Colleges are raising tuition to enhance education, facilities, and overall appearance, but are all these costly new luxuries essential? With varied incomes, some tuitions seem unrealistic to many and can cause a great deal of debt after graduation.
High Point's Raise
High Point University, with a student body of around 3,000 undergraduate students, raised tuition over $3,000 from the academic school year 2007-2008 to the academic school year 2008-2009.
Where is this increase in tuition going towards? With President Nido Qubein's ambition in the new construction of countless state of the art academic, residential, and campus life buildings, families across the United States are attracted to High Point University's appealing look.
As HPU increases tuition, other luxuries on campus seem to make the university more appealing. Kiosks, the campus concierge, pools, free tutoring, free laundry, and single rooms with double beds, all seem great, but are these luxuries necessary or needed?
Jessica Henderson, HPU sophomore, claims, "tuition increase is going towards improvement of the school, to better the appearance, not my education." Henderson, born in High Point, N.C., applied to HPU for the specific interior design program, not because of the appearance or extras of the school.
Financial Solutions
Newsweek's article, "Harvard Hits the Rich-Poor Gap", addressed concerns raised about the rising costs of education. The article identifies the multiple schools throughout the U.S. that now offer varied tuition costs based on individual family incomes.
The financial plan for Harvard students, "Helping You Meet Your Needs", provides families a realistic approach in handling tuition costs and allow them to still receive a good education.
Harvard University's financial plan states, "All of our financial aid is awarded on the basis of demonstrated financial need—there are no academic, athletic or merit-based awards."
Their main goal is to provide scholarships based on the financial need of the family without the family having to ask for a loan. "Harvard meets the full need of every student, including international students, for all four years."
College Budgeting
Junior at High Point University, Lauren Mungo, says that when she applied, she thought tuition was one thing and did not anticipate the thousands and thousands of dollars more she would spend more then originally planned.
Many colleges have financial plans that grant students money to go to college, but might require a payment plan after their graduation. This may cause students to go into debt.
Harvard and several other universities throughout the U.S. are on the right track in appealing to students with their financial solutions. These universities are still able to keep their high ranking and luxuries with the attraction of their financial need scholarship plans.
Related Articles:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/151734
http://www.newsweek.com/id/151695/page/1
http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/
1 comment:
Lizzie,
I like your topic. It is very timely, given the current economic situation. You have done some good research on current HPU tuition rates and on financial assistance being offered elsewhere. But what you have not done, is talk to someone from HPU's side to get their side of the story on tuition. Remember, you want to achieve balance and objectivity, so always look for the other side of the story.
The external links at the end don't work, I think you didn't actually add links to them.
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