Dear Future President,

The cost of college tuition in this country is through the roof. Dr. Carlos Campo, President of Ashland University states, “While faculty salaries have risen only slightly, many colleges — competing with ferocity for the limited pool of eligible students — have taken on a country club culture, with valet parking, gourmet meals, dry cleaning and other services.” Cutting down on these “services” could help the cost of tuition to go down tramendously.

Colleges shouldn’t be worried about spending money on items that don’t benefit the students and be more focused on getting the young people of America a better education at a more affordable price. I’ve seen firsthand the horrors of student loans when my brother went through the whole process and he will be paying off the money he took out for years to come. We’re doing the kids that want a higher education a disservice.

The price of college is unfair to many students across the U.S. There are over 18 million students attending college across the country. A majority of these colleges are charging up to as much as $40,000 a year for tuition and fees. I dont know about you, but I don’t necessarily have that money just laying around. It takes years for college students to crawl out of the debt shadow that these colleges cast. Sure there are scholarships and other ways to make paying for college easier, but for an average student that wants to advance their knowledge, scholarships might not always be there. They might score poorly on their ACT because they aren’t a good test taker, and they won’t get the scholarships or even acceptance into the college they want to go to.

In the future, when I go through the college process, I want to feel the comfort that I get to go to school, graduate, get the job I want, and not have to worry about drowning in debt. Sure college proffesors might have to sacrafice some of the luxeries they have, but in the end, isn’t the education of the students the most important thing to focus on? I just ask that you think about this great country and think about where you want it to be in the future. An uneducated society is a terrifying thought, but if you give people the chance to better themselves and better their learning, this country will truly flourish.

Sincerely,

Colby Enns