The different levels of sacrifice associated with acquiring an advanced academic degree or professional education would sooner or later pave the way to better career prospects or rather, better benefits by the end of the program.
However, the accompanying financial burden makes the journey quite daunting for many college students in the USA. Just like several undergraduate and professional programs, pursuing an MBA in the USA comes at an intimidating cost. In a research carried out by the U.S. Department of Education in 2019, we see that the outstanding federal student debt has risen from $577 billion in 2008 to a staggering $1.5 trillion. This is worrisome even as the cost for college education continues to rise and state funding for public institutions continues to drop. By Investopedia`s analysis, the average cost of an MBA in the USA is estimated at$80,000. Even for a professional who makes $60,000 a year, this is a hard mountain to climb. The cost gets as high as $130,000 and more in the top 10 business schools in the U.S, for a two-year MBA program. Additionally, there`s the cost of other inevitable expenses such as boarding, books and other peripherals.
Higher education obviously remains a wise investment but the cost of college education has been on a steady rise since 1980. The National Center for Education Statisticsrevealed that the annual rate of increase of tuition fees was 4.3% between 1980 and 1990, but 6.2% between 1990 and 1993 at public universities then 5.6% and 3.6% respectively at private universities and colleges. Since the financial crisis of 2008, it has been on a steady increase;from $8,000 in 2010/2011 to $9,000 in 2017/18 at public institutions (about 12% increase), and were $34,600 in 2017/18 at private non-profit institutions, rising 16% from $29,900 in 2010/11. At private for-profit institutions, average tuition and fees were similar in 2010/11 and 2017/18 (about $17,000 each). Consequently, this has a proportional effect on student loans. With the continual rise in the general cost of living, coupled with reduced state support to tertiary institutions, student loans have risen exponentially and threaten to continue so. According to Connor Hays, student loan debt in the US has grown 176% since 2007, rising from $545 billion to $1.49 trillion at the end of 2017.
Eventually, this financial burden has a socio-economic impact and dimension. The report by Darrick Hamilton and Naomi Zewde shows that black students accumulate more debts than their white counterparts. This trend is also seen among other students of color in the US, being that majority from these groups are from lower-income and middle-class homes, and depend lesser on parental support. This pressure sometimes causes some to quit.The Washington Post partly attributes the dropping numbers of male students in college to this pressure. The need, therefore, arises to change the paradigm: lower the costof education and increase access to government aids and state funding – strategically designed for equal accessibility to all genders and ethnicities. This will definitely lighten the burden of student loans across the US.
References
- Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education (2019), Federal Student Loan Portfolio Summary.https://bit.ly/2uR3cqO
- Marvin Dumont (2019), The Real Cost of an MBA. Investopedia.
- Nаbееl Alsalam аnd Stеvеn G. Klein (1996), The соѕt of higher еduсаtiоn. U.S. Department of Eduсаtiоn, Offiсе of Eduсаtiоnаl Rеѕеаrсh аnd Imрrоvеmеnt.
- National Centre for Education Statistics (2019), Price of Attending an Undergraduate Institution.
- Connor Hays (2018), The Student Debt Crisis. Bloom Economic Research Division, pg. 1-11.
- 6. Dаrriсk Hаmiltоn and Naomi Zеwdе (2019), Prоmоtе economic аnd racial justice: Eliminаtе ѕtudеnt loan dеbt аnd еѕtаbliѕh a right tо higher еduсаtiоn across thе Unitеd Stаtеѕ. Viѕiоn 2020: Evidеnсе fоr a stronger есоnоmу, рg. 197-205.
- Jon Marcus (2019), The degrees of separation between the genders in college keep growing. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/.