The question “Are you going to college?” rings through many students’ heads as the rise of attendance in Tech-Center courses leaves students confused about which path to take as the price of college tuition rises.
Alana Hartman-Hall, School counselor and Dean of Students at Clover Hill High School, believes that the rise of college tuition can lead to more students taking out student loans.
“Unfortunately, it means that kids are probably going to have to take out more student loans. Which are difficult to pay off. I’m 42, I just finished paying off a year ago,” Hall said, “I would recommend kids starting at a community college to get those first two years out of the way, because it’s a lot cheaper and then applying for any scholarship that you remotely qualify for.”
Gail Kline, AP Language Art Teacher at Clover Hill High school, announced that the rising cost of colleges can affect students into leaning into other career paths.
“That’s the number of students who may opt out of going to a traditional four year- college and trying to get more credits during high school “, Kline said. Kline suggests that taking AP, advance placement, can affect the cost of college, even if some universities will take certain AP credits.
“If you know, they can do well on the AP exam. Then they can use it to take the place of some classes, but some universities won’t take it. Then dual enrollment, of course, you know, most community colleges in Virginia will take that dual enrollment,” Kline said. Hall thinks that AP or DE courses can lower the cost of college classes by accumulating college credit while in high school.
“You’re really getting a significant break by taking AP classes. Same thing with Dual enrollment.. Three credits per class and getting an out of discounted rate. It’s very beneficial,” Hall said. Kline believes that students less interested in school should invest in going down the Technical school route as the people do not always need a higher education.
“I believe that, you know, we need plumbers. We need electricians. We need people who do that sort of work because we have to have those things done. ‘Let’s all just go to college and be engineers’. Not everybody needs to be an engineer, and we don’t need those engineers, we need skill workers,” Kline said. Hall also suggests that students less interested in school should go down the tech center or trade school route, as the cost of schools are very beneficial.
“You go to a tech Center for two years, and you come out with a certification. The amount of money that you can save because you do it through the county and the county pace, it is extremely beneficial,” Hall said. Kline thinks that the death of College culture will take away the “fun” of college as many students do not take clubs or sports for the increase of cost.
“I think prices are going to increase and students are going to have to make that choice. I’ve seen students who go in with the mindset that ‘I’m just going to get my credits out of the way. I’m not doing anything extra, because extra always costs more money’,” Kline said. Hall claims that people will always want to go to college and predicts that colleges are going to have to offer more financial aid, and advises students to be careful about the amount of money they give you.
“There’s gonna be people that are always going to want to go to college. Colleges are going to have to offer more financial aid. Just be careful how much money you borrow. Don’t take the max amount of money they give you,” Hall said.
As the cost of college rises, it leaves room for more opportunities and routes for people. As some would use AP or DE credit to lower the cost for their own personal college or simply going to a trade/tech school or center. It all depends on the students preferences for school.
