Pedagogy

Higher education is one of the major public priorities, acknowledged by the increasing importance higher education issues have played in elections. The business community has given governors and legislators a lot of support in generating revenues for the economic stimulus of various state colleges. Most of these issues are related to the quality and affordability of higher education. This paper focuses on the issue of access to college.

Access to college is affected by various factors some are perennial while others are near-term issues. Amongst the perennial issues, the foremost is affordability (Usher and Cervenan, 2005 National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2004). The rise of tuition over the last years have somewhat moderated following larger state investment. In spite of this the cost of tuition still outpaces the inflation rate and median incomes of families. The AASCU reported that there has been a slowing down in the increase in tuition fees over the last two years (AASCU, 2008). There is generally greater awareness concerning tuition costs and the state operating funds for college education. This is evident from the increasing number of agreements being made between tuition setting authorities and states so that there is a balance between the tuition revenue streams and appropriations.

Other attempts to improve affordability have been made by congress in its authorization and reauthorization of states to maintain the operating funds of higher education (National Center For Public Policy and Higher Education, 2009). Failure to do this would lead to states facing sanctions in accessing federal aid (Dervarics, 2007). Other related issues that have an effect on the affordability of college such as the control of the costs of textbooks. Increasing tuition fees have led to calls for greater accountability. Accountability formed one of the key themes of the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education. States are also requiring more accountability and transparency by having institutions and the entire system have additional reports of outcomes (AASCU, 2008). The institutions of higher education have responded to this call for greater accountability by adopting voluntary reporting systems that give more insight into the expenditure of various institutions and the outcomes of students.

The reorganization of financial aid programmes is also one that influences access. The AASCU reports that state grant aid is now being refocused to provide financial help to low income families and the lower-middle income ones. There has however been the concern that the move from financial aid based on need to financial aid based on merit, will lead to wealthy students having their tuition subsidized which could lead to students from modest backgrounds being locked out of college.  This has led some states to reconsider the balance of merit based and need based aid. One such example is Tennessee.

Universities have also tried to manage the problem of access to college due to affordability. Harvard announced that it would give financial aid to students from middle-class families in December, 2007 (Berkeleyan, 2008). Princeton and Yale have since then followed with similar plans. For most students the rallying cry has been for fees to be frozen due to the substantial yearly increases. The Chancellor of Berkeley University, Robert Birgeneau asserts that freezing fees has the effect of increasing student debt which in the long run is a counterintuitive strategy (Berkeleyan, 2008).

The effect of college education being inaccessible to deserving students is that there is a likelihood of a change in the character of public universities and also the disadvantage at which the student is placed. Exceptional students who are talented but from poor families could end up going to local community colleges or private universities that offer better financial packages. This translates to the public universities not living up to their obligations as public institutions.

In revising policy on affordability of health education it is important that consideration be made of students in special circumstances such as those who are orphans, former foster children, those who have families to support and those who are undocumented (Berkelay, 2008).  Whatever happens there needs to be a new framework for how America will finance higher education. In addition there needs to be consensus on how to do this amongst the public officials, taxpayers, state and federal governments. This will ensure that college opportunity is preserved for all deserving students and that higher education remains productive, of high quality, cost-effective and accessible.