Dear Future President of the United States:

I plan on being one of the twenty-one million Americans attending a form of secondary education, but my choices are limited due to rising tuition fees. Adam Davidson stated in his New York Times article, Is College Tuition Really Too High, that the average cost of a private four-year college is 32,410 dollars. Like many other middle class families in the U.S., I will struggle finding the money for a college that expensive.

First of all, college costs have risen rapidly, which makes it hard for young adults to afford it. There have been efforts to reduce it in the past, although to no avail. These attempts have led to rising taxes, which affects the whole country, rather than just the college students. Andrew P. Kelley explained in his article, The Problem is that Free College Isn’t Free, how California community colleges have tried lowering the costs, and for many years, they had the lowest nationwide tuition fee. The taxes eventually caught up to the people, and the lower costs were just not supported. This led to over 600,000 students being turned down. Then, the tuition rose once again.

Many ideas have been proposed regarding the issue of college tuition. Hillary Clinton formulized a plan that raised instate tuition for families with an income of 125,000 dollars or more, which will lower the price for families with a lower income. Donald Trump has taken a different approach. He says he has created a plan that will make laws to enforce colleges to spend more of their money towards the betterment of courses and living quarters for students, thus, lowering expenses for the colleges and reducing the price overall. I propose the idea that the federal government should replace the current state aid with a voucher system. Students would receive vouchers that are valued at the current average price for a public college, and they will change with inflation. This will prevent colleges from shifting the costs onto students, and keep them from spending excessively.

Overall, one simple problem needs to be addressed; rising college costs. Adam Davidson writes in his article, Is College Tuition Really Too High, although the cost has nearly tripled in the last ten years, the spending of the colleges has remained the same. There are many possible solutions to this dilemma, but you have to choose the one that is best for people all across the country struggling to pay for college.

Sincerely,

Devin R.