Is Higher Education a Public Good?

A public good is something that must be provided in the same amount to all consumers if it is provided at all. No-one can be prevented from consuming the good once it’s provided. Non-rival: the amount used does not reduce the amount available for someone else. Non-optional: no-one can reject the good.

Not everyone is able to get a college education. Not everyone can pass college to get a degree. Anyone can choose not to go college. Then how is higher education a public good?

Higher education is public good in the sense by which the actions done by the people who have a higher education affect everyone in some way or another. What a person chooses to do with their college education is up to them and cannot be rejected by society. The human capital theory states that "that HE contributes by adding to the potential productivity of graduate employees." Therefore, because of the possible productivity, society cannot reject, make less of, and/or avoid it.

Works Cited

• Baum, Sandy, and Michael McPherson. "Post Navigation." Innovations Is Education a Public Good or a Private Good Comments. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.
• Rospigliosi, Asher Pericles, Sue Greener, Tom Bourner, and Maura Sheehan. "Human Capital or Signalling, Unpacking the Graduate Premium." Flipping the Script in Higher Education. ProQuest, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Supply and Demand of Higher Education

          Supply is the amount of a good sellers are willing to make and sell at a given price. Demand is the amount of a good buyers are willing to buy at a given price. In my previous blog and according to Satista.com, the demand for a higher education has risen because a college degree is an indication to someone else that you possess an ability not everyone has or can obtain. As stated in the LA Times, landing a job that leads to a middle-class living may be getting harder for the two-thirds of American workers who are not college graduates, as more employers demand bachelor’s degrees from applicants. The difficulty to get a job and demand to get a job are simultaneously increasing because the demand for a job that requires a college education is rising.

Works Cited:

Hsu, Tiffany. "More Employers Demand College Degrees, Study Finds." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.

Signaling the Value of a Higher Education

"Go to college to get a good job or you will be stuck _________ until you are a senior citizen," said every parent/adult figure.  

Ever since I was told little I was told to get a college education because with that I can get a job. At young age, I just accepted what my parents told me and did not question it. Now that I am older, I see the reason to attend college and the value of getting a degree. A college degree shows others that a person has an ability not everyone can do. Signaling is taking costly actions to convince you of the quality of my ability, product, or service might help to restore faith. Just going to college is a risk being done because not everyone can or wants to take that huge leap with the risk of failure.

"Signaling models were pioneered in Spence (1974). A paper looked at education as a signal, even if education adds nothing to a person’s ability, it might be able to signal a worker’s innate ability. Why? If it is much costlier for a low-ability person to get, say, a college degree (perhaps because they find it more difficult), then low-ability people would prefer not to imitate the high-ability even if it would get them a higher wage One issue with signals, though, is that they just reveal information rather than actually contributing to value directly: the signal is just a way to help reveal and sort abilities or qualities" (ECN 101: Principles of Economics).

Works Cited:

ECN 101: Principles of Economics Information Slide #13 

College enrollment in the US from 1965 to 2014 for public and private colleges (in millions)

              According to Statista.com, public higher education enrollment is greater than a private education. In America in the year of 1970 there were 6.43 million people who chose to attend a public higher education and 2.15 who chose to attend a private higher education. 46 years later, the numbers have increased dramatically. In 2016, public higher education is at 14.96 and private is now at a 5.55.

           There must be something in today's world that attracts people to a higher education.

Works Cited:

"U.S. College Enrollment Statistics 1965-2025 | Statista." Statista. Statista, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.