Probably no single factor determines the outcome of wealth or poverty in the United States than higher education. The costs of educational credentials have grown exponentially in the past three decades, so that a university degree is now out of reach for most working class and many middle-class families. Student aid and loans are not keeping pace. The following statistics point to ever-greater income inequality in the future:
http://www.highereducation.org/reports/losing_ground/ar... The principal driver of the increased cost of attending college is higher tuition, and only the wealthiest families have seen their incomes keep pace with increases in tuition (see figures 1 and 2). The lowest-income families have lost the most ground, and this is a major factor in their lower rates of college attendance. For example, for the lowest-income families in 1980, tuition at public two-year colleges represented 6% of their family income. For the lowest-income families in 2000, tuition at these colleges represented 12% of their income. Likewise, tuition at public four-year colleges and universities represented 13% of income for the lowest-income families in 1980. In 2000, tuition at these colleges and universities equaled 25% of their income.
That trend has escalated since 2000. By 2005, a working family needed to spend 82% of its family income to keep a full-time student at the University of California, with most of that money going to increased tuition fees
http://www.cpec.ca.gov/completereports/2008reports/08-1... :
College costs in California have grown much faster than inflation during the past 30 years. Much of the
increase in the last five years can be attributed to fee increases. Comparing college costs and incomes
shows that the rising cost of college has affected various segments of the population differently. Rising
costs have been particularly hard on lower- and middle-income families.
• Between 1975 and 2005, the percent of annual income a family in the low-income group would need
to pay for college has nearly doubled. In 2005, family in the lowest 20% spends 82% of its annual
income to support a student at UC and 56% of its income to support a student at CSU.
• In 2005, a year at UC cost a low-income family 43 weeks of income, up from 23 weeks in 1975. For
a family in the top 5%, four to six weeks of income is needed to pay a year’s expenses at UC.
• On-campus room and board rates remained a consistent portion of the overall cost of attendance
since the mid-1970s, accounting for about half of total costs.
• Fees have increased significantly as a portion of total costs. Between 1975 and 2005, fees grew
from 21% to 32% of total costs at UC and from 9% to 22% of costs at CSU.
• Even recipients of substantial grant
packages pay one-third to a half of
their annual income on college costs.
• Stagnating wages for low-skilled jobs
means that it has become difficult for
students to pay for college with part-
time work and summer jobs.
• The most significant increases in in-
come-to-cost ratios have occurred
since 2000. College is quickly be-
coming out of reach for many lower-
income families
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