College Cost

For the first time in many years, I attended the College Board Forum this week, and was fortunate enough to sit in on several interesting and informative presentations. Quite a few of the sessions focused on issues of financial aid and student access to high school programs and institutions of higher education. In general, College Board has been making a concerted effort in the area of expanded educational equity and access, which is admirable. (While I retain a healthy skepticism towards College Board's motives, I do want to give them credit where it is due.) Their partnership with programs like code.org and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund has opened up possibilities for more students to take computer science courses in high school, and for more first-generation Hispanic students to attend and afford college, among other initiatives.

At the same time, this conference spotlighted the rising costs of college education. What I observed in one lively session is that there is a clear tension between financial aid officers, who lament the fact that certain families have made "lifestyle choices" impacting their financial readiness for colleges, and high school college counselors who end up bearing the hard news about college affordability (or lack thereof). One financial aid officer noted that people make more reasonable choices around car price and debt load than they do around college options. He argued that people tend to accept that they can only look at the auto makers who sell cars within their budgets, rather than shop at the high end dealers and hope they can make it work or borrow more money than is financially feasible for them. But is this a fair analogy?

In general, I was concerned about the dismissiveness of some of the college officials. They seemed to be putting the blame on families with unrealistic expectations rather than looking hard at their own practices and whether or not college should in fact cost as much as it does and whether or not their own financial aid models are as fair and transparent as they might be (or sustainable in the long term). For instance, we know that the cost of college has outpaced real earnings for many people. Is it acceptable to say to many middle class and even upper-middle class families, "well, there will be many colleges that you simply cannot consider anymore because of the cost?" I am not sure how well that sits with our American sense of equity and access. And we have long supported the notion that our Middle Class--however vaguely that may defined--has aspirations for themselves and their children beyond their current situation. Getting into the "most prestigious" colleges and universities--again vaguely defined--is one of many components of that American dream. Do we need to re-frame all these discussions now that the "prestige" schools are not only admitting at less than a 10% rate but also cost upwards of $200,000 over four years?

Despite some of the judgmental nature around lifestyle choices, there were valid points made about the way Americans have trended towards spending to the point of increased consumer debt and living right at or above their means, regardless of income bracket. One takeaway for me is that families ought to be thinking much sooner about the looming price tag of colleges and either start saving sooner or prepare their children that college cost will be a substantial factor when the time comes to apply. We are seeing too many cases of delayed conversations or magical thinking that somehow the financial pieces will all "just work out" when in fact student debt may be a harsh reality that saddles a college graduate or his still-supporting family for years. At Colorado Academy we could do more to remind and advise families that if they wait until two years into their child's high school career to face some hard truths about college and financial realities, that is too late, especially if previous conversations have trended towards "your choices will be unlimited."

Later in the same day I went to a large gathering of people who had come to hear the College Board present their annual information on Trends in Higher Education. Compiled by their chief researcher Sandy Baum of the Urban Institute, the annual data presented is eagerly anticipated by those in higher education and featured prominently in the Chronicle of Higher Ed and popular media. The main points that emerged from this presentation were that college prices continue to rise at a rate slightly higher than inflation -- an average of around 3% annually. Meanwhile, on the plus side the amount of borrowing per student has declined for four years, suggesting students may be finding other means of paying for college, or that they are choosing colleges that don't require as much borrowing. There is slightly more grant money available from institutions now, in part to offset the decline of government funding (to state schools). The picture is far from perfect, however: outstanding loan balances still show that 32% of students who took on loans owe at least $25,000 upon graduation. To be fair, most of those people are in the upper half of income earners where their potential to pay back is better (these are people who did graduate vs. those who don't). Not surprisingly, students who do not graduate are significantly more likely to default on their loans than are graduates.

Thus, the long-term and persistent issues regarding college costs remain. There are no quick or easy fixes despite what politicians on both sides might claim during this upcoming election year. For more information on the responses to these most recent data, please see: http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Talk-to-Regular-People/234045. Despite all of the difficult financial realities, going to college is still a far better investment than not; we just need to be wise consumers and assume that, like many things these days, the college landscape has changed and will continue to be different than it was a generation ago.

In future blogs, I hope to highlight some of the curriculum developments that were discussed at the conference, including the increased support for more computer science in schools all around the nation.