The increasing cost of American Higher education

Education is an extremely essential element in the society. It contributes to economic growth and development and also brings about a lot of development. Education helps reform and revolutionizes the society itself. It helps in forming of a strong foundation for growth, innovation, intelligence and economic development as well (Policy brief, 2008). In case of education not remaining affordable and accessible to the masses, it will gradually reduce the literacy levels in America which is extremely harmful. It would have a detrimental impact as it would result in there being a reduction in manpower in case of several industries where education is essential (Michaela Prokop, 2003).

The fact that the costs of higher education in America has increased by about 200% in the past 10 years results in there being growing concerns about the affordability of high school education in the private as well as the public sector. Government taxes are not enough to educate the high school children (Fawwaazz Al-Abeed, 1996). Moreover the growth in number of students enrolling for education results in growing pressures for public schools. Moreover as private education at the high school level goes beyond the reach and affordability of the common man in America, the pressures on public schools is further increasing due to these children being enrolled in public schools. This impacts the quality of education as there are not enough funds to compensate for the growing number of students in high schools (Policy brief, 2008).

It has become essential that there be a control on the fees and costs of education not only in America, but all around the world since this determines and influences the future of several children and several economies. It results in an increase in the illiteracy levels all around the world which is not good (Learning Framework, 2009). Moreover in case of countries like India and China improving their literacy rates and outsourcing leading to several jobs being transferred to these countries, a dropping rate of literacy in the US is an alarming signal. All of this makes it extremely essential that policies are formed in order to control the cost of high school education in America. This can benefit the nation in several ways and also help create a stronger foundation for the future of America (Michaela Prokop, 2003).

Significant increase in cost of tuition fees

There has been a significant increase in the cost of tuition fee in high schools in America. The estimates show a rise of about 20 % in the fees (Learning Framework, 2009). This increase leads to high school education becoming unaffordable for the masses and thus causes intensification of the problem of lower levels of literacy in America. This includes the cost of education in public schools (Policy brief, 2008). This program is based on the federal law that states the requirements that schools and organizations should meet and the intervention programs they should form in order to accommodate students with need for education. The basic belief that education is essential and that all children have a right to education is defeated and hampered due to the increase in case of high school education (Policy brief, 2008).




High school graduate


Some college


Associates and/or Bachelor's degree


Master's degree


Doctorate or professional degree


The figures does show that several people in USA are high school graduates and only about 55% go to college. In case of high school education becoming extremely expensive it would result in a drop in the percentage of literacy even at the high school level as well as the college level. In this way it will result in fall in overall literacy levels (Michaela Prokop, 2003).

It is extremely important that the syllabus and teaching methodology of the subjects taught to the students is chosen very carefully in order to enable a student to perform well at a global level (Fawwaazz Al-Abeed, 1996). This requires research and development as well as several up gradations of curriculums. All of this involves higher costs which results in increase in cost of high school education. If these costs are not incurred in order to ensure access and affordability of high school education to the masses then the quality will drop and the American education system shall fail to match the global standards (Policy brief, 2008).

The most important benefit or advantage of the structured form of teaching is that it helps maintain standardization and uniformity. This helps the creation of a well balanced form of teaching. Yet, this form of teaching lacks flexibility. This can help reduce high school costs. But the newer methods that have been propagated do not support this and increasing dynamism makes it crucial to adopt different systems (Fawwaazz Al-Abeed, 1996).

Another important aspect or method of teaching is the direct or unstructured method. This method enables the teacher forms their own syllabus and follow their own methods of teaching. This method allows the teacher cater to the needs of the class as per their requirements and also helps them use different styles of teaching based on the ability of the students to grasp concepts (Fawwaazz Al-Abeed, 1996). It provides a great deal of flexibility, yet it has a disadvantage of not catering to the fullest requirement and not being well balanced (Learning Framework, 2009). The material may not be standardized and also the class might be focused excessively on only certain aspects of education concepts. In this way the need to remain at par with the high levels of dynamism in the present education system makes it essential that the American education board ensures several researches and changes at the high school level and all of this adds up to the cost significantly (Michaela Prokop, 2003). 

