Cost Of College

Getting a college education nowadays is almost necessary in our society, as without one it may be difficult to obtain and retain a high paying job which can support you and your family in the long term. However, while a college education is becoming more necessary to have it is also becoming more difficult to obtain, with the average tuition to attend a university exceeding up to $40,000 a year (Siegel, Why College Is So Expensive, And How To Fix It). Even with the vast amount of financial aid and scholarship opportunities given to help, it will still leave the average student in six figures of debt by the end of their four year degree. And because of the large debt accumulated by the time you graduate, it has strayed many away from the path

However, the increases in the average costs for college have exceeded pay increases for individuals and families. In the last twenty-five years, college has quadrupled in cost, while family income has increased by only fifty percent (Siegel, Why College Is So Expensive, And How To Fix It). That means that to pay for college, families have to set aside more money, for an even longer period time, Some claim that grants help with the increased cost. However, over the same twenty-five years, the average need based federal grants went from covering 75% of the total cost of college to covering only about 33% (CCAP,25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College). This means that families went from paying 25 cents of every dollar, to paying 67 cents, more than two and a half times as much. All of this means that students and their parents are not just paying more, they are borrowing more to pay for their

It is recommended in our society that everyone should want to go to college, and that college is the only path to a successful life. That someone might value intelligence and hard work, yet still reject a four-year degree is ridiculous. Yet there are communities throughout the country where a college education has considerably less value. For them and those disinterested in advancing their educations, society in general has no common discussion about the opportunities available. Rather creating a society that encourages education, we have created a society that shames and hides other options. Few people fresh out of high school have a clear and cut plan, for many, continuing their educations is a socially acceptable way to delay difficult and confusing decisions. Research is also showing that among students under 24 who attend a community college, only about 40% receive any credentials (CCAP,25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College). This could be a result of the "everyone must attend college" ideology that encourages young people with few skills to accumulate large amounts of debt in the hopes of a "better" job. Of course, the social value and perceived necessity of advanced education makes it more "valuable" in the market, so the price of the item can be raised with worrying that too fewer people will