Dear Future President,

I am a senior in high school and currently in the process of applying to college, along with millions of other high schoolers across the nation. Applying to, and eventually attending college is an important step towards success for many young Americans. Education has become an equalizer for the American people that allows students who come from poverty and whose parents never attended college an opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In this day and age, a college degree is required for jobs that even twenty years ago were available to someone with only their GED. Receiving a college degree is necessary for success and more people are going to college than ever. As president it is important that you find a way to make sure that higher level education is not cost prohibitive. 

In 1985 it cost only $1,300 a year for fees and registration to attend a UC. Today, the cost is $13,500 for the same thing. Since 1985 the consumer price index had risen by 115% while the college inflation rate is closer to 500%. The average student graduates with a bachelors degree and around $30,000 in debt witch takes them anywhere from 10 to 20 years to pay back. This means some students end up paying off student loans until they are in their forties. 

As president what is your plan to help students be able to afford to go to college? Especially as a college degree becomes more and more necessary, what are you planning to do to make it possible for anyone to attend college straight out of high school? A college education provides you with the opportunity to secure a job that will allow you to pay your bills, buy a house, and send your own children to school. I'd like to see you get involved with making a college education more affordable for everyone. I hope that you can implement programs that help reduce student debt and prevent it from weighing on graduates as they begin their adult lives. I hope that you can find ways to reduce the cost of tuition and increase accessibility. I hope that you can recognize college is the first step for many in turning their lives around, and I hope you can recognize that young people are the future and they  need your support. 

Sincerely,

Cecelia Bell