HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Editorial: …In 1985, a student attending one of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities, earning minimum wage, would have had to work 23 weeks to cover his or her tuition.
In 1995, a decade later, the number of weeks increased to roughly 38. But by 2005, the number of hours a student would have to work at minimum wage peaked at 952, meaning he or she would have to work 47 weeks at 20 hours per week to cover tuition alone.
In the current school year, a student would have had to work 2,285 hours at minimum wage to pay his or her tuition at Penn State… (more)
The cost of higher education is ridiculous. I, personally, am at a point that I am out of financial aid and must pay out of pocket for my tuition completely.
Because of changing majors and spending the tuition in previous majors, I will finally get my Associate’s degree after paying for 8 classes completely out of my own pocket.
To then move forward to my Bachelor’s degree- I will have to pay however much that is out of pocket as well.
Something has to give, because it’s been made clear that you can’t get any sort of decent paying job without some sort of degree.
You may find it difficult to find a decent paying job with a degree. Look into vocational training instead. Check out what Thaddeus Stevens has to offer.
The simple fact is, that the more government aid that is available, the higher tuition will go. The administration wants their cut and their numbers keep increasing. The professors want their cut and a free college education for their children and of course a generous pension.
The Edu-business keeps pushing people towards college instead of vocational training and far too many people end up with degrees in areas that are useless for finding a good paying job. We should limit scholarships and government backed loans to those students who are academically proficient in subjects that will lead to a degree in engineering, computer science, medicine etc. that are in demand in the economy.
Everyone else should have to finance through non-government backed loans. With the colleges no longer having everyone who can fog a mirror getting a taxpayer guaranteed loan, tuition rates would plunge.