User:Criss.sanchez/Students Coping with CSU Tuition Costs

Reducing University Student Attrition

Essentially every California State University makes their students aware of the possible situations that can put one at risk of dropping out of college. Indeed there are many reasons that may alert the students to perform well both academically and behaviorally, though in other cases there are many individuals who do not know where to locate resources on campus that are provided to them. These universities across the state of California offer resources to their students at a low cost, most include tutoring, the health center, financial aid, on campus jobs, and a variety of other programs that are more than likely to direct their scholars to a successful path.

However, there is a significant amount of factors leading to college attrition. According to the authors of "Increasing Persistence: Research Based Strategies for College Success", they proved that "one out of every three students who enter higher education in a given fall term will not return a second year. Correspondingly, they also approximate that 40% of college students will not receive a degree anywhere. Although one of the highest leading causes is due to the lack of financial contributions needed in order for students to pay for their tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, and other expenses.

In the article "The CSU Crisis and California's Future", written by Rebecca Joseph and Robert Castaneda, state the appalling impact that the exorbitant cost of a post secondary education in a California State University has on students and their families. As the cost of attending college continues to increase, budgets are being cut as well making it extremely difficult for students to pay off loans, tuition, and housing in many cases. For this reason, the authors of the research claim that in today's generation universities have developed barriers for many individuals to continue furthering their education. In many perspectives, college has also become notably for individuals who can cover for the expenses or who are more knowledgeable (The CSU Crisis, page 3).

In effect, because universities continue to increase and the system is limited on money by the state, the Board of Trustees have discussed recommendations such as raising funds for CSU campuses and receiving support from corporations and private donors to retain the money that is being cut by the government. In that same token there are also many programs and organizations that can assist students to pay for their education such as: financial aid, scholarships, student loans, California Grant, Pell Grant, fee payments that can be offered by the campus along with many other sources that are funded for students.

History

With our century’s current educational experience there has been both an academic and financial shift since the middle of the twentieth century. Although, the percentages of becoming a high school graduate at the time then and a becoming a college graduate in today’s era do not differ.

Chad Aldeman, researcher of the article "Eye Opening Stats about High School and College Dropouts" proves that the rates of graduating from high school have increased since the 1900's. During the 1950's and 1980's "American adults with a high school diploma or GED have doubled their percentages from 34.3 percent to 68.6 percent." At this time, that results in almost 90% of American adults to have obtained a high school diploma or GED. On the contrary, college attrition continues to increase, "today there are more than 29.1 million college dropouts versus 24.5 million Americans with less than a high school diploma." (Aldeman).

In terms of California's financial shift, these universities across the state have been increasing their tuition rates since the economic boom in the late 1900's. The California State University system, claims that "the revenue received from the tuition rate increases has been used to backfill state General Fund reductions" as mentioned earlier. In a 2003 academic search premier, Jeffrey Selingo informs readers that due to the "$38-billion hole" in the state's budget, the governing boards of the California State University along with University of California systems had to advice their students of the "new charges" that were brought forth. This was due to the fact that the University system had been cut $36-million out of the $3-billion that they were receiving from the state to "cope with the budget crisis" (Selingo).

During this point in time, the tuition cost for undergraduates was only $1,572 before it increased 30% and costing $2,044. Although, the state's budget continued to worsen and state law makers began to cut millions of dollars from the university system every year which enforced campuses to raise their fee

Presently, the discussion of increasing the tuition cost in California State Universities continues to be dealt upon in spite of our states inflation. In 2014, the CSU Board of Trustees and other California officials such as, Governor Jerry Brown debated to raise student tuition by nearly 27% in the next five years. Stated in an article by Will Fritz, he quotes a proposal claim in which "tuition increase should be tied with inflation." Nonetheless, this will induce for tuition cost to continue to rise in the future. To support this statement, Richard Perez reports in a New York Times article, that California residents whom are typically paying $12,192 a year at a CSU will increase to $15,560 by 2019. Although the reason for this issue, is because as Ryan Storm (CSU Assistant Vice President for Budget) mentioned in his proposal, without increasing student tuition the university's cost will exceed the revenues.

Tuition

As part of every post secondary education system, students are required to pay a tuition fee before they begin a semester of instruction. As mentioned in the website founded by the HEATH Resource Center, "the education system in the United States is controlled by individual states rather than the federal government." In the state of California the CSU tuition cost is currently $5,742 for undergraduate students enrolling in more than six units per term.

According to the California State University system, a CSU tuition fee revenue is used to help "support all enrollment cost associated with student instruction". This includes academic support services (e.g. library, tutoring, writing center), student services (e.g. health center, advising, counseling), institutional support services and the operations and maintenance of the campus.

