Dear Future President,

I have noticed that alot of people complain about our country’s economy, yet they offer no solutions and so I would like to address one specific subject that could help our economy. Lowering college tuition could really help America’s economy. Think about this for a second college tuition is really expensive and most people can’t afford to go to college without a scholarship or grant, most people who do get scholarships and grants still end up having to take out student loans. Without college education people aren’t able to get most high paying jobs, and when they can’t get high paying jobs they don’t have alot of money to buy things. If no one is buying anything then there is no money going back into the economy, and that means that the economy is suffering.

The average tuition at American colleges and universities rose every year throughout the decade of the 1980s, at a rate much higher than the general rate of inflation in the economy. The article Why college Tuition costs so much explains, “In academic year 1976-77, the average tuition at private four-year colleges was less than 17% of median family income but, by academic year 1987-88, their tuition was more than 22% of median family income. By academic year 1990-91, there were 255 private colleges where tuition alone was $10,000 per year or more.” Costs are rising so quickly that it’s almost impossible to pay for college unless your family is rich. The tuitions are going up this quickly to pay for the extra “costs,” which I researched and found out are just the colleges buying more expensive books, tutors, lecturer’s, etc.

Speaking of research the more I look into college tuition costs, the more I learn about how it is controlled. I recently found out that the government is actually threatening the presidents of private college with prison time if they lower tuition. According to the American Enterprise Institution, “Most people think that college tuition is too high, and many presidents of private colleges agree with that sentiment and would like to cut their tuition. However, they cannot legally do so. By law, such a move would constitute price fixing, even though a conspiracy to reduce prices would be a boon for customers.” There is no good reason why private colleges shouldn’t control their own tuition, and they should be free to help others if they want to. In the end the colleges only get to keep a small percentage of the money considering the fact that most of the money is put into the governments pocket.

I could understand the government taking the money to put into scholarships to help people through college, but they don’t put that money into scholarships, instead it’s used to fund Bureacratic expansion. Not enough money is invested by the government into scholarships. Most scholarships come from the college itself, or from other companies. The article How aid is calculated explains that, “The government only funds a little over 240 scholarships,” Now considering how many people live in the United States just over 240 scholarships is nowhere near enough scholarships. The government needs to stop wasting money on useless little things and focus more on funding scholarships.

So I think that I have made my point pretty clear, To solve the bigger problems like our economy, you first have to solve the smaller Issues like college tuition. Now you know that college tuition is a big factor in our economy, and there are some very simple ways to fix it. My question is, are you going to be the one who finally lowers tuitions?

Sincerely,

Donaven Walsh