Dear Mr/Mrs President,

College, What does a higher education mean to you Mr/Mrs President?

For me, I believe a higher education means a better way of living, a white picket fence house, a great job and success. But college is getting increasingly harder to attend. Why, Because college tuition is skyrocketing!

 I am looking to attend Ever Green University in Olympia Washington but it cost $21,735 to attend from out of state.However i am not applicable for any scholarships will not be able to get to college without going into debt. This is because, according to US News, “ Out-of-state tuition and fees at public universities rose 226 percent since 1995”, thats insane! CNN reported that “there were 812,069 fewer students walking around college campuses.” That would mean that college is becoming near unattainable at least by the lower class.

Now I understand that college’s use the money from enrollments to renovate the campus and update software for certain programs s. For example: beakers for Science classes or Basketballs for the school team. But that's not what the majority of it goes to. 

The majority of the money goes to JUST extra things that aren't exactly needed. Not to throw UNR (University of Nevada Reno) under the bus but they are as of the date I am typing this letter to you building a three story gym on the campus! They felt with the “Leftover money” they can give something to the students that would help them “save money”. This is a quote from the UNR website. “ $47.5 Million, funded by UNR, student fees, and slot tax funds ($4.7 Million)”. I understand that this could help the athletes but they don't need it! What they need is to use that money to fix things around the campus or maybe build more parking for their students and staff!

I personally feel if anything that the tuition should be dropped by A LOT. I’m not sure how much to drop it by because the amount needed varies by household but the tuition cost is way too high and needs to be dropped. This would allow American citizens like myself to not have to worry as bad about if I will be able to attend college at all or if I will have to take a minimum wage job and stay in an apartment for the rest of my life.

Maybe upping taxes on something else that people buy like furniture or alcohol rather than something people in this time and age NEED will help resolve this issue.

Thank you for Reading this letter.

Mason Cody.

Bibliography

US News “Chart: See 20 Years of Tuition Growth at National Universities” July,29th 2015

CNN “College enrollment is dropping. Bad sign?” Heather Long. May 20th 2016

Evergreen College website. “Tuition”

UNR Webpage: Facilities Services- E.L Wiegand Fitness Center.