College Tuition Essay
As college tuition is rising, many are turning to the U.S. military as a primary financial plan. Many experts can confirm that on average, college graduates make a considerable amount more than those with only a high school diploma. As college tuition continues to escalate, the distance families have been going to pay for these costs has come to its limit and has begun to disable students from getting a higher degree of education. The United States military has offered tuition assistance programs such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill to help in the ability to receive professional certifications and graduate degrees. These benefits can be used by a veteran or a member of the immediate family and more than a million people have used it so far. As college tuition continues to inflate, so does military enlistment due to the inability to afford college debt.
Many people find that their lives are at a dead end because they are unable to further their education. By enlisting and serving in the military, one can gain assistance with your tuition and ensure yourself a college education. Over the years, a college education has been popularized as …show more content…
essential for proceeding a successful life . About two-thirds of all high school graduates further their education with at least some college classes. For those who do graduate with a degree, the average student debt is over $25,000. The higher employment rates, larger salaries, and more job benefits for college graduates lead many to believe that a college education is worth it. Others who think that a college degree is not always crucial say that the debt students incur is too high and delays them from saving for retirement, buying a house, or getting married (Proquest Staff).
Before World War II, college was mostly attended by students who came from wealthy families who could afford to go. After the war, the GI Bill provided opportunities for all classes of students to attend college. According to Samuel Ebbesen, the GI Bill was created as a transition tool for a conscript military following World War II and it's one of the U.S. armed forces' most powerful recruiting and retention tools today. The enrollment rates under this bill have continued to rise each year since its initiation, with 95 percent of eligible recruits choosing to enroll in FY 1995. A total of two million men and women from an eligible pool of 2.7 million have chosen to participate in the MGIB since July 1, 1985. These rates distinctly exhibit the allure of the bill. Average costs of a four- year college compensate for each of the years the Montgomery GI Bill has been in effect. Declining from nearly 97 percent of the cost of tuition and fees in school year 1985-86 to 70 percent by school year 1993-94, as average annual tuition and fees for a four-year program rose by 43 percent (Samuel E., and Al Bemis).
Given recent recruiting successes, current basic benefits appear to be sufficient as an enlistment enticement. However, if college costs, especially tuition and fees, continue to rise significantly above inflation, the offset provided by the Montgomery GI Bill benefits will require close monitoring to keep the program competitive.
Even with ascending tuition costs, college applicants still stand in line to compete for a seat in a university classroom. A promise of higher wages can explain this unrelenting demand for a higher education: A college degree can help graduates get a better job and a bigger, more reliable paycheck. But the supply does not meet the demand for most universities; They have a limit to the amount of students they can accept. Schools can respond to this demand by raising the cost of tuition. Average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities increased by 13% over the five years from 2010-11 to 2015-16, following a 24% increase between 2005-06 and 2010-11 (The College Board). Many for-profit college chains have seen a descend in enrollments, however, military veterans have remained a constant crucial source of revenue.
According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of government data, for-profit colleges have collected $8.2 billion from the latest GI Bill since it went into effect in 2009. Those colleges enroll only 8% of all U.S. students but 30% of the 1.4 million veterans who have used the most recent version of the GI Bill (Kirkham). For years that money has helped support some of the industry's most afflicted institutions which need the funding to meet regulatory standards. To keep the GI Bill money running, the industry targeted veterans and often hired them to help recruit their fellow soldiers returning home from the battlefields, according to internal school memos and interviews with former students and employees. Don're Walker, a U.S. Army veteran, took one of those recruiting jobs at an ITT campus in Orange County in 2012. Less than a year later he quit due to an intense pressure his department encountered to enroll GI Bill beneficiaries. Once he understood the school's high tuition costs and students' low probability of transferring credits to traditional colleges, he repeatedly advised veterans against attending. "It was basically 'Get people in any way possible,' " he said. "They were exploiting my brothers."
