Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Economics

Advisor/Mentor

Farmer, Amy

Abstract

During the 2020 presidential election, Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden announced his initiative to make higher education free for any individual whose parents earn less than $125,000. This proposal was inspired by progressive representatives, such as Bernie Sanders, who have made a larger issue of American higher education costs (Berger). Although this initiative garnered little focus during the election – Biden has not addressed it since being elected and the proposal was even removed from his campaign website – his endorsement shows just how much the notion of “free” college has grown amongst Americans in recent years. This growing sentiment can be attributed to the increase in tuition costs over previous decades. When adjusted for inflation, public universities in America have risen around 4.2% in total cost (Berg). This is not a considerably large number when adjusted for inflation, but the heavy emphasis on student loans combined with the struggle many graduates face in paying them off has led to more scrutiny directed at the structure of post-secondary education.

Keywords

Higher education; post-secondary education accessibility; tuition cost; financial cost; political/social ideology

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