Effects of High Tuition Fees

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Students Name

Institution of Affiliation

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Effects of High Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are used to facilitate the education of students while in school. In Texas, all the schools require their students to pay for their tuition to facilitate their learning while in school. The cost of education is high, and this can be translated to the high cost of living not only within the boundaries of the state but those of the United States as a whole. Due to this, not everyone in the school is able to pay for the tuition fees on time or get the chance to raise the tuition money. The issue of high tuition fees is a crucial matter since it has left many of the bright students not able to complete their semesters hence forcing them to extend their time in school. Besides, most of the bright students end up dropping out of school because they are unable to raise the high tuition fees. Dropping out of school is not the wish of every student as everyone would like to start and finish their education at the right time but this has not always been the case as most of the students find themselves pushed to the limit, unable to pay their fees and the only option available is to defer the semester or drop out of school. Various factors that can be attributed to the inability of the students to pay their tuition fees.

Deregulation is one of the factors that can be attributed to the inability of some students to pay for their tuition fees. The deregulation has benefited some of the communities in America; for example, the black community greatly benefited from deregulation while the Hispanics have been significantly disadvantaged. Only a few people get to college in the stated time because the tuition fees are high. The 2003 deregulation policy does not favor the Hispanics, and this is the reason there are high numbers of the Hispanics who are unable to pay for their school fees and mostly end up dropping from school (Flores et al. 2014).

Students who are unable to raise the tuition fee by themselves or with the help of their guardians have a hectic time making it back in school. However, the government comes forward and provides grants and loans to help the student pay their school fees. However, despite the government actions to boost education for the less fortunate, there always arises some cases that cannot be exempted from the reality in that not all the students are able to access the loans and grants. Considering how the tuition fees have been high, missing the chance to access loans and grants that could have otherwise aided in paying the school fees makes it difficult for the students to continue with their education. They have no alternative other than to drop out since their last hope has been shattered.

Most of the students come from low and middle-income families as it is a characteristic of most of the families in Texas. For this reason, most of the students are only able to raise a certain amount of fees, and the rest can be acquired by putting a lot of efforts. The high tuition fees in Texas’ schools leads to a lot of sacrifices for both the parents and students for them to attain the full amount of fees required to maintain them in school. The major impact of raising the college fees is that students go hungry to be able to save money which will be used to pay the tuition fee in time. Food is a basic necessity, and when a person is deprived of the opportunity to have some there may be negative consequences both academically and health wise. When the students skip their meals, they end up wasting in their body and makes them weak. Being weak implies the person has divided attention and this also translates to the loss of concentration in class.

Lack of adequate food reduces the student’s attention, and this means that the students will have poor attention in class. Rather than saving money for food and personal maintenance in school, a majority of the students only have one mind, saving to pay for the tuition fee. Education has become a necessity that everybody wants to compromise their safety and personal wellness for the benefit of acquiring education (Najmabadi & Blanchard, 2018). According to statistics, most of the students don’t have jobs, and this means that they survive on whatever small that their parents provide them. With most of the families living just above the poverty line, it becomes difficult for them to raise more fees. Previously, the tuition fee was not high and was affordable to almost every parent, but as the days go by, there tends to have an increment in the fees every year, and this accumulation has reached high levels that are proving difficult for the parents. Despite the increment in fees, the minimum wage has remained the same, and in the event of a rise, only a minimal increment and this does not match the hiking economy. Students, therefore, are left to save whatever they have to pay for the tuition fees, sacrificing their stomachs and other basic necessities. Due to this, poor performance becomes a characteristic that accompanies the students such that even if they are able to finish the tuition fees on time, they will pay in another way, poor results due to poor concentration and missing classes.

High tuition fees are disadvantageous to the students from low social, economic class to attain their academic goals on time. It is difficult for the college students to complete their education on time due to the increase in college fees as they are forced to multitask, searching for employment while at the same time furthering their academic needs. It is not easy for a student to balance education and work as one of them will be left behind, and most likely, most of the students prefer jobs rather than education (Mulhern et al. 2015). Due to this most of the students keep their education pending searching for employment and later comer to finish their studies.

Students who multitask have a high probability of abandoning their education and thus take a long time to finish their courses. For example, if a person lacks tuition fees and has no other way to obtain the money rather than working, they will go for the employment so that they can get the money needed to pay their college fees and to which will see them through the academic journey. One of the worst nightmares is that tuition fees is not a one thing issue to which the student pays at once, and everything gets settled, in education the tuition fees are paid in sessions to which the student will be in class, and this means that if the student is in session for three terms, they will have to pay fees equal to the number of sessions. With this, it implies that each term presents new challenges to the student and if they are unable to pay the fee, they might end up postponing the term to return to a later date when money will be available. As a result of these delays, the students end up having a prolonged time in school as they are faced with struggles that cannot be evaded.

Education is a basic necessity, and this means that everyone should have access to education for a better future. As a result, making education universal and as well offering scholarships for the university and college students plays a significant role in creating a better world in future through increasing the number of elites (Trow, 2000). Education has many benefits that can be used to solve the problems of a state. For example, through education, people acquire the necessary skills and experience that is needed in the job market, making a student ready to engage in the field. Education, therefore, serves to bake the students preparing them for the future opportunities that my present to them. Skills are acquired through learning, something that a person cannot learn when they are out of class and thus need to be present for them to listen, understand and later put to use what they have learned. Most of the affected students are those who are pursuing practical courses as they have no choice but to be in class to grasp everything that the teacher says and presents.

Making education a universal access guarantees that every student has access to education regardless of the financial background, race or religion or social class status. Every student has the right to attend a class free from the stress of paying the college fees to make them perform better. Education for all lead to the creation of a learned nation and to which the citizens have the energy to propel the country forward. A society that has low education may suffer an economic gap in the future as there will be fewer qualified personnel to deliver. Making the college and university education free makes it affordable for all, and this means that anyone can go to an institution of higher learning where they are able to specialize according to their qualifications and thus produce qualified personnel ready to be dispatched in places of work.

Work Cited

Flores, S. M., & Shepherd, J. C. (2014). Pricing out the disadvantaged? The effect of tuition deregulation in Texas public four-year institutions. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 655(1), 99-122.

Mulhern, C., Spies, R. R., Staiger, M. P., & Wu, D. D. (2015). The effects of rising student costs in higher education: Evidence from public institutions in Virginia. ITHAKA.

Najmabadi, S., & Blanchard, B. (2018, April 10). As college costs rise, some Texas students go hungry. Will food scholarships help? The Texas Tribune, pp. 12-18.

Trow, M. (2000). From mass higher education to universal access: The American advantage. Minerva, 37(4), 303-328.