To the next president of the United States,

As a soon to be college student I would like to express my concern over student loan debt. It is no secret that the price of college tuition is ballooning into a debt sentence for young citizens who wish to continue their education past high school. This not only affects the unfortunate young students, but it also affects the economy. According to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) found that in 2013, the average debt owed by graduating college students is 28,400 dollars. That amount of money can take upwards of ten years to pay off. This means that instead of putting money back into the economy by investing in the stock market or just spending money in general, they have to scrape money for ten years to attempt to pay for an immense amount of debt. That's not the only way college tuition affects the economy negatively, but it also deters people from wanting to go to college. These people who don't go to college, make significantly less than those who do go to college, meaning once again, less money is circulating through the economy. So, not only to better our nation intellectually, but also economically, you should make college tuition free.

Not only that, but the government is turning student loans into a much more costly business than any other type of loan. According to Leon Botstein “... the federal government has set interest rates on student loans at twice the current market rate of other types of loans.” Most young people are angry over the price of student loans, and learning that the federal government is behind them being so expensive only makes us like you guys even less. Now, a lot of voters are college aged, and I am sure a lot of those people are in or are going to be in some serious debt due to your guy's’ student loan interest rate. I dunno about other voters, but I assume that they are like me and would be much more likely to vote for you if your platform included something with free college.

Now, an argument against free college tuition is that it would be taken advantage of. That people who don't need it would use it. However, that is false. Hillary has a plan. Anya Kamenetz, “It will guarantee that the children of any family in this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less -83 percent of our population- will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free.” This means that only the majority of our country who needs free tuition would be able to use this. Not rich families who could pay for their college. Also, this would only affect public colleges. Not the elite Ivy League colleges like Yale and Harvard. Overall, free college tuition is an achievable goal, and one that has been carefully planned out and will be beneficial to the country economically, and intellectually. So I urge you Mr. Or Mrs. Soon-To-Be-President of the United States, make it part of your platform and make it happen, not only will you get more votes, but you’ll also help better our country.

Sincerely,

Michael Nowland