Why is college so expensive

Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date
Why is college so expensive?
Education accounts as one of the largest expenditure of the local government in any country, it accounts to almost 40 percent of the total allotted state expenditure of which the about $386 billion are directed to high education spending per year (Hua 39). This high allocation of the state budget to high education is because the state has identified education as a valuable investment for human capital in different sectors of economic development. As such, the outcomes of education are beneficial to not only the individual but also the society. Consequences of such actions have resulted in high college fee to meet the standards of learning. College education has increased exorbitantly as an attribute of rising cost of living, increase student population and demand for high education.
According to Engler (33), the cost of education has hiked compared to previous years with an average student graduate having a student loan debt of $25,000. Students’ loan debt is more than even credit cards as they manage to keep up with the uprising rates of education each year. Engler (33) further claims that today acquiring a degree has become more financially challenging for most American families with a basic salary. This increase in the cost of education has questioned their purposes as most are turning into a lucrative business where students are their customer as such selling at virtually any price. Besides, the increased cost of high education has not indicated reciprocal value in learning outcomes or welfare of teachers in terms of salary increase.

The quality of education has continued to stagnant and even scope lower than previous years despite the rise in tuition fees in the United States. This has questioned the value of education and if it is a better investment.
Economists have blamed the high education cost to the increasing demand in education and increase the population. By 2010, the Higher Education Board and Student Loan Board had noticed a steep increase in student gaining access to higher learning after leaving high school (Carnevale, Smith and Strohl 2). The increase student population meant more education facilities and resources had to be increased to meant the demand pressure. Following the law of demand, the value of education has subsequently decreased due to the increasing demand and high population of intakes in universities and education. About 534,000 students are enrolled every year in colleges and universities (Hua 39). This is twice the number of students enrolled in previous years. The increase in student enrollment has affected the value of education and increased the cost of learning. Colleges and universities have increased their tuition fee to control the population however they have not improved the quality of services and education they offer.
Consumer demand and increase in Price

Source: Fred
Interface: The Graph indicate increase in education tuition fee over the years since 1980.Higher education have continued to raise their cost of learning affecting the value of education and the concentration of education in the country.
Demand Supply curve on value and cost of Education
5524505524500
12858755715000145732610477500
Fee
D
5619753810000Education Quality
Interface: The graph above indicates a demand-supply curve of the quality of education over the tuition fees. The increase in tuition has reduced the quality of education student experience today. Most institutions have hiked their price without subsequent improvement in the level of education. High demand for education because of increase college and university intake has also contributed to the rise in tuition fee
Relatively, those with college degrees often earn more than those with higher school diploma and even high school dropouts, which have, increase the demand influx of high education. Attaining a degree comes with economic benefit and chances are those with a college degree can become successful economically than those without a college degree. This has also caused increase employment demand to capture the pressure of high student loan debt (Baum and Ma,8). The value of education has skyrocketed to meet the pressure of student seeking to join campuses and after have a better job.
Additionally, high institutions have become competitive in terms of aesthetic value, amenities, and luxury rather than the objective of providing quality education. They have changed students and worthy market opportunities where different colleges and universities compete to attract more student in terms of their resources, lifestyle, and comfort instead of meeting educational goals. As a result, institutions spend a lot of money in the development of infrastructures and amenities to attract parent and student who are integrating into a new lifestyle. Consequently, the cost of learning or tuition fee has hiked to meet the high standard of living in these institutions. Parents pay a lot of money to get their children into most beautiful and well-constructed institution with state of the art infrastructures and amenities. This has created market competition in the education industries, which as influence the price of the commodity which is education. Thus, the high rate of tuitions fee in the country today is relative to high competition among institutions to attract more students rather than offer quality education.
Works Cited
Baum Sandy and Ma Jennifer.Education Pays The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society.Trends in Higher Education Series.2007.Web .Retrieved From http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2007/ed-pays-2007.pdfCarnevale Anthony, P, Smith Nicole and Strohl Jeff.Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020.Georgetown Public Policy Institute.2014 web .Retrieved fromhttps://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Recovery2020.ES_.Web_.pdfEngler, Mark. “Why Is College so Damned Expensive?.” New Internationalist, no. 475, Sept. 2014, p. 33.
Hua, Karen. “Why Is College so Expensive? No One Seems to Know.” Forbes.Com, 29 July 2015, p. 39.