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As we know, the rising tuition costs are a matter of great concern for American families today. As compared to earlier times when most could afford university education, today, a lot of hard work goes into finding the most affordable undergraduate and post graduate courses for students and parents.

Universities are found to splurge the money they collect from students on developing facilities in the campus and the question continues to rage as to whether it is worth taxing students so much for enhanced campus luxury. High end universities pay six-figure salary for professors and university Presidents are paid much more than what they are worth.

With no significant improvement in the teaching quality in spite of exorbitant fee hike, there is a growing scepticism among students as many of them seriously consider moving on to online education.

The growing cynicism was clearly evident in the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education conducted poll that reflected that at least 60% of our citizens strongly believed that rather than focusing on enhancing student experience most of our universities care only about their bottom line.

Unless there is a revision in the tuition fee that could make them accessible to more number of students, the situation will continue to be grim. Universities must focus on student development by providing quality teaching rather than spending lavishly on campus facilities.
 
Universities in our country are facing lowered endowments due to poor investment performance and steady squeeze of public university grants even as public spending is severely curtailed by the states. Universities in turn shift the burden on to students.

The global financial crash resulted in severe drop in many university’s investment portfolios. Coupled with lowered state grants, universities are forced to rethink on their budget. Federal statistic show that for the first time in this decade, our tuition costs at our universities rose by 32% from the year 2008-09.

This is when American students had to start paying an average of $31,000 towards tuition fees and boarding at the private universities and $12,000 at the public universities. Silver lining is that our citizens struggle, yet ensure that kids are given the opportunity to study. This is evident with the fact that there has been no significant drop in number of applicants at the universities.

This situation will not last forever. The growing unrest indicates that students are fast looking out for other affordable options. Many prefer studying at the local community colleges that are less expensive.