Oct. 6, 2015

College is extremely expensive in this day and age, as opposed to years back. Growing up, I was always told that “education is the key to your future,” and I believe that wholeheartedly, but I am very disappointed in our nation because of how high tuition is. Higher education is said to be a necessity, but it is priced as if it is a luxury. In recent years, the cost of college has risen at high rates.

As stated before, college is important to people because it allows a person to soar much further as opposed to just stopping at a high school diploma. I read an article written for Forbes magazine, and in the article it stated that a person who will not graduate from high school will earn $23,452 less than the U.S. average wage which is $41,444 per year. The article then went on to say that someone who will graduate from a four-year college or university will earn on average $55,000 per year. It is evident that education plays a huge role in whether or not people will live comfortably working the job they are in and making the wage they are paid.

Education is important for multiple reasons. One, because it allows you a chance to learn things you may have never known about, or be exposed to something you never could have imagined yourself doing. Second, because it allows you to better yourself so you can become the person you always wanted to be. For the poor, education is truly the key to their future.They can go on to be something great, but all they need is a chance. I hear people say all the time, how they wish they could come to college and do a lot of different things, but because of financial reasons, they couldn’t come. Now, they are making the bare minimum to support themselves.

As a college student, I find the current rise in college tuition absolutely ridiculous. I have friends who were in school at one point who have had to sit out a semester because they cannot afford tuition. Honestly, that’s a hard pill to swallow, because you want to achieve all the goals you’ve made for yourself and you can’t because college is too expensive. Your only option is to either not go or take out private loans through banks or credit unions, who tack on a huge interest rate. The problem is that higher education is too expensive. This deters people from wanting to pursue their bachelors. No one wants to be in a boat load of debt when they graduate. Either way, I feel as though it’s a lose-lose situation to a certain extent because on one hand, if you don’t go to college you’re stuck in a field not making as much money as you could have made if you’d chosen school. And on the other hand, if you do pursue school, with the help of student loans and/or private loans, not mentioning scholarships and grants, you’ll be in a huge amount of debt that you may end up paying back for a really long time. College is a great way for people to better themselves and do the things they always said they would do, and that shouldn’t be taken away because of the inflation in college tuition and student loans.

Deja Hoskin

Political Science BS