Dear Mr/s. President,

As a young student planning to attend a top college or university, I have some major concerns. Lately, I’ve been witnessing a lot through the news that debt is a major issue in our country. A big part of the issue is student debt. It’s absolutely unbelievable how much debt current and former students and graduates are swimming through. I strongly urge you to focus on student debt and help out those who are struggling in it.

According to Student Loan Hero (a website to assist those who are deeply struggling in debt), Americans owe nearly $1.3 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 43 million borrowers. It’s unbelievable how large the debt is and how unnoticed it is to many. This form of debt is second to mortgage (according to lendedu.com). The cost of education has increased by 500% since 1985, where the cost of a 10,000 USD education before is now worth 50,000 USD. To have an associate’s degree, it’s expected to cost you 25,00 to 33,000 USD.

For a first world country to be known as the land of hopes and opportunities, it’s laughable how expensive education is. Many jobs require at least a high school diploma and something as basic as an AA degree. It shouldn’t be so expensive to have something as necessary as education, especially when other countries have a way lower cost of education, and even some countries like Germany and Greece have higher education offered publicly and funded by the public and government.

I strongly believe that we shouldn’t penalize those in debt and we should lower the cost of education. It isn’t right to be treating education as a luxury in a country so advanced and developed.  We basically become a hypocrites. I do hope we see this change in the near future and have the student debts lowered so our opportunities in the workforce and careers are brighter and stronger.

Sincerely,

Vanessa M

High School student