YAHYA ALI ALBARIQI

ENG2010
20/03/2016
Expensive School Tuition
School tuition has been a problem all over the world. Tuition has been much expensive
that a few parents, students, and others guardians responsible in paying can comfortably afford to
pay the tuition. Especially the college and university tuition fee has been on the rise in the recent
years globally. Universities everywhere are very expensive to operate, but money has to come
from somewhere to make the universities operational (Davidson n.p.). America is not an
exceptional, as its universities and colleges are charging a higher tuition fee. Various factors have
contributed to the expensive school tuition. (I deleted one sentence)
Currently, a college degree is as important as high school degree during the generations
of our parents. The statement is true because college graduates today are struggling to earn more
in their lives as compared to those who do not have a bachelor degree. Some tech giants like
Google do not consider whether one is a graduate or whether he/she went to college, but a
college degree is still seen as the main gateway to a sustainable and long-term career. However,
the best colleges and universities are competing to attract the brightest and best students and hire
the brightest and best faculty (Ehrenberg 36). While seeking to attract more bright and best
students, colleges and universities are offering them more financial aid. (I put one of the instead
of, the only) One of the sources of the financial aid offered by the colleges and universities to the
selected students comes from the tuition fees. Colleges and universities will be forced to raise the
tuition fees such that they can meet the costs of offering the financial aid to the students.

Hiring best and brightest faculty means that colleges and universities will be forced to
pay them higher remuneration. The driving force for the best and brightest faculty is
remuneration; the employer who will offer them the highest remuneration will attract their
attention for example a very educated teacher may be offered a good wage to work for a school
and another school may offer the teacher a higher wage to work for them instead. (I add one
sentence) In such situations colleges and universities will increase the tuition fees such that they
can afford to pay the higher remuneration demanded by the faculty. The bright students and
faculty will not be attracted by the intellectual reputation alone. Colleges and universities will be
forced to spend more on amenities as compared to their Ivy League peers. Such amenities
include dorm rooms with private bathrooms, (I add these word) and access to newly renovated
pools, and gyms with rock walls. The amenities will increase the tuition fees paid by the students
and parents (Campos n.p.). In such cases, only the parents and students higher incomes will
afford to pay and study in the colleges and universities with expensive tuition. As a result, the
less-selective schools, which spend more funds in amenities, will attract many applicants, and
they will reject others lowering their acceptance rate making them be seen s more selective. Such
institutions will have a chance to hike their tuition fee as they recruit more university or school
recruits more faculty and elite students.
Administrative bloat is another factor making the tuition fee expensive in many schools.
It is obvious that any increase in school tuition fee is not only associated with students looking
for luxurious or country club-like accommodations. The main reason for the increase in school
tuition fee in the recent years is that colleges and universities are spending too much on support
staff and administrators. As the colleges and universities, apply different ways of attracting more
bright students, they increase the number of funds spends on other things like career services

staff, admission counselors, and other personnel working in the institutions. Many universities
and colleges spend more funds coming from the tuition fee paid by the parents and students on
the salaries and remunerations of the support staff and administrators (Schoen n.p.). In fact, some
colleges and universities pay for the travel and accommodation expenses for the top
administrators, which is included in their hefty salaries (I add one sentence) some universities get
high tuition payments to pay their instructors. Recently, it has been reported in varies surveys
conducted that top school administrators are hosting lavish events at the cost of the school and
receives approvals from the board of directors on incentives, which triple or quadruple their
salaries.
(I add this word) Also government subsidies cause the frequent increase in the tuition fee
in various schools. Since the government pays part of the tuition fees in the form of subsidies,
college, and university administrators increase their tuition fee such that they can benefit from
the subsidies (Davidson n.p.). Subsidies offered by the government do not cover the entire tuition
fee, and the remaining part of the fee will be much expensive for the parents and students
because the administrators are increasing the fee frequently. (I deleted one sentence) However,
the government will be forced to increase the subsidies to cover the increasing costs due to rising
demand.
Reduction in government funding is also another factor contributing to increasing in
tuition fees making it expensive for the parents and students. For example, in the United States,
the government reduced support through funding to public universities and colleges between
1987 and 2012. During this period, the government funding in the United States reduced from
$8497 to $5906 per student. The reduced funding was recovered by increasing the tuition fee in
various colleges and universities making it more expensive (Ehrenberg 40). Embrace and

implementation of information (IT) technology in various colleges and universities are other
factors causing the increase tuition fee. IT is not only taught as part of the curricula subject in
colleges and universities but also, it has been implemented in various departments. IT is
applicable almost in all departments in the learning institutions especially communication,
finance, marketing, instruction or teaching, and many other departments. Colleges and
universities will spend more money when acquiring equipment related to IT and many other
arising necessities due to frequent improvements and implementations in the field of IT this is
another factor that makes tuition more expensive. (I add one sentence)
Research studies conducted by many colleges and universities are another factor causing
the increase in tuition fee. When an institution of learning conducts a successful research in any
field of study, it will be published nationally or internationally attracting the attention of many
students and parents. In one cases research is privately funded but sometimes. (I add some
words), the research conducted in colleges and resources from the fund public universities but
the institutions will incur more funds on attracting and the research specialists to assist in the
process of conducting research (Campos, n.p.). It is because for an institution to conduct a
successful research, study that will be recognized both nationally and internationally, it should
employ a specialist in the field of research conducted. Apart from paying the research assistant,
the institution will be forced to buy other costly equipment and facility upgrades, which may not
be covered by the grants offered for research studies. In such cases, colleges and universities will
be forced to shift the burden to the parents and students by increasing the tuition fees.
Many colleges and universities have various schools in different locations with dozens of
academic departments, research divisions, student services, athletic programs, and much more.
The institutions will be forced to apply the principle of shared governance where each school

will have a dean and heads of various departments (Jaison R. and Deitz 2014). All the schools
and the departments must facilitated by remunerating the staff appropriately and buying
equipments and the institution might not meet all the funding needed. The only option is to
increase the tuition fee, which is a disadvantage for the students and parents.

Works Cited
Campos, Paul F. The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much. The New York Times. April
4, 2015. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reasoncollege-tuition-costs-so-much.html
Davidson, Adam. Is College Tuition Really Too High?: The answer depends on what you mean
by college. The New York Times. SEPT. 8, 2015. Web. From
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/is-college-tuition-too-high.html
Ehrenberg, Ronald G. Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much, with a new preface. Boston,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Print
Jaison Abel, R. and Deitz, Richard. Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs?
(August 1, 2014). Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2014.
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2477864
Schoen, John W. Why does a college degree cost so much? CNBC News. 2015. Web.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/16/why-college-costs-are-so-high-and-rising.html