Dear President,

The affordability of college tuition always seems to be a problem every year with no action being done to resolve it. Each year, the average tuition steadily increases which, in turn, encourages lower income students to seek financial aid to be able to afford this tuition. Also, decreasing the chances of these lower income students to attend college after high school graduation.

According to the College Board, the average tuition per year for a state resident at a public college is $9,410 excluding room and board and all other fees. It also states that from the years 2001-11, four-year colleges and universities increased their tuition cost at an average of 5.6% per year. This causes students who come from lower income parents to apply for financial aid early on in their college years. Not to mention that these students will eventually spend several more years paying those loans off after college. The College Board also states that ⅔ of full-time undergraduate college students have to receive some sort of financial aid. Students shouldn’t have to apply for more financial aid than the amount they can actually afford. With the cost of tuition and all other fees and expenses such as room and board and groceries (if student is not on meal plan), brings a whole lot of stress on not only the student but the parents as well. College is supposed to be the first step for a student as a young adult to live life on their own. But not all students get to experience that as they are often having to fall back on their parents for money more than they actually should.

In a recent Washington Post article, the author states that financial aid providers are working to attract the wealthier students so that the schools can attain the most “qualified students” and improve their test scores. Which shows that the lower income students who actually need the financial aid aren’t receiving fair opportunities to get the financial aid. I believe that this unfair consideration somewhat punishes the less fortunate students because they are unable to afford tuition as it is steadily increasing and are also not being given the same opportunities to receive financial aid as the higher income students. This will eventually decrease the chances of success later in life for the lower income students.

To conclude, college tuition should be lowered so that students are able to experience living life on their own as a young adult. This will also be a factor in decreasing the number of students who would have to seek financial aid early on in college. Lowering the tuition will allow students to be able to depend on themselves a lot more than they would their parents.

Your high school senior,

Cate Williams

"Explaining Financial Aid." – College Guidance. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

Melia, Michael. "Colleges Lavishing More Financial Aid for Wealthy Students."The Washington Post 27 Sept. 2016: n. pag. Web. 29 Sept. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-education/colleges-lavishing-more-financial-aid-on-wealthy-students/2016/09/27/0ceeb78c-84c2-11e6-b57d-dd49277af02f_story.html>.