In reference to the Journal of Student Financial Aid, written by four University professors across the nation, they state that the American College Health Association conducted a research study in which "nearly 35% of students described their financial situation over the last year of school as traumatic or difficult to handle." In addition, the Journal of Student Financial Aid mentions, since many students are relying heavily on borrowing student loans, the total student debt has been estimated at $1.3 trillion at the end of 2016." (Federal Reserve Bank, 2016). " Not only does this article highlight the effects of college students becoming in debt due to using student loans to pay for their education, but the repayment difficulty as the college costs continues to increase.

Instead, seeking help from financial support programs and scholarships- that do not require you to pay back the interest, have made it possible for many students cover to the majority of their educational expenses.

Financial Aid

Financial Aid helps with students with their college expenses by giving awards such as; loans, grants, scholarships, or any offers received from a paying job.

→ History of Financial Aid

John Monro[1] of Harvard University created the first financial aid need analysis. From 1954 to 1974[2] the College Board spends time creating the College Scholarship Service (CSS) which then created forms such as; Parent’s Confidential Statement (PCS), Married Student Statement (MSS) later changed to become Student’s Financial Statement (SFS). In 1976, the College Scholarship Service created the Financial Aid Form which combined the Parent’s Confidential Statement and the Student Financial Statement forms into one. The Higher Education Amendments of 1992 (Pub.L. 102-325) created the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) merging with the Pell Grant. All the correct documents and information are needed in order for an application to be completely filled out. FAFSA will connect their data base with their connection with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), once everything is processed and confirmed that all information checks out students then would now start to receive awards from them, which are the loans and grants. The process of filing for financial aid has defiantly advanced to be more simpler, from 1997 to present day was when FAFSA came to the web.

→ Applying for Financial Aid

Students could apply for financial aid anytime before the semester of school they are about to go into, however, the most important thing is to be aware of deadlines that are coming up. In order to apply for FAFSA, students should have the required tax returns to use of their own or their parents. Creating a FAFSA account is a part of the application process, doing this will open up the questions that are asked and also the forms that would give them information about the individual. Fully getting the information on FAFSA takes from 5-10 business days.

 → Types of Financial Aid

• Pell Grant

Created by the Higher Education Act of 1965, became official in 1972 named the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant. The Pell Grant came to be in 1980 and this is free money that does not need to be repaid. All the money could be used for anything from school expenses to personal expenses as well.

• California Grant

This grant is given based upon the student's parent's income and their grade point average in high school. Looking at the grade point average, the higher the grade the more money would be awarded.

• Subsidized Loan

A loan that could be taken out based on the parent's income, the loan has the benefits on the side of the student. The U.S. Department of Education pays any interest that would be added on over the years of the student's college career.

• Unsubsidized Loan

A loan that could be taken out based upon the parent's income, students that are further in the school who can not take out a subsidized loan anymore would get this. However, the unsubsidized loan would create interest over time which would be added on to what is borrowed.

→ Financial Aid Causing College Attrition

There are many causes as to why students drop out in their first year, the main issue is the money. Financial aid takes time to process, if the grants and loans are awarded late some students give up then and there and decided not to go to school because they have to pay out of pocket until the awards are rewarded. Once paid out of pocket, if awards come in after, the money will all get reimbursed back to your account. Students with low income tend to get more money from pell grant and awards (subsidized loan, unsubsidized loan), with that the students have a less dropout rate [3] since they are getting so much free money from the school. Minorities however, have the money for the school but most do not want to pay for them so most of them drop out after their first year. Loans have to be carefully read and understood to know what students get themselves into. Some students accidentally apply for a loan that has interest on their money which in turn would have them paying almost twice as much as their tuition by the end of the year. With the grants, students should calculate how much left they would have to pay or if it covers it all. If the out of pocket money is affordable then there should not be a need to pull out a loan. Getting grants would benefit in helping paying of for the tuition, the amount given is split into two which would be for the fall and spring semester. However, if you apply for FAFSA for one semester for the year the money given would be for that one semester.

The researchers, Rong Chen and Stephan L. DesJardins, in "Investigating the Impact of Financial Aid on Student Dropout Risks: Racial and Ethnic Differences" there is more to college dropouts within the financial aid conflicts. According to the research, the race and ethnicity of a student contribute to student's reason of dropping out. Comparing families of Hispanic, African American, and Asians mainly, it shows that between these three that having a different background effects the amount of money received and the ones that have a higher rate of leaving school. Students that still need aid for their tuition would usually try to go into work study, which lets the student work for the school and the money would straight towards their semester tuition. That is one way to pay off tuition but of course pulling out a loan is always an option besides paying out of pocket.