A Broken Promise
Higher education was built on the premise that effort should determine outcome. Yet rising costs have replaced meritocracy with a marketplace. The moral question, then, is no longer Can students work hard enough? but Why must they pay this much to prove they’re worthy?
As tuition becomes a gatekeeper, America risks converting its universities into fortresses of privilege. Even as campuses diversify, financial inequity undermines that progress. The result: a system that teaches civic ideals by day and economic inequality by night.
A Wider Lens: Lessons from the Caribbean
The same storm clouds hover beyond U.S. borders. In The Bahamas, public tertiary institutions struggle to balance access with sustainability. A year at the University of The Bahamas may cost far less than a U.S. degree, but for many families, even $4,000 a year is daunting when wages lag behind living costs. Scholarships are limited, and part-time jobs scarce.
In Jamaica, the University of the West Indies faces similar dilemmas: tuition inflation, heavy student loan dependence, and mounting dropout rates among rural students. Whether in Kingston or Nassau, the pattern repeats—young talent sidelined by cost.
This parallel reminds us that affordability is not just an economic policy—it’s a moral one. When access to knowledge becomes contingent on wealth, society forfeits its most valuable resource: the educated citizen.
