Opportunity Lost: Loss of Affordable Higher Education Hurts Us All

Imagine a class where 50 students participated and none of them earned an A, just 1 student earned a B, 2 got Cs, 11 got Ds, and 36 of them failed. A class like this might make the hype about "failing schools" seem understated.

Sadly, this dismal record reflects the grades for our 50 states, based on affordability of state colleges and universities in a study just released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

You don't have to explain the difficulty of financing a college education to today's college students; most are painfully aware of it. Consider three telling statistics:

•  Average student debt upon graduation has more than doubled in the last 8 years to over $17,000.

•  In 1970, 80% of government aid to students was provided in grants, and 20% in loans. By 1995, it was the reverse: 20% grants and 80% loans.

•  For access to higher education, wealth is surpassing academic merit as a determining factor -- low performing students from wealthy families attend college at the same rate as high performing students from poor families.

With tuition at major universities rising another 9% this year, the above situations are worsening rapidly.

The prohibitive cost of higher education mocks the idea of America as a land of opportunity, especially since a college degree determines one's income more than ever. According to the Economic Policy Institute, average real wages for people with no college education have declined by about 20% since 1973. Wages for those with 4-year degrees have held steady, and only those with graduate degrees now receive higher average wages. With health care costs skyrocketing and employee benefits declining, the situation is even worse than wage statistics indicate.

As livelihoods hinge on more expensive education, even those students who manage to attend college are suffering destructive consequences as increasing debt loads limit their freedom. When you're steeped in debt, you face powerful pressure seek high wage work. Many people who would like to work in social service or nonprofit sectors find that their debt obligations effectively remove those choices.

With $16,000 in debt after graduation, I have given up on pursuing environmental work because it doesn't pay enough make both housing and student loan payments. Many non-profits are suffering from this phenomenon. Meanwhile, corporations gain power when more people depend on maximizing income just to meet their debts.

We all lose out in other ways as well. Who knows what great writers, artists or musicians we'll never enjoy because they were too indebted to devote themselves to their craft?

Partly due to increased debt, Americans work an average of 200 hours per year more now than they did in 1970. With so much less free time, community engagement and parenting time suffers. Even health suffers as overworked parents cook less and eat more fast food.

America likes to pride itself on being an innovative culture, but people who can't afford to miss a paycheck are unlikely to become entrepreneurs or inventors. Funding higher education as poorly as we do today is short-sighted and ultimately will lessen prosperity for us all.

Sadly, with college students working more hours than ever during their school years to try to avoid or reduce debt, their energy and idealism is sapped. Many of my students are too sleep deprived to do much beyond work and school.

In the 1990s, some baby boomers embraced "voluntary simplicity." By opting to earn less money, they could turn to work that was more personally fulfilling, and they could work fewer hours, allowing them to volunteer more, spend more time with their families, and live healthier lifestyles. Alas, these options are open only to those without substantial debt.

We need to enable motivated people of modest means to attend college, not just to be a kinder nation, but to invest in our collective future. If we want all citizens to enjoy the opportunity to improve themselves and our society through higher education, then we should think of education as a social investment, not merely an individual one, and start funding it accordingly.

Devin Nordberg is an academic advisor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a volunteer with ReclaimDemocracy.org.

This article also is available in Spanish:
Desaparecen oportunidades de estudios universitarios.

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