Damage Control: Higher Education

Higher education is an education beyond high school. It is often seen as a necessity to advance in the job market, however this is hard to do when university tuition continues to become more and more unaffordable.


Today a student came up to me, frustrated and confused. She recently got accepted into University of the Pacific and told me she received her financial aid package. "Why the f*** do they want me to pay $27,000 to go to this school? I told them my parental contribution would be $0 and they told me that I can do monthly payments. What was the point of them accepting me if I can't even afford it? F*** UOP, man." Meanwhile, another student today told me all excited that she got into Sac State. "I'm gonna have to live at home, but yo, check me out! I'm going to be all college educated!"

Lack of Affordability for Students 

For a while now, students in high school are expected to achieve a college degree from teachers and advisors. However, college prices are too high, and have been rising continuously for a while now. It's not just tuition, it's also cost of living, supplies, and more. University of the Pacific has raised tuition at least 3% for the past eight years. The students have had enough to a point where they threw a protest two years ago. The retention rate of the university has continued to decrease. While the administration fails to admit it is because of the cost, it is because of the cost.
Almost everyone knows someone who has had to drop out due to being unable to afford costs. Students from UC Santa Cruz have been protesting for the past year due to unfair wages of graduate student workers. They work all day and are on the brink of homelessness due to not being paid enough by the university. UC Santa Barbara students are following behind as they protest the same issue, and other UCs are expected to follow behind. CSU Sacramento students were reported on 2018 with 1/10 students being on the verge of homeless. Students can't afford basic needs due to high cost of tuition and cost of living. The same students who face these difficulties are the same ones who will be leaving their university with thousands of dollars in debt from loans.

What We Need to Do 

We can't encourage our students to sacrifice their basic needs, especially when there is no guarantee that they can afford all four years. Students need to receive a higher education, this is how they will get a phenomenal experience and get good jobs. Governor Newsom of California signed legislation in 2019 to give people in California two free years of community college. As educators, for now, we need to remind/encourage students that it is okay to attend community college. We need to normalize it until universities become more affordable and student loans are eradicated. We also need to be reliable resources to students, remind them that they don't need to make all of their future decisions immediately, and that it is okay that whatever they do after they graduate, as long as it challenges them and makes them content, they should do it.
The best way to improve college affordability is with policy. The democratic candidates all have different proposals to make this happen, but only two are working for free university education, Senator Sanders and Senator Warren. You can read a summary of each candidate's proposal for higher education here. This Tuesday, March 3rd, is Super Tuesday. Vote. Until then, let's continue to fight the unfair costs of higher education for our students' sakes. A sacrifice of basic needs and a lifetime of debt is not worth it. Let's fix this. Together.

Sincerely,
Liz