Aaron P. Michigan

College Tuition

Lowering college tuition

Dear Next President,

     In my letter to the next President, I would like to address a major issue in today’s society; college tuition. From when I was young, I always thought that if you want to succeed in life you are going to have to get a college degree. Another reason why I want to talk about this topic is because more and more people are dropping out of college every year, the facts state that the people who go to college make $500,000.000 more than people who don’t go to college and have a high school diploma over time. Within a year I will be attending college, and I sure would like to have someone in office with the schools and get better financial aid for us students who actually want to have a bright future ahead of them.

     One reason why college tuition needs to be lowered for students is so more people will go to college. Some student’s just needs the insensitive to go to college to be successful, yeah sometimes when I feel like giving up I can remember that the payoff is a lot better in the long run. Another point I would like to make is that now a days many of the jobs in the U.S., you have to have a college degree if you want to work at a business that requires actual skills/work. A number of colleges are starting by lowering tuition, which is a lot different than normal, but they know that it's wrong to charge so much money for just little school. Tuition pricing is something of an art and a science, with most undergraduate programs publishing a “sticker price,” and then offering discounts or scholarships to reduce that amount.

     Did you know that the average tuition discount in the U.S. for undergraduate programs last year was about 40 percent, and research indicates that students and parents perceive greater value when institutions publish a higher tuition rate? Some schools have also tried to publish a lower, “sticker price” tuition and not offer any discounts, but these efforts, for the most part, have failed to attract more students. Study shows that the people who go to college are a lot more successful than the people who don’t go to college. One of the many studies show that a bachelor’s degree can earn nearly 2 million dollars, associate’s degrees nearly 1.5 million dollars, and high school diplomas nearly 1.2 million dollars during their careers. Even though it is tough to attend college because of money people who attend a public college cost about 15,000.00 per year including books, food, tuition, and anything else you might need. A cheaper collage to go to is a community college it cost 2,300.00 on average for tuition annually.

     Now when you look on the other side of the question, and ask why college isn’t so good, this is what I came up with and concluded. According to a 2012 Federal Reserve Study, 30-year-olds who have never taken out a student loan are now more likely to own homes than those who have taken out loans. Auto loans are also trending down at faster rates for those with student debt history than for those without. In 2013, student loan borrowers delayed retirement saving (41%), car purchases (40%), home purchases (29%), and marriage (15%). Less than 50% of women and 30% of men had passed the "transition to adulthood" milestones by age 30 (finishing school, moving out of their parents' homes, being financially independent, marrying, and having children); in 1960, 77% of women and 65% of men had completed these milestones by age 30.

     With higher education I think that this country will have a lot more success and we will be a lot smarter with the money we spend. High education and lowering college cost would be great for the people who are struggling with the extra money and it will help the families in need, and the families who don’t have the money to pay for college. The economy in the U.S. will be very different, as we will try to use our country to create more jobs instead of China and we will produce more work and with that we will have more countries buying from the U.S. instead of buying from them. Another benefit with high education and less college tuition is the generations to come will have a better society and economy instead of dept., they can work hard and be successful. 

Sincerely, 

Aaron