By: Valerie Kazarian, Staff Writer
Offering tuition benefits has reached many over the years and until recently the middle class could afford it, too, without assistance. But over the years, particularly since the recession in the early 2000’s, college affordability has become problematic for the middle class. Borrowing is often seen as a necessary part of paying for college. Even for those who qualify for financial aid, a student loan often is needed to cover all expenses. For the middle class student who doesn’t qualify for financial aid, however, student loans make up a major portion of the funds needed to get through school.
To some, college tuition is simply an expense that can be paid for without difficulty. These are the people who can afford to pay tuition without financial support from their academic institution. Others would not be able to obtain a college-level education without the support of a financial aid package offered by the the institution. Often these are the students who are eligible for financial aid including federal and state grants, work-study and special offers from the institution. For others, affordability means taking out student loans. These are the middle class students whose families are above the income guidelines for financial aid but still need to find a way to pay for school.
Before World War II, a college education was the privilege of a small slice of American society. Most colleges were found in small towns and were considered elite and the students were white, Protestant men. The average person had an elementary or secondary school education and only rarely did someone graduate from high school.
The GI Bill, however, all that changed.With concerns about a large influx of unemployed soldiers back into the country, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 which offered free tuition, books and fees to U. S. servicemen and women. By 1947, nearly fifty percent of the national college population was veterans and college education had become a right of the middle class simply by being a military benefit for so many.
The expectation of a college education continued to grow over the next several decades so that by the 1960’s, the fact that some people were not being afforded the same opportunities became blatantly obvious. President Johnson sought to level the playing field with the Higher Education Act of 1965 as part of his War on Poverty “to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education.”
The 1965 act established financial aid, work study, and low-interest loans to those who otherwise would not have been able to afford a college degree. “(This law) means that a high school senior anywhere in this great land of our,” President Johnson said in his remarks upon signing the Act, “can apply to any college or any university in any of the fifty states and not be turned away because his family is poor.” It showed a commitment to the idea that a college education was to be available to everyone, not just the wealthy.
The recession of the early 2000’s reduced the amount of money coming from the federal and state governments so colleges and universities had to make choices about how those reduced dollars were to be spent. As funds were reduced, it was the student who was looked to as the substitute funding source. Federal education funding is focused on two areas. One is research and the other is direct student aid. States, on the other hand, focus on funding specific college campuses. Both sources were reduced during the recession.
While federal funding levels have rebounded as the economy has improved, state funding levels have not. This has created a shift toward those financial aid programs developed since World War II to help those who could not otherwise attend college meaning that the shift has been to those at the lower income levels who qualify for the financial aid.
Middle-class students, however, who do not qualify for financial aid can find themselves unqualified for financial aid but unable to pay for college – so they borrow student loans. The recession impacted the middle-class families in ways that are not reflected in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the complex formula used by the federal government to determine eligibility for student aid including loans and work study support, so their circumstances are not considered in the process. Because they are not low income or in a specific category that receives funding, like veterans or seniors, the middle class student are amassing the vast student loan debts that are the subject of today’s political debate.
The loan debt taken on by the student is, on average, is $28,400 and takes on average 21 years to pay back. While students of all income levels take out student loans, it is the middle-class student that is most likely to need the loan. Women hold two-thirds of the total debt from student loans and because they earn on average twenty-six percent less than their male counterparts, it takes them longer to pay the loans back.
The Higher Education Act is being revised by Congress even now which would in some ways affect the education of people in all income levels. Elections can change policies that affect the flow of state funds to colleges and universities which also impacts how dollars are spent.