FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Here's something that will scare you out of a vacation if you've got kids in high school or junior high school: During the past 20 years, tuition and fees at public universities have jumped nearly 130%, and they're going up some more - again. With states facing budget crunches like never before, some state colleges and universities are being forced to raise tuition and fees even higher.
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According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, 25 governors have proposed slashing college funding in their states. That would total $5 billion in potential cuts nationwide. And these cuts in funding are forcing colleges in some states to boost tuition by more than 20%.
In Arizona, for example, the legislature voted to slash higher education funding by $198 million in fiscal year 2012. As a result, tuition will jump 22% at the University of Arizona, more than 19% at Arizona State University and 15% at Northern Arizona University. Incoming freshmen at the University of Arizona this fall will pay more than $10,000 a year, almost double what freshmen in 2008 paid.
Public colleges and universities in California, Pennsylvania, Washington and New Hampshire are also being forced to raise tuition because of state budget issues. And schools in Florida and Tennessee are also raising tuition as federal stimulus dollars have dried up.
And considering the median income for middle-class Americans is actually $400 less than it was 20 years ago, more and more young people and their parents are digging themselves a deeper hole just so they have a better shot in a dismal job market.
Here’s my question to you: Is the cost of higher education becoming prohibitive?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
K.:
It is so long as we have an expectation of receiving a degree in four years. Many students, young and not so young, have worked their way through college over a period of many years. Although I would love to see tuition at a more reasonable level, higher education is still attainable to those who pursue their dreams with dogged determination.
Olga in Austin, Texas:
In the early 60s, I was enrolled at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas and my tuition was $500.00 a semester. The cost of education has gone up because most universities are administratively top heavy and they need to address this issue before they address anything else.
Tom in Desoto, Texas:
It seems that way. You're either a Wall Streeter, a banker or handing out food orders though drive-up windows.
Pete in Georgia:
I love that term "higher education." Talk about a misnomer! We've been duped into thinking by paying obscene fees and tuitions that somehow these overrated and over-funded universities turn out intelligence. Based on the accelerated rate of the dumbing of America over the past 30 years, it's impossible to deny what a scam is being perpetrated. The cost is not only prohibitive, it's immoral.
Roger in Albion, Pennsylvania:
It's still cheaper than the high cost of not being educated.
Carla in Birmingham, Alabama:
The cost of higher education has always been prohibitive, but people have managed to attend college and get their degrees. There is already too much ignorance, irrationality, and poor judgment on this planet. We need all the educated citizens with level heads that we can get.
Dave:
Sure, it costs a lot more, but honestly, it's worth $100,000 to get my kid a degree, from a simple competitive standpoint. What's $100,000 over 40 years or so? $1,400 per year? I imagine his/her degree will earn him/her more than that per year. Assuming he works for 40 years. Or at least I hope so.
Rich in Texas:
Oh come on, Jack. Even you know one of the largest job employers last year in America was McDonalds, the other Wal-Mart. It does not take a college degree to get promoted to fries or yell, "Clean up on aisle 12." For the jobs that are available in America, college is not a requirement.