Supply_and_Demand

Supply and Demand for Colleges March 27, 2011 Supply and Demand for Colleges When I decided to go back to college, I never thought at 48, I would be enrolling in a college again. After the housing industry collapse the mortgage lenders, I was laid off from a good paying job as a Loan Manager. I spent many years in the nursing field, and became bored with that carrier, so I became a Loan Officer, and promoted to a Loan Manager. I once again find myself with a carrier change. Not knowing what I want to adventure into, I decided to start looking at some colleges to see what I like to do with myself. I live on a small farm and have horses, but how could I make good money without having to go to work each day for hours and still not have the freedom I wanted. I turned on my lap top and started searching for colleges in my local area. There are so many of them to choose from. I picked out five colleges and researched, to discover what type of degrees each college was offering. After reviewing all the colleges there seem to be a higher demand for online colleges. With it already a frightening thought to return to college, how a student decides what type of college is best for them. Looking at online colleges vs. traditional college there seems to be a large tuition differences. With the high tuition at some traditional colleges it seems to be pushing demand for the lower tuition prices of online colleges. With many traditional colleges having higher tuition than the online colleges this seems to be an acceptable substitute (Mankiw, 2007). When President Obama, became president he encouraged Americans to go to college to further their education. With many countries and their high Tec skills, Americans are finding it hard to compete in a global world. The president encouraged Americans to go to college. This has pushed a high demand for an education from colleges. With many Americans returning back to college this has driven the price of tuition. When the heath care bill passed and signed into law, the new law also contained laws concerning federal grants and students loans within the bill. With this new law for grants and student loans, this has allowed many students to excel his or her education with federal funding. With students trying to come up with tuition and money for books and lab fees, the federal grants seems like a substitute for continuing a summer quarter (Mankiw, 2007) Using an online college, this complements with a computer or lap-top. Without a computer, online colleges could not exist. Many online students have jobs and families and cannot commit to a regular schedule of a traditional college. With the schedule of online classes students can do their class work 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The materials needed to start online colleges are a computer and the compliments are the internet, and software programs like Office. With the world in an uncertain time, and the world economies falling; this is driving the price of tuition. There are riots in England because of the tuition hikes that took place there. The elastic in that country was seen all over the world. In the United States there are growing concerns of the economy. The country is now in three wars, and a deficit of 14 trillion. This is weighing heavy on students and parents who try to save for college for their children. This leaves an uncertain future for college students. The fear is the tuition will hike, like England did, and the government will have to cut funding. With unemployment high in the United States, many students need a college education to further their employment or a change in their carrier. If the colleges hike tuition rates to an all-time high, this could cause price elasticity of demand to change quickly (Mankiw, 2007). Students here in the states would protest and rise up against the schools. In conclusion a college education is important at this time in this country. Americans must stay on top of the changing demand of the growing world. The future is uncertain with chaos around the world. Many Americans have gone back to college to better their lives. With this demand, is becoming difficult to find colleges available with open enrolment. The substitute for traditional college and online colleges are benefitting many students. Reference Mankiw, N. G. (2007). Principles of economics (4th ed.). Mason, OH: South- Western Cengage Learning