Costs and Rewards of College: Is it Worth it?

Xavier Baisden
During these tough economic times, attending higher tier colleges and universities has been become increasingly difficult. Students’ inability or unwillingness to pay such a high cost for higher education has put them in a compromising position: attend a school of lesser prestige that is affordable, or graduate from a higher tier university with massive amounts of debt. For those who choose to attend the more costly universities, the financial stress causes many to look for other means of financial support. Many students are required to work in some fashion while attending college to defray some of the costs for their education. This form of making ends meet, in turn has many inconspicuous, adverse effects on a student’s performance in school. The extreme costs of higher education not only impact a student’s college choice, but also the student’s performance and lifestyle while attending college.
Over the past three decades, college has gone from being a place for the wealthy and smartest of students to an almost mandatory form of higher education. However, a constant rise in the cost of attending college has accompanied this paradigm shift in those attending college. According to Syracuse.com, tuition at private universities has risen 154 percent, and has risen 187 percent at public universities. This constant increase in costs can be attributed to multiple sources, such as the increase in technologies required to successfully run a college, the rise of the community college, and sheer inflation. However, this escalation in the cost of in tuition has rapidly outgrown the average income, putting both students and parents alike in the precarious situation of finding the cost-effectiveness of attending certain colleges. This decision is simply part of the money aspect of attending college.