Effects of the Steady Rise in College Costs
Kristin Hunter
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
Effects of the Steady Rise in College Costs
College is not that far away for high school students. Very soon those students who plan to go to college will begin to think about what college they want to go to, and how going to college will affect the rest of their lives. There are many effects of college costs. Rising costs is the cause for students to put a hold on their dreams that they want to achieve in their life. Six effects of rising college costs are: graduates delaying marriage, graduates having fewer children, falling college completion rates, fewer low-income students deciding not to go to college, graduates being unable to afford to buy a home, and more young graduates work out of their majors.
The first effect of college cost is that graduates are delaying marriage until they are able to get their finances in order (Hayward, 2011). Fourteen percent of young graduates are putting off marriage due to the debt they acquired during their college career (Hayward, 2011). Between 1980 and 2000 marriage among young adult of 25 years of age and 44 years has declined by fifteen percent (Cole, 2013). Weddings are so costly in fact, that many college graduates are delaying having one until they are older and more financially stable. Playing a role in this choice to wait until they are out of college debt (Cole, 2013). Debt means weddings have to wait until they are paid down and money can be saved.
The second effect of college costs is that as the students graduate and marry, they are having fewer children. After a recent study had been completed, it was found that twenty percent of college graduates postpone having children thanks to the college debt they amassed these graduates wait to add children to their families until they have their college debt into a manageable expense (Hayward, 2011). After completing their education, graduates have their first...