Public Policy The Funding Of Higher Education Essay

Public Policy The Funding Of Higher Education Essay Public Policy: The Funding Of Higher Education â€" Essay Example > Public Policy: The funding of higher educationABSTRACTThis report discusses the higher education scenario in US with special focus on funding given to students for pursuing higher education sources. It discusses the situation of high debts for students because of high cost of education and the consequent fallout in terms of a decline in number of students pursuing higher education. Even if the students do enroll for such programs, most of them do not complete the courses because of lack of funds. INTRODUCTION A secure higher education is one of the best investments any parent, any state or any country can make for its future citizens and for the nation as a whole. The same is true for United States of America or any third world country. According to the study by Department of Education in US by Baum and Payea, by getting a college degree, a student’s worth increases by 75% than when he has only a high school diploma. With increasing globalization, there is a marked change in the profile of labor market with more and more jobs requiring a minimum of a college degree. Moreover, from a country’s point of view, a better educated population contributes more significantly towards the country’s growth and has lower health care costs because of higher earnings IN addition the socially knowledgeable citizens are able to protect their rights and are able to work for the betterment of society and country in general. In fact, it was the civil rights movement which triggered the enactment of The Higher Education Act of 1965 that started the federal student loan programs. (Swarthout, 6)However, things have changed in the past decade. The government support for higher education has declined and as a result, burden of tuition and fees have fallen entirely on the students themselves. The Scholarships and Grants are not proving o be effective with less and less students being able to benefit from them. With increasing costs, students are forced to take more and more d ebt to pay for their degrees. It was seen that out of all the four-year college graduates with student debt, about two-thirds left school in 2004 as compared with less than one-third in 1993. (Swarthout, 4)Thus, US faces a very peculiar problem as there is a high percentage of students facing debt who are reaching the job market. This is not a good sign for the economy as well a jobs that have a high social value but lower salary structures such as teachers and social service providers. Therefore, it is important for US government and citizens to work collectively to solve this problem as the future of the country depends on these two basic high value jobs which no one wants to take up especially since they have large loans to repay. Amidst fear of deteriorating American higher education system and alarmed by dropout rates of students from universities and colleges, the US government set up a Commission on the Future of Higher Education, also known as the Spellings Commission, on Se ptember 19, 2005. The nineteen member Commission was given the responsibility of devising a strategy for reforming post-secondary education, with a particular focus on preparation of students for the 21st-century workplace and how the high schools are preparing the students for post-secondary education. The Spellings commission in its report focused on four areas of access, affordability, the standards of quality in instruction, and the accountability. The accountability was to the stakeholders in their respective constituencies such as the students, families, taxpayers, and other investors in higher education.