by Marie Herb 

Higher Education Politics are a hairy place to be right now. From all ends of the spectrum people are struggling. High school students applying to college are struggling trying to find ways to pay for college, College students are struggling to pay back part of their loans, and graduates of college are struggling to find ways to pay back their debt from student loans. All of these problems go back to money and the question of “Is College really worth the cost?” Every year, tuition increases for students, and it becomes more and more difficult to pay back that debt. As President Obama proposed in August, creating a ranking system and linking it to financial aid could be a solution to this problem. While Reiss argues that the government should stay away from a ranking system, which is already provided by companies like the College Board, he does not propose any alternative’s to the president’s plan. While the president’s plan to reform higher education may be flawed, at least it is a start onto some form of reform. Higher education cannot continue in the same path it has, it is time for a change – maybe not something as immediately profound as President Obama’s plan, but higher education in the United States needs to change if we want to continue to grow as a nation.