no longer arrive at the house.

College education was once limited to a few. In 1950 only six percent of Americans had completed four years or more of college. By 2000 that number had grown to 25 percent and was even higher in Massachusetts. One-third of the state’s residents had at least graduated from a four-year college.

The rising cost of college has created a serious imbalance in the budgets of families with low or moderate income. MassInc has published a study entitled “Paying for College: The Rising Cost of Higher Education,” which analyzes the problem in-depth. Clearly the problem is acute when families must spend 17 percent of their annual income to pay for the cost of one year at a community college and 33 percent of their income for private college in New England.

Despite the rising cost of college education, the demand continues to increase. However, studies indicate that low-income students with high academic success are less likely to attend college than their well-to-do counterparts. The cost of college will therefore influence those who attend. There is also anecdotal evidence that families with modest income and many children may not encourage college as an academic objective because of the prohibitive cost.

In the past, New England colleges relied upon grants as financial aid to promising students. In 1992-93, 55 percent of financial aid was in the form of grants. In 2003-04 that percentage had declined to 47 percent with loans increasing from 36 percent of the package to 48 percent. The problem with excessive reliance on loans is that students must repay them even if they are forced to drop out of school. The average debt for a fourth year undergraduate in 2003-04 in New England was $23,491.

The economic handicap for a student who drops out of college is especially great because of the accrued debt. The MassInc study suggests that schools must focus more intently “on getting students through college and not just into college.”

It must be discouraging for parents to see college tuition and fees rising at a rate greater than their family income. For a while there was some talk about whether the value of a college education was economically justified. However, when one considers the shift in the economy away from manufacturing and unskilled jobs to technology and information services, it is clear that meaningful employment in the future will require a college education.

According to Census Bureau data, a high school graduate will earn on average $1.2 million in his working life. A person with an associate’s degree will earn $1.6 million, while a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn $2.1 million. It is projected that the income disparity will grow even larger in the future.

Parents at their children’s commencement know that the sacrifice has been worthwhile. Aside from the greater employment opportunities, college students are introduced to the life of the mind, rational thought and the uplifting pleasures of high culture. The future success of African Americans as an ethnic group depends upon an even greater drive for academic excellence. Even illiterate slaves knew that education led to the road up.