According to Catharine Morris (2017), between the years 1996 and 2016 the price of a private
college education has been raised a staggering $20,657. This rate of change has made college less and
less accessible, especially for the lower classes. Several institutions have begun to realize that the
current inflation is “unsustainable” (Morris, 2017). Rising institution costs cause less students to apply,
register, and continue enrollment. Throughout this appeal I will provide the negative effects of increased
tuition followed by possible alternatives.
A study by Neill (2013) states, rising tuition fees “have contributed to a rise in students’ in–
semester work.” According to a study by Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner (2003), students with higher
work hours tend to obtain lower grades, which is due to the fact that students with less time to study
obtain lower grades. Another study, executed by Ahituv and Tienda (2004), found an association
between higher work hours and the discontinuation of higher education.
The next issue that would be faced is the already substantial student loan debt. Currently,
student loan debt is more than $1.3 trillion and rising (Ulbrich and Kirk 2017). That being said this delays
other financial necessities of young adults from saving for retirement, to purchasing a home, or starting
a family. That means 38 per cent of United States adults that are paying off student loans are unable to
save for retirement (Ulbrich and Kirk 2017). Craig and Raisenen (2014) found that between 2005 and
2013 United States Student loan debt increased at a rate of 13 per cent in a nine year period. It was also
found that “Americans now have more student loan debt than credit card debt”.
The loss of students due to tuition increase has lead several schools, such as La Salle University
