October 24, 2016

Dear Next President,

Did you go to college? Of course you did, you’re president. How long were you in college? Where did you go? Did you have large tuition causing student loans that you had to pay? Could you pay them off? Some people have so much debt from college that they can’t even afford a house, even with a high paying job. Do you think you should do something about this? Yes, you should, because many Americans struggle with this problem. We will tell you what tuition is, why the cost of education should be free, and our solution for solving this problem.

Tuition is the price of college, which includes classes, food, housing, books and more. Did you know that the rise in tuition is growing faster than inflation. Inflation is how the price of money rises and falls. (“Is College Tuition Really Too High?” The New York Times Magazine. 12 Sept. 2016.) This means our children and grandchildren may not be able to afford college because of how dramatically the price is rising. It also means that things are not the way that they should be. College costs should not be higher than the price of money in the economy. We think everyone should be able to afford college without regretting it for the rest of their lives because they would have so much student debt. It would be greatly appreciated if you helped pay for college’s high tuition rates. You would also be doing something recent presidents have not done or considered a major issue.

The government has not been funding colleges as much as it used to. According to Business Insider, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, government funding for college dropped from 54.1% to 23.4%. Funding at Michigan State went from 45% to 17.8%. These are just a few examples of how the government has not been funding colleges to help students that do not have enough money to pay for college. In other countries, like Norway, Denmark, and France, college costs are cheaper, reaching in the upper and lower $500’s per year. We need to make college affordable for the entirety of our nation.

Our solution for making colleges affordable for everyone is that you should make public colleges free, and private colleges a small sum. Consequently, the taxes would go up for all Americans, but the education that the students would get would be reward enough. A college education determines how the economy works and more companies will succeed. (“Is College Tuition Really Too High?” The New York Times Magazine. Sept. 2016.). Education should be free to all people, not just people who are able to afford it. Next President, if you don’t do anything about this no one will be able to go to college in America.

Thank you very much,

Camille Watkins and Caroline Heaphy

Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy