Who pays for Remedial Education?

Written by
Mike Robinson

In 1994-1995 taxpayers paid 51% of the cost of educating a full time student in a public institution (IHE, 2003) and 76% of cost of educating a community college student (Palmer,1996). Many taxpayers are extremely upset about their tax dollars going to pay for students to take remedial courses in community colleges, in order to improve their basic skills, which should have mastered during K-12. While taxpayers are double paying, students and their families are paying a hefty price for remedial education as well. As many institutions are experiencing an increase in expenditures and a decrease in revenues, when this occurs the cost is passed on to the student in tuition and fees, (IHE, 1999). Tuition for public universities average $3,321 per year, while public colleges averaged $2,778 and public two-year colleges tuition averaged $1,735 (The College Board, 2002).