Dear future President,

We don’t live in a perfect world. As a nation, we have grown to face many issues, but have overcome them. However, there is a huge issue that many Americans are facing today: the cost of college tuition.

Growing up as a child, the expected life was to graduate high school, go to college, get a job, have a family. However, many students have to skip out on the college part. Why? Because college is so expensive that hardly anyone can afford it. In Michigan, the cost of college tuition for one year is around $14,000. That’s just the cost of tuition! Along with that, students have to pay for books and dorm and food and toiletry and supplies. This list could go on forever! The point is college students are paying a large amount of money on something that shouldn’t be so expensive.

College tuition rates need to go down. Each year, colleges are raising the cost of tuition by an average of 2.9%. Instead of increasing, tuition rates need to decrease. Universities are using the money from tuition to pay for sports arenas, conduct more research, and pay faculty. However, colleges need to ask themselves what they actually need the money for. Is it really necessary to build a new football field when there’s already a good one in use? There should be a limit on how high universities can raise their tuition to pay for things like this. They should also restrain from spending money on things they don't really need...like a brand new football field.

Everyone has a dream. My dream job is to become a doctor. I have no choice but to go to college in order to become a doctor. What if I can’t afford college? Yes, I can take out student loans, but then I have the risk of going into debt and not being able to pay back the loan. So what do I do? I can either go to college and have the risk of going into debt, or I can find a different career that I don’t particularly want to partake in that may not pay my bills. This problem is facing many Americans today. High school graduates aren’t going to college and are unable to study the career they want to go into because of the fear of student loans and debt. According to statistics, Americans owe nearly $1.3 trillion in student loan debt. This is not fair. It’s not fair that your whole future is determined by how much money you and your parents have. It’s not fair for those 4.0 students who don’t go to college because they can’t pay for it. While on the other hand, students with a 2.5 GPA are going to college because they have the money to pay for it. What’s really not fair, is the interest rates on student loans. People take out student loans because they don't have the money to pay for college at the time. However, instead of paying additional money on interest, people should only have to pay back the money that they borrowed.

Debt is a huge fear for students. High school graduates believe that the thought of student debt outweighs the idea of even starting college. Despite that, after college, many students are forced to move back home with their parents due to debt. As a result of interest rates, student loans are almost impossible to payback and take a very long time. To many, this raises a question: “Is college even worth it?” This shouldn’t be a question that students are willing to ask themselves. If you want to go to college, then you should go.

College tuition cost is a problem that needs to be addressed. The cost of going to college isn’t even reasonable anymore. I understand that right now it may be impossible for you to lower the cost of tuition, but in the meantime, eliminating the interest rates on loans would be a huge help to students, parents, and graduates. Please take this into consideration.

Sincerely,

Julia Fisher