Tina K. California

The Near Future

High amounts of money spent on college is leaving students in debt for most of their lives.

Dear Future President,

Right now I am only 13 years old but am thinking about my future and all of the people around me. My passion and dream is to become a successful movie director but because of the tuition costs, paying for it alone will be impossible. My parents have no desire for me to become a filmmaker but I plan on going against their wishes whatever the cost maybe. The people who have no support are in need of the cost of tuition to go down as well. 23% of people can’t can’t afford to go to college because of the high amounts of money it costs even though they may be able to get in. Many students are unable to go to college or are fearful of it because of the immense amount of debt they will be in after finishing college, in addition to the amount of money their supplies will cost.

For many students college is the near future but because of high tuition many students will not be able to go. The rates of college tuition are increasing drastically. During the years of 2015-2016 the average college tuition is 9,410 dollars for in state public schools. This may be the case for public schools in state but what if students wanted a higher education. Many students want a higher education at private schools and this would cost $32,405. The people who live out of state do not have the luxury of this, their college tuition rates are even higher. Thousands of students who are passionate about going to college and don’t have enough money to go will all be left in debt. If tuition costs are decreased the United States of America will have a higher economy of people working in a well paid job as well. 

Paying for tuition is not the only problem students have, additional cost of books and dorms is also a pain for many students or parents.Additional costs such as books, dorms, and meal plans can weigh heavily. One book only, can cost $300 and usually all books combined costs $655 but the usual cost of materials and books can make a grand total of $1,160. You may think that books cost a lot, but dorms and meal plans do as well. Dorms and meal plans on campus can cost $8,887 in public schools while in private schools they cost $10,089 per year. Not only do students have to pay for the tuition but also the additional supplies.

I have pondered upon the idea of what will happen if colleges are not granted enough money to run which is not a big problem. Colleges will not be free, all students will have to pay for it just at a lower cost which can either be granted to them with financial aid or lowering the cost altogether. 59% of undergraduates receive financial aid which can range from 4,000 dollars to 6,200 dollars. Many of the other 41% of students are paying for their college tuition with colleges making enough money to stay functional. Though the colleges might be giving lots of financial aid to help many students, they are still able to stay functional. 

College tuition as well as the cost of additional supplies weighs many students down into debt. Decreasing the amount of tuition is necessary for many high school students to not get discouraged and go. By doing this more students will be able to go to college and earn a higher education.

Klein, Rebecca. "This Is Why 12 Percent Of High School Graduates Don't Go To College."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

Campos, Paul F. "The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.

Diablo Vista Middle School

Zhebel - English 8

Zhebel - English 8

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