For-profit colleges grew rapidly during the Great Recession by offering admission to almost anyone with a high school degree and flexible class schedules. Veterans were attracted to the practical training programs that offered online coursework and start dates throughout the year. It's especially persuasive to veterans balancing a family and other responsibilities and who are eager to get back in the workforce. The new GI Bill, the most generous veteran education benefit in U.S. history, covers 36 months of tuition at any public school or just over $21,000 a year at private institutions, as well as providing an ample housing allowance (Kirkham, and Zarembo).
A recent report estimated that 51.7 percent of student veterans earned a degree or certificate for some kind of higher education. The study was done by an advocacy group, the Student Veterans of America, with assistance from the Veterans Affairs Department and the National Student Clearinghouse. Experts on veteran issues say it's the most comprehensive study to date on how veterans are performing under a GI Bill program that has spent billions for these students.
Under the GI Bill program, the VA pays for all tuition and fees for an in-state student at a public university, books and supplies, and a housing allowance.
This school year the average monthly payment was $1,430. A nonprofit coalition of 985 student vet organizations called the SVA arranged with the VA to create a database, which consisted of 1 million records from veteran beneficiaries who enrolled for education benefits between 2002 and 2013. Analysis of these records showed that the majority of student veterans over those years finished a bachelor's degree within four to six years and an associate degree within four, the SVA said. About 72 percent of the student veterans who graduated did so from public universities. Another 15.5 percent attended private universities, while about 13 percent attended for-profit schools
(Jelinek).
Figure one shows the number of beneficiaries in 2012 from each state. Evidently, California has the greatest amount of beneficiaries. Using data from the California State University Budget Office and University of California Budget Office, average tuition and campus fees for resident undergraduates adjusted for inflation. The numbers show that students are paying three times more in 2014 than their 1992 counterparts. The figures do not include expenses such as room, board, books and class-specific extra fees (Pickoff-White).
Beneficiaries who expressed their appreciation for the Post-9/11 GI Bill in a focus group, appreciated that the benefits are more generous than those of the Montgomery GI Bill the bill's most important feature of the market-based living allowance. Many focus group participants reported that the bill allowed them to attend school full-time without having to work. Others commented on the advantages of the book stipend and the fact that tuition was paid directly to institutions, thus requiring few out-of-pocket expenses for students (Li).
Today, a college diploma comes with a lofty price tag. Tuition costs have risen substantially, with a four-year education now amounting to nearly a quarter-million dollars at some universities. Numerous focus group participants indicated that without the Post-9/11 GI Bill, they would not be pursuing higher education and college tuition continues to affect military enlistment.
Many people find that their lives are at a dead end because they are unable to further their education. By enlisting and serving in the military, one can gain assistance with your tuition and ensure yourself a college education. Over the years, a college education has been popularized as …show more content…
essential for proceeding a successful life . About two-thirds of all high school graduates further their education with at least some college classes. For those who do graduate with a degree, the average student debt is over $25,000. The higher employment rates, larger salaries, and more job benefits for college graduates lead many to believe that a college education is worth it. Others who think that a college degree is not always crucial say that the debt students incur is too high and delays them from saving for retirement, buying a house, or getting married (Proquest Staff).
Before World War II, college was mostly attended by students who came from wealthy families who could afford to go. After the war, the GI Bill provided opportunities for all classes of students to attend college. According to Samuel Ebbesen, the GI Bill was created as a transition tool for a conscript military following World War II and it's one of the U.S. armed forces' most powerful recruiting and retention tools today. The enrollment rates under this bill have continued to rise each year since its initiation, with 95 percent of eligible recruits choosing to enroll in FY 1995. A total of two million men and women from an eligible pool of 2.7 million have chosen to participate in the MGIB since July 1, 1985. These rates distinctly exhibit the allure of the bill. Average costs of a four- year college compensate for each of the years the Montgomery GI Bill has been in effect. Declining from nearly 97 percent of the cost of tuition and fees in school year 1985-86 to 70 percent by school year 1993-94, as average annual tuition and fees for a four-year program rose by 43 percent (Samuel E., and Al Bemis).
Given recent recruiting successes, current basic benefits appear to be sufficient as an enlistment enticement. However, if college costs, especially tuition and fees, continue to rise significantly above inflation, the offset provided by the Montgomery GI Bill benefits will require close monitoring to keep the program competitive.
