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People with Money Benefit from Excellence in American Higher Education. Only the Affluent Can Afford to Send Their Kids to a Good College.

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Excellence in American higher education is known around the world and can be seen in the number of foreign students seeking an education in the United States.

A college education is said to be worth an average of one million more dollars earned over the course of the person’s working career compared to not having the degree.

Unfortunately, the system is set up to favor the elite and wealthy. College is expensive, and the costs have been increasing dramatically over the past two generations.

The skyrocketing cost of college work to keep many away from the benefits attained through higher education.

The resulting inequities in education are designed to favor the elite class. The effect on the rest of the country is a shrinking middle class, lower wages, and rising prices.

Those who are able to make it to college have to work much harder to stay in school, sacrificing learning and study time.

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Excellence in American Higher Education: Accessing the American Dream

A combination of rising cost and less access to student aid programs has resulted in a larger segment of the population unable to pursue a college degree.

About three quarters of all financing for college comes from federal programs and there have been significant changes in these programs.

Twenty years ago, Pell Grants covered about sixty percent of the cost of college, compared to only about thirty three percent now.

These changes basically changed the rules of who can, and more importantly, who cannot go to college.

For a growing number of students, the rising cost of college prevents them from achieving excellence in American higher education.

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Financing Higher Education

The gap in grant programs has to be filled with a combination of working and student loans.

They take student loans to cover the cost of school and continually borrow and pay back over the course of their college career.

On top of the loans, they are working more hours each week than past generations of college students.

Some are working thirty hours or more each week while trying to keep up with assignments and studying.

Students are taking on a large amount of debt while they are in school. By the time they graduate, they are firmly established in the debt cycle.

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Educational Opportunities and Income

The changes in grant funding for education and the increase in the cost of college make it inaccessible to many.

Increasingly, college is becoming a viable option for a shrinking segment of the population, as more families find it impossible to fund education.

The excellence in American higher education is reserved for those with money.

Those without money will have to make do with trade schools and a limited public education.

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