Change Your World Week Winter 2021 (Archived)

Welcome to our page: Afford the Future! We are four students who are working and advocating for affordable education.

• The root cause of this problem is that the rise in cost of education has outpaced inflation. The cost of education has risen 36% between 2008 and 2018, while income only increased by 2.1% (Lewison, 2020).  While the costs to attend college have risen, students aren’t making nearly enough money to be able to afford college.

•  Most higher paying jobs require at least an associates degree. A report from dbusiness.com stated 70 % of jobs in Michigan in 2020 require a higher education beyond high school. Only 37% of Michigan’s working age population has even pursued a higher education.

• With college being a competitive market, colleges are raising their prices to “create a false perception of quality” (Lewison, 2020). Colleges are raising their prices without raising the quality of the education they are offering to paying students.

• Students could get a part-time job but at the rate that tuition is rising in recent years it is nearly impossible to keep up with costs and oftentimes this requires a full-time job. Which spreads the student thin trying to juggle while being a full-time student in order to receive the full financial aid amount.

• Between a lack of public funding, inflated tuition prices, and insufficient increases to income, it has become vastly more difficult for students to be able to attend and pay for college. This directly affects the rest of their lives if they are unable to land a better paying job without a degree.  On average, those with a college degree earn $32,000 more each year than those who only attain a high school degree (Edelson.) This perpetuates the cycle of keeping the poorer poor and allowing the rich to continue getting rich.

Citations:

          H., By, Detroit, H., & -. (2018, December 13). Report: 70% of Michigan jobs will require higher education in 2020. Retrieved March 04, 2021, from https://www.dbusiness.com/daily-news/report-70-of-michigan-jobs-will-require-higher-education-in-2020/

          Lewison, Kiera. “Here's Why College Is So Expensive: The Answer Is Obvious.” University of the People, 22 Nov. 2020, www.uopeople.edu/blog/why-college-is-so-expensive/.

           Edelson, David. How Does a College Degree Improve Graduates' Employment and Earnings Potential? 27 Feb. 2020, www.aplu.org/projects-  and-initiatives/college-costs-tuition-and-financial-aid/publicuvalues/employment-                                  earnings.html#:~:text=On%20an%20annual%20basis%2C%20bachelor's,is%20a%20high%20school%20diploma.&text=The%20earnings%20gap%20between%20college,less%20education%20continues%20to%20widen.

Policy Solutions

• Advocating for free community college at all 2-year colleges

•  Debt forgiveness under the Biden Plan of 10k off the top of student loans (short term) (Dickler, 2021)

• Sanders Plan (long term) of total debt forgiveness of all 45 million student loan borrowers. (Dickler, 2021)

• The forgiveness plan is estimated to grow the economy by $1 trillion over the next 10 years and create up to 1.5 million new jobs every year (Dickler, 2021)

• Both plans (forgiveness & free 2-year) would provide additional revenues to help cover costs while allowing recent graduates to begin their lives (purchasing a home, starting a family, etc.) (Roseth, 2019)

Citations:

Dickler-Jessica, “Free college could become a reality under a Biden administration” (published Mon, Jan. 18 2021, 9:45 AM EST) www.cnbc.com/2021/01/18/biden-administration-free-college.html , accessed on 2Mar2021

Roseth-Bob, “Student Debt Crisis and Possible Solutions” (December 13, 2019) www.washington.edu/uwra/2019/12/13/student-debt-crisis-and-possible-solutions/ , accessed on 2Mar2021

Students, parents, employers, banks/loan institutions, college board members, tax payers, and lawmakers are all affected by college costs. 

• Students: are active participants in college who want to be able to afford college
• Parents: They want to afford a future for their children and want to save money in costs to attend college. 
• Employers: need well educated and qualified employees 
• College Board/School Board: need to keep student numbers up and need funding for the school
• Banks/Loan Institutions: are the ones giving out loans and will be affected by student loan forgiveness.
• Lawmakers: will be putting into action and getting bills passed to make education more/less affordable.
• Tax Payers: who will help pay for these programs to help with expenses?

There are a lot who have a say in making education affordable, but it all starts with you! Here is the Michigan District Map where you can find what district you are in. Also follow the section entitled "Help Us Take Action!" with a link to find your representative and help make a change!

• Pell grants and Scholarships already exist for those who qualify.

• The rate of success in College will decline as many will attend simply because it’s free.

• College crowding will become a problem.

• Successful students will not only have to earn their degree, but compete for classes as well.

• College will not be free, instead the public will be taxed for it. 

Citations:

Vince Norton. (3/16/2018). Why Free College is a Bad Idea.  Norton Norris Incorporated. 

Retrieved March 2, 2021 from:  Why Free College is a Bad Idea (nortonnorris.com)

Send a letter to your representative to help make college affordable for everyone!  Click here to find your house representative!