Even with ascending tuition costs, college applicants still stand in line to compete for a seat in a university classroom. A promise of higher wages can explain this unrelenting demand for a higher education: A college degree can help graduates get a better job and a bigger, more reliable paycheck. But the supply does not meet the demand for most universities; They have a limit to the amount of students they can accept. Schools can respond to this demand by raising the cost of tuition. Average published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities increased by 13% over the five years from 2010-11 to 2015-16, following a 24% increase between 2005-06 and 2010-11 (The College Board). Many for-profit college chains have seen a descend in enrollments, however, military veterans have remained a constant crucial source of revenue.
According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of government data, for-profit colleges have collected $8.2 billion from the latest GI Bill since it went into effect in 2009. Those colleges enroll only 8% of all U.S. students but 30% of the 1.4 million veterans who have used the most recent version of the GI Bill (Kirkham). For years that money has helped support some of the industry's most afflicted institutions which need the funding to meet regulatory standards. To keep the GI Bill money running, the industry targeted veterans and often hired them to help recruit their fellow soldiers returning home from the battlefields, according to internal school memos and interviews with former students and employees. Don're Walker, a U.S. Army veteran, took one of those recruiting jobs at an ITT campus in Orange County in 2012. Less than a year later he quit due to an intense pressure his department encountered to enroll GI Bill beneficiaries. Once he understood the school's high tuition costs and students' low probability of transferring credits to traditional colleges, he repeatedly advised veterans against attending. "It was basically 'Get people in any way possible,' " he said. "They were exploiting my brothers."
For-profit colleges grew rapidly during the Great Recession by offering admission to almost anyone with a high school degree and flexible class schedules. Veterans were attracted to the practical training programs that offered online coursework and start dates throughout the year. It's especially persuasive to veterans balancing a family and other responsibilities and who are eager to get back in the workforce. The new GI Bill, the most generous veteran education benefit in U.S. history, covers 36 months of tuition at any public school or just over $21,000 a year at private institutions, as well as providing an ample housing allowance (Kirkham, and Zarembo).
A recent report estimated that 51.7 percent of student veterans earned a degree or certificate for some kind of higher education. The study was done by an advocacy group, the Student Veterans of America, with assistance from the Veterans Affairs Department and the National Student Clearinghouse. Experts on veteran issues say it's the most comprehensive study to date on how veterans are performing under a GI Bill program that has spent billions for these students.
Under the GI Bill program, the VA pays for all tuition and fees for an in-state student at a public university, books and supplies, and a housing allowance.
This school year the average monthly payment was $1,430. A nonprofit coalition of 985 student vet organizations called the SVA arranged with the VA to create a database, which consisted of 1 million records from veteran beneficiaries who enrolled for education benefits between 2002 and 2013. Analysis of these records showed that the majority of student veterans over those years finished a bachelor's degree within four to six years and an associate degree within four, the SVA said. About 72 percent of the student veterans who graduated did so from public universities. Another 15.5 percent attended private universities, while about 13 percent attended for-profit schools
(Jelinek).
Figure one shows the number of beneficiaries in 2012 from each state. Evidently, California has the greatest amount of beneficiaries. Using data from the California State University Budget Office and University of California Budget Office, average tuition and campus fees for resident undergraduates adjusted for inflation. The numbers show that students are paying three times more in 2014 than their 1992 counterparts. The figures do not include expenses such as room, board, books and class-specific extra fees (Pickoff-White).
Beneficiaries who expressed their appreciation for the Post-9/11 GI Bill in a focus group, appreciated that the benefits are more generous than those of the Montgomery GI Bill the bill's most important feature of the market-based living allowance. Many focus group participants reported that the bill allowed them to attend school full-time without having to work. Others commented on the advantages of the book stipend and the fact that tuition was paid directly to institutions, thus requiring few out-of-pocket expenses for students (Li).
Today, a college diploma comes with a lofty price tag. Tuition costs have risen substantially, with a four-year education now amounting to nearly a quarter-million dollars at some universities. Numerous focus group participants indicated that without the Post-9/11 GI Bill, they would not be pursuing higher education and college tuition continues to affect military enlistment.