Shaw 1

Max Shaw

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd. 2

18 February 2022

The Real Cost of College

Nowadays, education is a necessity for anyone trying to look for a career. Whether it’s a

high school diploma, a degree from a trade school, or a college degree, education of any kind is

critical. While this is true, college is arguably the most popular option of them all. The fact that

more people are getting college degrees is good in theory, but in application, there are many

negative impacts and connotations of getting a college education. While I would personally say

that a college degree is still worth it, it may not be for everyone because the tuition is on average

is outrageously high. College tuition should be decreased because it's currently causing crippling

debt, discourages poorer people from pursuing further education, and puts families in debt.

Firstly, college tuition should be lowered because it is causing crippling debt to everyone

who must pay off the inevitable student loans themselves. People are starting off their young

lives in debt because they wanted a college education to help them get a job, and that is just not

right to me. In College sets students up for failure, it says “Student loans land you in thousands

of dollars of debt that build interest, and most Americans don't pay it off for more than 18 years.”

This is just one source that says that college tuition is much too high for people who are new

adults. They are starting off their lives in crippling debt, and the majority of students don’t pay it

off for years because they either are not able or just don’t know how. It also states that the debt

builds interest, which means that they will already be in debt, but the longer they are not able to
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pay it off, the more money they will have to pay, which is absurd. In College is not for everyone.

Catholic schools should recognize that, by Mary McAuliffe, it says “College graduates in the

United States now carry a collective $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, with the class of 2016

carrying an average debt of $37,172”. That is a crazy amount of debt for just one country’s

students. This debt is crippling America’s young adults and making them start their lives off in a

lackluster way.

Furthermore, Another reason that college tuition should be lowered is that it is

discouraging poorer people from going to college and getting a good education. College is

something that should be available to everyone, no matter how much money they or their

families make. The current system of student loans does not work because people that can’t pay

for college right off the bat are not going to take out a student loan because the cost of paying it

off is discouraging them from doing it. In College is not for everyone. Catholic schools should

recognize that. it says, “…we have made the tacit admission that only the wealthy and top

academic achievers are deserving of a Catholic education.” This shows that the current system

has made it so that only a certain group of people are deserving of a good education. This is not

acceptable because there will be every level of wealth in the workforce, and not everyone that

works will have had a 4.0 GPA. This means that everyone should have easy access to good post-

secondary education. In College Affordability and U.S. News & World Report Rankings:

Analyzing National and Regional Differences, it says, “…more than 11% of borrowers in

delinquency or default, unable to make timely payments..”. This shows that a good amount of the

people who are borrowing student loans are not in the best situation and likely will not be in the

best situation after college to pay it off, leaving them with monstrous debt. It also says that they

are not able to make the payments timely, which means that the debt would likely stick around
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for a long time. This would not be the best way for a person with not much money to get an

education. These statistics have discouraged poorer people from enrolling in college or even

trying to get a good education in other ways.

Lastly, while the students sometimes pay for their own college, much of the time the

payment is pushed off to the families of the student while the student still has some of the debt.

This is undesirable because the tuition rate is high to the point that it even puts the families in

debt along with the student. In College is not for everyone. Catholic schools should recognize

that, it says, “…uplifting people and communities at the margins of society; what a loss it would

be if they served only high-achieving students whose families can afford to pay upward of

$20,000 per year.” This shows that it would be bad if the current cost of college is what made all

these families have endless debt. This is especially pertinent for families that don’t have much

money. The cost of college for these families is even worse because they didn’t have all that

much to begin with, and they just want to send their son or daughter to college. This is

unfortunate because not only is it discouraging the kids that don’t have much money, but it is

also putting the parents in a difficult spot because they will either be in horrible debt or not be

able to send their child to get a good education. This shouldn’t be the case and is a huge reason

why the current cost of college should be dramatically lowered.

While education is necessary nowadays, there are different ways people can get one.

Whether it is through university, community college, a trade school, or others, it is still an

important factor in peoples’ lives. Going to college is an important and beneficial step in

someone’s life, but in reality, it is much less glamorous than you might think. This is due to the

outrageous cost of it. This is bad because it causes crippling debt for the young adults, it

discourages poorer people from pursuing a college education, and it can put families in debt.
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Works cited

"College sets students up for failure." UWIRE Text, 14 Sept. 2021, p. 1. Gale Academic

OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675269372/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-

McAuliffe, Mary. "College is not for everyone. Catholic schools should recognize that."

America, vol. 220, no. 7, 1 Apr. 2019, p. 10. Gale Academic OneFile,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A583489688/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=f9820c7f.

Accessed 2 Feb. 2022.

Taylor, Z.W., and Izzat Alsmadi. "College Affordability and U.S. News & World Report

Rankings: Analyzing National and Regional Differences." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in

Education, vol. 9, no. 1, May 2020, pp. 1+. Gale OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A647537143/PROF?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-PROF&xid=bd009c80.

Accessed 10 Dec. 2021.