The enrollment rates in public universities increase annually as university degrees are considered necessities for the establishment of a successful professional career pathway. However, performance issues are not usually the main challenges for many students, but financing their university education. The problem is attributed to the high cost of tuition in public universities that is unaffordable for many families, making the acquisition of college degrees an unreachable goal for many students, particularly those from low-income families (Vedder et al., 2015). Therefore, there is a dire need for viable solutions and alternatives to resolve the high tuition cost at public University, to ensure affordability and accessibility of university education.
First Attending Community College
There are numerous benefits students can attain by attending community college for the first two years before enrolling in University. They are more affordable alternatives for post-secondary education compared to universities and colleges (Carson, 2019). Thus suitable for many students. Additionally, learners who have undergone the 2-year college training are advantaged since they can secure part-time employment as they transition to university education. That way, they can pay their fees without many constraints (Vedder et al., 2015).
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Embracing Online Education
With technological advancement and increased adoption and integration of technology in education systems, online classes or education has become one of the cheapest alternatives to the traditional classroom education framework, the costly face-to-face model of education model (Vedder et al., 2015). One of the contributors to higher tuition fees in public universities is the high number of support staff to pay every month. Therefore, institutions will have to apply this burden indirectly to students by increasing tuition fees for the institutions to pay their workforce (Carson, 2019). However, the absence of such expense in online Universities and colleges enables them to provide affordable tuition rates collated with traditional universities (Vedder et al., 2015). Additionally, students do not have to incur commuting costs. Therefore, online education is one of the best alternatives for students as it constitutes low tuition costs.
Apply for Grants and Scholarships
Scholarship merits and financial aids like grants provided by the state and federal administrations, colleges, and public and private organizations are some of the things students can leverage to finance their university education thus reducing the burden of paying expensive tuition (Carson, 2019). Students should, therefore, take advantage and apply for scholarships and grants to help pay for the ever-increasing cost of tuition in public higher learning institutions.
Provide Three Years Bachelor’s Degrees
Institutions should offer three years bachelor’s degree instead of four years. Institutions can implement this by creating a streamlined curriculum, utilizing summer sessions, providing more credit hours every semester, and supplementing with online courses or classes (Vedder et al., 2015). That way, education will be more affordable in the long run and more accessible to students.
Shrink the Size the Administrative Staff and Outsource Services
Due to increasing financial constraints experiences in many higher learning institutions, institutions should effectively utilize their limited resources. Numerous benefits come with the outsourcing of some essential services than employing permanent staffs to take care of such obligations (Vedder et al., 2015). Performing duties in-house presents the need to continuously cater for expenses associated with it (Vedder et al., 2015). To manage these expenses, institutions are forced to increase tuition fees in public universities. Relying on an in-house workforce to undertake some duties may prove to be unessentially expensive, leading to the high cost of tuition for public Universities without necessarily advancing the quality of education (Vedder et al., 2015).
Given the ever-increasing tuition fee in higher learning institutions, students can opt for attending community college for the first two years, enrolling for online classes, grants, and scholarships application to finance their education. Institutions, on the other hand, can provide three years bachelor’s degrees and minimize th e size of the administrative staff and outsource services to the unnecessary expense which result into increasing students fee for them to be able to cater for such costs.
References
Carson, R. (2019, Sep 22). 7 Ways To Reduce College Costs . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rcarson/2019/09/22/7-ways-to-reduce-college-costs/?sh=26dbfb1b5e77.
Vedder, R., Gillen, A., Bennett, D., Denhart, M., & Robe, J. (2015). Files.eric.ed.gov. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED536144.pdf.
