Dear Future President of the United States,                                                                   11/7/16

First off, I would like to congratulate you on being elected President! It is a considerable accomplishment, with a lot of responsibility, so good job. In this letter, I would like to contribute my opinion on a serious issue that you will face as President.

I want to write to you about the problem of the high cost of college tuition. I believe that the future President should be aware of the severity of this dilemma. My sister,a senior in high school, is applying to colleges right now, and the cost is a concern to my family, as it is too many other families. And once my sister completes college, I will be going to college as well, so my parents will have to pay for a total of eight years of college of tuition. This expense puts even more of a strain on larger families with more children, or on families with less income.

I would like to share some statistics that I have found relevant to this topic. I live just outside of Philadelphia, so I looked at some examples of college tuition from Pennsylvania. The least expensive option is attending a two-year community college; however, even at the Community College of Philadelphia, a year’s tuition is about $5,000. The middle option is attending a state college, such as Penn State. The tuition for a year at Penn State is about $30,000. Finally, a student can go to a private college such as the University of Pennsylvania, where the annual cost would be about $70,000.

All of these options are a lot of money, and I think that it should be a principal matter for you as President to reduce the cost of college tuition for everyone.

Going to college has many benefits, but it can also affect the rest of your life negatively. For many recent graduates, student loans can cost from $500 to $1,000 per month for ten years or more. When you have just graduated from college, this would mean that you would have to get a job immediately that would pay enough for you to cover your loans. For many recent graduates, this is exceedingly difficult or impossible. Defaulting on one’s student loans can lead to bad credit ratings, which makes it impossible to get credit for other important things in one’s life, such as buying a house or a car.

The more expensive colleges allow you to get a better jobs. Going to a less expensive college, even if you are smart, means that you will have fewer job interviews and you might have trouble finding a job in the future.

I think some solutions to this difficulty would be to provide more government funding to colleges and universities so that they do not have to charge as much tuition, or the government could put restrictions on the amount of tuition in excess of expenses that a college is allowed to charge. Some colleges use their tuition effectively and need the tuition to operate; however, other colleges have large endowments and don’t necessarily need so much extra tuition from the students. I also think putting in place a program that will educate people about how to pay for college effectively and how to avoid extra debt would be beneficial.

In order for many students to have a better future through education, I think this issue is crucial and should be a priority when you take office as President.

Sincerely yours,

Cate R.