Cost of College Education
College education has been on a rising trend for the past 10 years in the United States of America. A report from the College Board of America claims that the average tuition fees for colleges rises at a rate of 9% annually. For instance, students joining colleges at the moment will pay 119400 dollars after four years of their enrollment. In 18 years time, the cost will have increased to 340000 dollars. All this is an indication of a quickly rising cost of college education. Many have argued that these increasing costs are due to the recent financial crisis that hit the American economy and most parts of the world. Others have argued that the costs are increasing because most colleges are shifting to an education system that relies on technology, which is expensive to install. The truth is that even though technology has increased efficiency in the education system, it has massively contributed to the increasing costs of accessing college education (Anderson, 2011).
One of the reasons for the rising costs of college education is the need to invest massively in the college education facilities, mainly the libraries and laboratories. Colleges will not get recognition from employers when they do not have current facilities in terms of reading materials and laboratory facilities. Management of colleges often tries to finance such projects with government donations. However, such donations are never adequate. That is why the college management asks parents to contribute to the modernization of such facilities through fees increments.
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Secondly, college instructors have relatively high payment demands. The salary board keeps on revising salaries of college instructor upwards. This calls for college managers to absorb such increments in the college fee requirements from students. This leads to a constantly increasing cost of college education (Snider, 2010).
Another reason that is contributing to the increase in the cost of college education is the introduction of computer technology in the teaching curriculum. Most colleges and universities in the United States of America are currently on a program of embracing information technology in their education curriculum. For instance, it has become a requirement for most colleges on admission that each student must have a laptop. This aims at enhancing online teaching and access to academic materials online. Other colleges are in the process of constructing computer laboratories for use by students in research and project work. It is quite evident that computers are expensive products, which colleges cannot afford on their own. As much as the federal government has a kitty that caters for computerization of the education system in America, this has not been sufficient to cater for the entire cost. Colleges have remained with no choice, but to raise the college fees for students to finance this process (Anderson, 2011).
Another reason for the rising costs of college education is the emergence of competition between colleges. Colleges and universities have come out to outdo each other in terms of supremacy, structures, technology, and quality of education. Colleges are always fighting against each other to get the best professors and instructors in the United States. This competition, as much as it is healthy to the quality of education, has negative implication on the costs of accessing college education. Students from average families fail to afford the payment requirements in high profile colleges, which deny them a competitive edge in the job market (Anderson, 2011).
In conclusion, the cost of college education is likely to keep on rising. Looking at the main causes of the rise, it is evident that they are realistic factors. For example, improving the infrastructure of institutions such as libraries and laboratories has positive effects on the quality of education. Similarly, technology, even though it seems costly at its initial implementation stage, will realize many positive effects to the education sector in the near future.
