Well I had to write a paper on higher education and had to write whether I thought colleges were doing their job or not.

If you are up for a long read you can start reading my paper below. Insight and comments would be appreciated considering I would like to hear back on what you guys think as well. I know im posting this on a forum full of guys that are mainly here for car talk but I'm sure some of you have some way of relating to this article. (Sorry about the fact that paragraphs couldn't really be indicated because its a forum post.)


Higher Education

By Ben Hayes,

As of now after they graduate from high school, many teens are finding that it is very difficult to decide what they want to choose for a career. This is because many of the job markets that once held potential for great income and even greater employment opportunities are now virtually non-existent. Not only are students finding it hard to choose a career, but they are also facing a financial crisis.
With rising tuition costs, which is seen in every college and university throughout America, many students are finding it very hard to finance a college education, especially a four-year bachelor’s degree (which really today takes much longer to obtain than a mere four years). The government and college institutions need to do a better job of keeping the costs of higher education down. Financial difficulties are affecting almost every college student. Students’ tuition should be going down (or at least staying status quo) instead of increasing year after year, even if that means that a college’s profit will go down or not exist at all. With colleges not out for profit, this will help students benefit financially by having more money in their wallets.
A college’s profit is generally spent on paying coaches or building new facilities for the college which boosts the number of students attending there. Marketing is good for the college but bad for the students. Students are paying for the college to put their logo out there. This is not fair because students are paying for extra things that the college generally does not need or could find an optional solution, which could save money.
If the cost of education went down, such as lowered tuition rates, and more internships were offered for every student who desired one, there would be more people in college and students would be getting a better education. Increasing tuition costs and lowering internship rates would only mean that less people could attend college, and there would be fewer students ready for jobs in the real world.
You must also take into consideration that if students are poor and broke throughout college, they are focused on finding a job which distracts them from the time they could be working on studies for college. Better financial aid would offer students the ability to gain an education and help them focus more on their studies instead of their financial situation. Focusing more on studies could lead to a higher GPA, and a higher GPA usually makes you more competitive in the job market.
Some people think higher education is meant to increase the social character of students by improving their social lives. Others feel it is meant to be an institution or a halfway house for students before they enter the business world. The purpose of higher education to me is to prepare students for their careers in the future. I believe colleges and universities are not succeeding in doing this and are in need of improvement. Some ways that they can improve upon this would be to offer students more opportunities for internships and better financial support. As stated in Derek Bok’s “Universities in the Marketplace”, colleges are becoming more and more commercialized and are at the worst state they have ever been.
Colleges are focusing so much of their time on putting their logo out there in the marketplace that they are forgetting their purpose in the system. It is a university/college’s job to prepare a student for what challenges they will face in their careers down the road.
Having a vast academic background from private colleges like Brown College and community colleges like Inver Hills has helped me realize the marketing issues with colleges and that some colleges are not doing their part academically. Brown College did not push me or give me any room to become a better student. Brown just wanted me to pass their courses – and pay their high-costing tuition – so they could look good in the marketplace.
Although Brown College left a bad aftertaste for me, Inver Hills Community College has been my guiding light towards the end of the tunnel by keeping costs down and focusing on education over everything. One of the most interesting aspects of Inver Hills is the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum program, which allows you to complete your general education requirements in less time as long as you transfer to a college or university that accepts the curriculum. Iowa, the state I am from, does not offer such a program.
In addition, Inver Hills has pushed me as a student to become better, offers reasonable tuition rates, and offers a great academic education system for me as a student. To me Inver Hills is an example that many colleges need to emulate.
If colleges began focusing their time on keeping costs down and making college more affordable, it would help students succeed and get into the careers they want to get into. If they would offer more help for students such as internships, it in turn would help college students get a taste of what the real world holds for them in the career they want to pursue.
With all this being said, isn’t it after all a college’s main purpose to serve the student and to help them succeed? Holding back students with such great potential is a waste of this nation’s recourses and is something that definitely needs to be reconsidered in the American College and University systems.