Subsidies for higher education: should or not?

By Andri Kurniawan Sutanto. Andri Kurniawan, 20, is a student at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, in Surabaya, Indonesia.

For many individual students preparing to graduate from high school, wondering whether or not they should pursue a higher education at a university or other learning institute is an issue that weighs heavily on their minds. It is a very difficult decision that depends on many different factors, such as the individual’s personal goals. Some students choose to go straight from high school directly into the workforce after graduating. Other students choose to go into the military after graduating from high school. While these are all different options, recent research indicates that higher education is extremely valuable.

Higher education can build new skills, enhance old ones and show prospective employers that students are able to put in the time to earn a degree. But the value of a degree varies – by the institution, the cost, the time and the subject. In addition to the high financial value of higher education, higher education also makes individuals much more intelligent than what they would be with just a high school education. The more intelligent an individual is, the better quality of life they are likely to have. This is true because those with higher intelligent quotients have higher problem solving abilities that correlate to better life qualities. While attending a higher education system offers many positives, it also offers certain negatives. One negative is the fact that higher education schools are often very expensive. Colleges are expensive, and it is hard for a lot of families to afford to pay for, however this is not a good reason for not attending. If one starts early enough, they can save money, look into financial aide opportunities, and apply for scholarship opportunities to help pay for their tuition. It has already been shown that the amount of money that college students will make after graduation is much higher than the amount of money those who do not attend will make, so if someone can make sacrifices in order to pay for college then when they have a career someday they will make it all back plus more.

Some people hold the opinion that university education should be available to all students, while others believe that higher education should be available only to good students. Most students that graduate from high schools find it difficult to enlist into colleges and universities due to low income from their families that cannot pay the required fees. Putting in mind the costs of the education of a student whose background is that of poverty, it becomes hectic for him to access the university education. Though there are financial aids granted by some governmental and non-governmental companies and cooperatives, they are not as significant as the education fees. However, students should never be discouraged because there are separate organizations and agencies that provide college grants to students for fees and related expenses.

Colleges should realize that though financial aid is awarded to students, not all students qualify to receive it. The financial aid is usually based on established guidelines and rules that an intended group of students gain access to apart from the poor. The aid though in provision also encounters matters of corruption and so the minority students do not find the opportunity to it. This kind of intervention on the financial aid that is allocated to the poor in the society leads to the poor remaining in poverty and so beggars. It is great significant to note that though the students are given financial aid by various boards still the colleges demand some cash from the poor parents. These have resulted to loss of morale of parents in educating their students to higher education since they cannot manage to pay the required amount.

Certainly, subsidies for higher education to poor students are important. However, we should also think about whether the student is able to be responsible for the education or not. Because it was feared that if the students already have received subsidies, but the results are disappointing, it would be a waste of money. For example, someone who got a scholarship in medical school, but the results of his performance deteriorated. It will harm the financial supporters, because it was hard-earned pay for college, but students who receive subsidies are not seriously in college. In addition, the amount of aid given by financial supporters to the funding of the student`s education is usually not enough compared to the amount of cash required. This has resulted to dropping out of students from colleges since they cannot manage to find the surplus amount required for their fees. The loan given to the students is usually of a given percentage and requires the student to add some in order to get access to education. Allocation of the money though is based on the student’s need though some people on the high rank have found it a way of earning themselves an extra coin and so molesting the lives of the poor students.

All students should qualify for the financial aid since it is meant for them. Some colleges have come up with rules and regulations pertaining to how the financial aid is allocated to students through some ways, which discourage some students from getting access to the aid. In some of these colleges students taking certain courses are given a higher financial aid compared to others who even end up getting as little as 10% of the total aid. This suppresses students more so the poor who cannot manage to pay themselves the required amount of fees causing panic on their future education. On the other hand, students should pay for their education in colleges because the loot they pay enables the institution to develop by for example upgrading facilities. Most of the fees paid by the students are used in construction of new learning environment that is much conducive for learning and tools and equipment required by the students for education. As financial aid supporters provide some aid, parents should find it also their responsibility to find the remaining amount to educate their children. To a large extent the college fees has been made affordable to most people by revising it and so parents should now be able to struggle a little to pay their children`s fees. These include the aid given to students through loans.

Paying for education in colleges makes the student be more responsible as the student is aware that he or she is using his own resources and so works harder. Comparably most college students spend most of their time in matters that are not connected with their studies and end up losing the opportunity they had and wasting the aid they had been given. When a student pays his own fees he even becomes more keen in his studies and he scores well in his studies. Though all the duty of parents is to pay fees to their children in colleges, it is important for the government to pay fees for all students. These will ensure training to all children to the colleges also equal access to education. Colleges should emphasize on liberal education on the students since it is important to inform the community as a whole and to avoid class divisions.

The conclusion is subsidies for students still run, but with a note that students must really be responsible for their education and improve their ability in order to make the financial supporter doesn’t feel disadvantaged. How to monitor it is to put limits up to 4 semesters. If till 4th semester he failed to maintain his academic ability, then the subsidies will be revoked and transferred to another student who is more competent and more in need. This is done to equalize education for all, so that everyone could feel the same opportunity to receive higher education. In addition, it can also be seen from the suitability majors chosen by the student with academic ability. This can be known through the written test. If the majors were selected not according to academic ability of the student, then the student does not receive subsidies for higher education. However, the student can follow another kind of skills training to support their shortcomings.

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