Livelli 1

Andrew Livelli
Professor Grant
UWRT 1102-035
02 April 2015
Money and College
When thinking about college, most people think about one thing and one thing only money. Everyone hates to think about it, but it is always there. Financial aid may help out in the
case of money in college, but some think that is not enough to stop thinking about the costs.
Money is something that everyone worries about, but should we have to worry about money
when going to college?
Many people in college ask the question should we really be paying for this?, and the
answer varies. Many students have different answers. Would it be okay is college is free? Should
the price of college just be lowered? Should everyone receive the same amount of financial aid?
The answer depends on who you ask exactly. If you ask someone who is on the board of making
the price of college, they may say that you should actually be paying more than you already are
paying. On the opposite end, if you ask an average college student, they most likely would say
that the cost of college is way to high and it should be lowered. Everyone is going to have their
reason on what they respond to these questions with, but who is right?
Robert Eskow, the author of Free Higher Education Is a Human Right, claims that
education is in danger of becoming an inherited privilege. By this he means that higher
education is starting to become only for people whos families have money. This is something
that we do not want in this country. We all should be able to have to right to a higher education
even if we do not have enough money to pay for it. He also claims that America is called the

Livelli 2
land of opportunity, but that is not how it is today. Today everything we do depends on money.
If we dont have money to do something, then how are we supposed to do it? This is exactly how
it is for college, except there is financial aid.
According to Financial Aid Facts, in the 2007 to 2008 school year 71.9% of students are
receiving financial aid in a four year public school. This data shows that people do not have
enough money to pay for college. Even though that is a high number, that does not mean that
they are receiving enough money to pay off college for the year. Many students are left with
money that they have to pay in order to take classes, but if they dont have that money, they
cannot take classes at that school. This goes back to Robert Eskow saying how its becoming an
inherited privilege. Students should be able to go to college if they have all the requirements to
go besides the money. Opposite that, students should not be able to go if they do not meet the
requirements to go to that school.
In cases where students cannot afford a four year college, students may opt for a
community college. When going to a community college, a student can pay a significant less
amount of money that they would so for a four year college. Financial aid can also help pay for
community college also, but what if you dont get any financial aid?
With all of this in mind, does financial aid really help us, or does it just hurt us. It just
depends on how you look at the situation. Financial aid can really help people when applying to
college. Because money is one of the main things that you think about when applying, it worries
many people. If people know that they can receive some money from the government, it may
make them fee better about going to a school. When you apply for financial aid, the amount of
aid that you get depends on many different things. It depends on your taxes (if you have any),

Livelli 3
your parents taxes, the amount of people in your household, and the cost of the school that you
are wanting to attend. Just because you fill out all of the information correctly does not mean that
you are going to get exactly the same as everyone else. This is what makes the financial aid
application unfair to many people. Some people who dont have enough money to pay for college
can get little to nothing from FAFSA just because their things dont match up to the system.
There should be another step that people can go through if they dont get enough money from the
application.
Another thing that people can apply for are bank or personal loans. While these may help,
you may not be able to receive them as easily. At certain ages you may need a cosigner. Students
may also just need a cosigner if they don't have good enough credit or none at all. This is one
thing that makes FAFSA easier to apply for, but if that does not work students should also try
applying for this type of loan (FAFSA).
Even though FAFSA pays for college while the students are in college, students will most
likely have to pay part back after they graduated. This is the downside to financial aid. Student
loans are something that makes people dislike the whole idea of financial aid. Financial aid is a
good thing, but when it comes to paying back the money, people tend to disagree. While you do
not have to pay the money back while you are attending college, you will have to pay them back
outside of college. This is what every college student with financial aid dreads. They tend to ask
themselves,Where am I going to get enough money to pay all of this back?, but there is no
direct answer. Many people say to just get a job, but it is not that easy. People have bills to pay.
The cost of living is gradually increasing, so repaying student loans right out of college may not
be something that everyone can do. One thing that students can do is try to work while in

Livelli 4
college. By doing this, students can gradually save money to pay back in the future. They can
also save money for personal use which is always a good thing to also do. Some jobs will also
pay for student loans. This will help so that if you get a job that will pay for them right out of
college, you will not have to worry about them.
Government has already seen that student can not go to college because of the price of it.
According to EducationDIVE, President Obama has announced a plan to make community
college free. This is a good thing to some, but there are many bad things that can happen. Keith
Button claims that one con would be the cost. He doesn't mean the cost of the student, but the
cost we would all have to pay. He says that over a ten year period, it could cost about 60 billion.
Another bad thing about free community college education is what it will do to four year
colleges. It will basically cause a competition agains the two. It can make community colleges
way more popular because of the cost and the four year colleges can lose the crowd. If this
happens, it can cause some universities to shut down and can also make the prices rise. One of
the biggest problems he claims is the drop out rates in community college. Keith says that
community colleges have a drop out rate between 66% and 80%. While people may be getting
free education, they could be abusing the system by just using it because they were told to go to
school.
One major pro that he points out though is that many students will benefit from all of this.
Everyone would agree with this because so many students cannot go to college because of the
cost, and this will make it free for them. He also points out that if the plan doesn't fall through, it
will make government think of alternative. This is good because something else may have
success with the government. It will help students in the future.

Livelli 5
While people have many different sides to this argument, it is still not clear which side is
the right side. It may be easier to to go to a community college for some people if they don't have
enough money, but some may just take the financial aid path and go straight to a four year
university. Some claim that it may be better to go to both and save money, but it just depends on
the person. Many people think that college should be free, but they also have to remember that
that comes with many downsides. People would start going to college and not give it their all.
Because people are now paying a lot of money for college, everyone is going to try their best so
that they can get what they payed for. The best students can do now is just hope that the prices of
school to go down, but that can vary on so many different factors. While we keep using financial
aid and other types of loans, we have to remember to use them wisely because at the end, they
can eventually hurt us.

Works Cited
Button, Keith. "5 Pros and Cons of Obama's Free Community College Plan." Education Drive.
N.p., 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.

Livelli 6
Eskow, Richard. "Free Higher Education Is a Human Right." Campaign For America's Future.
N.p., 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
"FAFSA." FAFSA on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
"Financial Aid Facts: Introduction." Financial Aid. N.p., 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.
"How to Repay Your Loans." Federal Student Aid. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.