As a College Student

As a college student, in Louisiana, I believe that I am faced with many trials and tribulations when it comes to the college educational system.   When it comes to politics, concerning education, there are many factors that affect me as a college student.  My topic of discussion will be about the rise in tuition and university funding from federal, state, and local stand point.  

According to Inside Higher ED, the federal government fund more to public higher education than state does.  Federal and state is primarily considered two different things or has different missions.  Federal has a positive affect for some people and for others it has a negative effect.  One positive that it may have is, it offers an award in the form of a Pell-Grant, but it is only for certain students with low income, and students who has a parent or parents, with low income. The negative side of federal grants is that it can drive up tuition costs, encourages bloat and inefficiency, and has become an unfair load on people who pay taxes.

Normally the state government would provide a greater amount of assistance to postsecondary education, but in recent years, overtime, those numbers has decreased drastically.  When comes to state government they try and make budget cuts within the educational system, such as:  cut faculty positions, eliminated courses offerings, closed campuses, shut down computer labs, and reduced library serves, and many other cuts may apply.  All these cuts play a part in diminishing the quality of higher education for college students.  Recently, the state of Louisiana has experienced many budget cuts within the education.  One major cut that was taken place this year 2016, was TOPS (Taylor Opportunity Program for Students).  This program is given to students that has scored well on the ACT, but now students have to work even harder in high school to receive this than ever before because of the budget cuts.  

Local government usually mirrors or copies the order of the federal government.  The local primarily overcharge college students.  They tend to add fees and charges to the accounts of college students, resulting in increase of students bill.