How do higher education costs affect minorities in the USA?

In this blog, we will show the effect of higher education costs on minorities in the United States of America. Although every country has its own education costing system, similarly every country has its policies. In the USA, natives are affected by education costs, but the significant effect is on minorities. They have different policies regarding minorities in their education system. In the USA university graduates have been struggling as the cost of higher education is rising continuously. Let’s discuss this topic in detail.

EDUCATION COSTS SYSTEM IN THE USA

In the USA higher education is an optional stage of formal learning, following the secondary stage. The stages of education in the USA are briefly described in our previous blogs. It is also called post-secondary education, third-stage, tertiary education, or third-level education. It covers stages 5 to 9 on the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011 scale. It is delivered as 4,360 Title IV degree-granting institutions, known as colleges or universities. These may be public or private universities, research universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or for-profit colleges. US higher education is loosely regulated by the government and by several third-party organizations.
As of 2019, the average cost of tuition and fees for US universities was 14,512 U.S. dollars excluding the average cost for room and board at universities. The average cost in 2019 of tuition was three times more than that in 2001. In the United States, access to higher education is indeed, a gateway to success and upward mobility. However, the rising costs of higher education have raised concerns about equitable access, especially among minorities there. Minorities including Black, Hispanic, and low income-students often face great difficulties when it comes to getting and affording higher education in the USA. Tuition fees and books costs along with living expenses that are rising over decades create a financial burden for the students and their families.

Effect on Minorities

Higher education costs in the United States have been a significant concern for many years, and the effect on minorities is notable. Here are some consequences of higher education costs:

⦁ LIMITATIONS:

⦁ Minorities face limitations in almost every aspect of their life whether they are in the United States or any other country, the biggest limitation that minorities are facing in the United States is the limited access to higher education because of its cost. Tuition fees, expenses of textbooks along with many other things make a financial burden on minority students and make it a way impossible to get reach higher education.
⦁ Many minority students successfully manage their college expenses and are often under the stone of student loans. This debt burden can have long-term financial effects. It makes it harder for individuals to pursue their chosen careers.

⦁ STRUGGLE:

⦁ Students drop out at a high rate as they work to balance their lives. They are working for financial issues, family responsibilities, doing work for dropping loans and managing their academics.
⦁ As many of the minority students and their families go into debt to fulfill their academic needs and many of the income resources go into the taxes and white counterparts. The chain of debt goes on from one generation to another and they face a lot of hardship regarding this chain.

⦁ LACK OF SELF-ESTEEM:

⦁ Many minority students often attend K-12 schools, which can leave them ill-prepared for college-level work. The result is that they cannot compete with the student having a more privileged background. Furthermore, it can reduce their chances of getting admission to selective good colleges and universities.
⦁ Minority students often face challenges related to representation. They feel shy to introduce themselves. To a large extent, white institutions may not provide the same support and representation to minority students. Which may lead to isolation and a lack of self-esteem and communication.

POINTS TO PONDER

We all are informed that “every problem has a solution”. To this critical issue, we also have some solutions. Every country has some policies for their citizens whether they are in majority or in minority, white or black. Some of the solutions through which minority students can get higher education are mentioned below:

⦁ Educators Credit Union.
⦁ Board of Education.

⦁ Early Childhood Education.
Let's take a closer look at each of these and how they can help to reduce the effect of higher education costs on minorities and the educators' community.

EDUCATORS CREDIT UNION

What is “Educators Credit Union”? “Educators Credit Union” was founded in 1937 by teachers, and today Educators members are students, teachers, government workers, health care employees, small business owners, and many other community members. Their establishment goal was that every member could borrow and save money at fair and reasonable interest rates to fulfill their financial needs and goals.

Educational Credit Union plays a significant role in providing financial support to students. Particularly minority students. Credit unions like “Educational Credit Union ease the strain on students and their families for higher education. Some of the programs are mentioned below:

They give savings of money on affordable interest rates.

They provide loans of many kinds, including personal loans, auto loans, and even particular loans for students. These loans could have favorable terms and rates for educators and their families.

Some credit unions, part of this community offer scholarships and grants to students pursuing higher education or professional development.

The educators credit union provides its member with online banking so they can easily manage their finances remotely.

Educators credit union supports many local schools, educational initiatives, and community events.

Board of Education

The Board of Education is an entity that shapes the policies given by the Department of Education of the USA. It manages the public education policies within a specific place such as a school, district, city, country, or state. The board of Education plays a significant role in shaping educational policies and making decisions on educational curriculums, funding, and other aspects of the education system. These things can have a direct impact on minority students and their families in terms of higher education costs. The actions and policies of the Board of Education impacting minorities regarding higher education costs are given below:

It is the responsibility of the board of education to do funding for schools. In exceptional cases, schools based in minority communities perhaps get less funding compared to schools of majority communities. This lack of funding may lead to insufficient resources, outworn facilities, and limited access to advanced courses for, minority students. As a result, minority students may lack the competitive advantage necessarily needed to get scholarships for prestigious universities, automatically increasing the financial burden of higher education costs.

The Board of Education’s decision regarding programs in colleges, including college counseling, can impact the chances of minority students pursuing higher education. A lack of these supporting programs can result in missed scholarship opportunities and the financial burden of higher education costs.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

How can an excellent early childhood education impact higher education costs? Let’s discover the uncharted advantages of good early childhood education.
Investing in early childhood education is a pre-step to getting advantages in higher education. Quality early childhood education plays a pivotal role in shaping the academic side of minority students in higher education.

Early childhood education provides a stronger foundation for cognitive, social, and emotional development. A person with quality early childhood education can perform better in academics and get better higher educational chances which reduce the pressure for the financial burden of higher education costs.

When minority students get good early childhood education, they are more likely to perform well in academics. Then there will be no room for extra remedial measures to get higher education which automatically lowers higher education costs.

With a solid early childhood education, students can increase their graduation rate. It reduces the higher education costs of repeating programs.

Conclusion

Higher education costs issue for minority students in the USA is a critical one, for minorities as well as society. There are communities like Education Credit Union and Board of Education, that are for students' help and minority students can get a big hand of help from them for reducing their higher education costs. There are many more alternatives for reducing the higher education costs for minorities, and early childhood education is at the top of them.

From these initiatives, students can get good equable education.