Rising Tuition Costs for Higher Education

This blog post is written by Suleyma Gomez. She is a full-time student at Northern Virginia Community College.

In America, education is becoming necessary in order to obtain higher paying jobs.  Obtaining a degree takes time, dedication, and money. However, should the American government be charging students thousands of dollars per semester? Who should students blame for high prices? What does America think about college costs? How much should school actually cost? Upon research I have discovered a popular discourse on higher education in America. It is that tuition is unjustifiably high due to government actions.

College costs are steadily increasing and have yet to go down. There is not, however, a reason it should (from the government’s perspective). As students accumulate debt and stress from trying to pay for school, the government does not lower costs. Education is being treated like a business; a degree is the item of purchase. However, the reasons America claims for the rising costs vary significantly, yet, there is little discussion on blaming the government for rising costs.

The political cartoon "Higher Education" exemplifies America’s disapproval of rising tuition costs. Illustrated by Jeff Parker, the political cartoons’ message is that students in public universities are unable to pay for higher education due to the governments’ unnecessary budget cuts and increasingly high tuition rates. However, students are desperate to receive degrees, regardless of the circumstances. Parker explains the injustice in the school system, by selecting the words “higher…higher…”. Tuition rates are “higher”, budget cuts are “higher”, student loans are “higher”, education is “higher”, and the demands for degrees are “higher”. In his cartoon, it seems everything is “higher” because of the government. Parker's political cartoon is spot on in resembling the public opinion on this view. 

Parker continues to resemble the public with several more political cartoons. Including the cartoon shown, "Welcome to Economic 101, kid...". The message of this political cartoon is that students do not have a choice but to accept the rising costs of college tuition and increasing college loans. Again, Parker is able to create a cartoon that depicts America’s views on rising college costs. . The ball and chain with the words “Student Loans” is noticeably larger, perhaps to indicate that the student has loans from previous school years. The students’ face seems somewhat upset, however, he is not attempting to free himself. This may indicate that students feel helpless and unable to change the system set up by the government. The green light surrounding the student may ironically symbolize money; the item the student most needs, but does not have. Like most of America, the student shown, feels like a prisoner to the government. The pressure of having loans and understanding there are more loans on their way is burdening. Being able to relate to the crisis at hand, Parker is able to depict the viewpoint of America’s students and families.

Whether or not the government should be charging students thousands of dollars per semester is still to be answered. However, students and their families are struggling to pay for college, and are blaming the United States government for burdening them with the high costs. Now, will society advocate for change? Or will cost continue to rise?