Dear Next President,

I’d like to say congratulations on succeeding in the election and I respect you for the effort you put into this country. I’d like to tell you about an issue that I’ve been concerned about in this country and I would like you to consider my solution for people struggling with college tuition.

As years have past, college tuition has risen and has become an issue for a lot of people because they can’t afford to get the education they want from college. Some people don’t want to go college because they don’t want to go through the stress from tuition. In order to solve this problem, the cost for college should be lowered so more people in this country can have an opportunity to go to college and have the job that they want and be successful in their life.

One of my relatives always says that she really wants to go to college because she wants to be a psychologist and help people because she’s really good with dealing with problems and things like that but she can’t afford college so she can’t pursue her dreams. There are a lot of other people who do the same thing and it’s kind of sad because they’re not able to do what they want and if the cost was lowered, more people would be able to.

According to CollegeBoard, in 1975-76, the cost to go to a public college for four years and having a dorm and board was $7,833. The cost of the exact same thing today is $19,548. The cost for the same thing but going to a private college in 1975-76 was $16,213, and now it is $43,921. Only 62% of Americans can afford the cost for college, according to The Huffington Post.

82% of Americans say they can’t afford the to go to college, according to ThinkAdvisor. More people will be able to say this while more years go by because college tuition increases about 8% per year, according to USA Today News. Scholarships are something that can help you pay for college and a lot of students get them. According to CollegeData, the average price for college tuition for a public college is $23,893 and $32,405 to go a private college. And the average student only gets $1,000 in scholarships according to Fastweb, so they have to get the rest of the money another way.

Overall, we must lower the cost to go to college so more people can have the opportunity to go and have a better life. More Americans can succeed and have the jobs they want. It would be helpful to many Americans if more scholarships were given out. Please consider the issue and the solution that I think could work. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Maya Vasquez, 10th Grade

St. Paul, Minnesota