Dear Future President,

        Congratulations for becoming President! Now, you should know about how the rising college tuition and fees are doing to today’s youth. Growing up, we’ve all heard about how important getting an education is. However, the problem is that nowadays it’s getting harder and harder to get that higher education. The wealthy don’t have a problem. It is the poor that need a voice. Some argue that colleges need to keep raising tuition to keep up with the latest technology, according to the Delta Cost Project at American Institutes for Research. Also, Robert Kelchen, a professor at Seton Hall University's Department of Education, says that "Schools are all going after a fairly small pool of students who are high achieving and high income and able to pay much of their own way to college....They're trying to build more amenities—so you hear about the rock climbing walls and the lazy rivers." But, while it is great that colleges are trying to make their students and teachers as comfortable as possible, what is more important: buying all the latest amenities and choosing the wealthiest families while leaving the poor kid out, or choosing fairly among students regardless of economic status that deserve a good education? And what if that kid that can’t afford to go to college is the “next Einstein”? I believe that the solution is to stop the unreasonable climb of college tuition. College Board, which notes the trend of college pricing, shows that from 2010 to 2015, college cost has increased 24% (tuition and fees) for public 4 years of college. A World Report of the U.S. News shows that private colleges have increased tuition and fees 179% from 1995 to 2015. The two following graphs reveal how much college tuition has gone up since 1995.

         You’re the President now. Did you know that over 15% of the U.S. population lives in poverty, according to Think Tank? That is at least 15 out of every 100 American that can’t afford to go to college. How does that help the future of the United States? The young are the future! Stopping the rising cost of college tuition still won’t make it affordable to everyone, but it will help limit the loans and debt that at least 15% of our population are in. It may not seem like a lot of help, but it means a lot to that 15 % that needs any help they can get.

         CNBC’s economic reporter, John W. Schoen, reports that state budgets for the funding of higher public education, like college, has been greatly cut. The federal government needs to stop cutting budgets for education, especially if it is going to affect the future of the United States. Cutting the budgets will only push more of the cost onto students and their families. 15% of those families are in poverty. They can’t pay the price of college and the difference from the budget cuts. What the federal government really needs to do is to increase the state budget for higher public education, not decrease it.

        Today’s youth and their families are being faced with the problem of being unable to afford the education that they deserve. For example, on Diverse Education, 44-year-old Mike Wilson, an Internet technology specialist, was faced with the task of scrounging for grants, scholarships, and various other financial aid to help keep his 18-year-old daughter, who has a 4.0-grade average during her first semester at college, stay in college. A 4.0 GPA isn’t easy. An 18-year-old that has a 4.0 average should stay in college, right? The problem is that just because you got into college doesn’t mean you’ll even stay there. That’s how much people are affected by the steady climb of college tuition.

         According to Diverse Education, “Over the past 30 years, the average tuition at a public four-year college has risen by more than 250 percent, while family income has only gone up 16 percent, according to College Board and U.S. Census data. Meanwhile, states have been cutting back on their higher education budgets, institutions are reducing financial aid packages, and students are going into deeper debt to pay for college, $26,000 on average, according to a White House fact sheet.” You know that 15% of Americans live in poverty and can’t afford college. You know that budgets for colleges are decreasing greatly. You know that families are struggling with college cost. Now the question is: what are you going to do about it? You can read millions and billions of reports on the rise of higher education. But unless you restrict the unreasonable rise of college cost, soon only the wealthiest will be going to college. At least 15% have a guaranteed no path to college and the future they deserve. It is all up to you. You can act now or watch the future of the United States crumble. Watch the foundation of our beloved country fall into ruins. I hope you will prevent that from happening. I hope that you will turn our already wonderful nation into a land of possibilities that includes everyone, including the poor.

Sincerely yours,

Min 

                                                      Works Cited

“Tuition and Fees and Room and Board over Time, 1975-76 to 2015-16, Selected Years.” - Trends in       Higher Education, College Board, https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-and-fees-and-room-and-board-over-time-1975-76-2015-16-selected-years.

Mitchell, Travis. “Chart: See 20 Years of Tuition Growth at National Universities.” US News, U.S.News & World Report, 29 July 2015, http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2015/07/29/chart-see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities.

https://www.facebook.com/johnwschoen. “The Real Reasons a College Degree Costs so Much.” CNBC, Getty Images, 16 June 2015, http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/16/why-college-costs-are-so-high-and-rising.html.

Washington, Adrienne T., and Barrington M. Salmon. “High Cost of Education Forcing Colleges, Students to Make Difficult Decisions.” Diverse, 9 Mar. 2014, http://diverseeducation.com/article/61105/.

“Cost of Poverty Experience.” Cost of Poverty Experience, http://www.thinktank-inc.org/news.html.

Davidson, Adam. “Is College Tuition Really Too High?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Sept. 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/is-college-tuition-too-high.html?_r=0.