Policy Roundtable
The Cost Burden of Higher Education: Is it Doable?
April 15, 2014 6:00 pm Davis Library Holden Hall Rm 107
Featured speakers are: Dr. Val Paton from the Provost’s Office, Mr. Bill Kopf, Director of Distance Education at LCU, and Dr. Ethan Logan, Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions are the featured speakers.
Is it advisable to spend a huge amount of money to obtain a collegiate degree? Arguably, securing a degree increases one’s potential earning power. If so, why are individuals unhappy about the process? Is pursuing a collegiate degree truly worthwhile and does the format of higher education make sense?
Nearly 50% of recent collegiate graduates are employed in jobs not requiring a bachelor’s degree. In this economy, the effect is rippling. Laid off individuals are willing to settle for less; over qualified workers are accepting lower paying jobs—even assuming jobs typically reserved for recent collegiate graduates. The problem is self-perpetuating.
Many students took out loans to finance the costs of higher education; last year, the average college-related debt for graduates was $35,200. Student loan debt outpaces all other loans except mortgages, reaching over more than $1 trillion. Each monthly repayment of student loans is money not saved for retirement, money not utilized for investment opportunities, and money not employed to further assist economic growth and recovery. The cost of obtaining a collegiate education is becoming prohibitively expensive and continues to rise.
