In two years  I will be attending college. While the prospect of a new school, a new place, and a new adventure is undeniably exciting, a big consideration has to be taken into account… the cost ($65,000 a year.) Getting accepted to competitive universities requires excellent grades, many extracurriculars including sports, clubs and volunteer work,  and then on top of that  is the financial burden. This burden alone is so daunting that it prevents many students from attending the college of their choice, or any college at all...

“The Rising Cost of College” is a headline that can be seen at the top of hundreds of articles nationwide.  As an issue, it  is at the forefront of  national  domestic affairs and a hot topic among both Democratic and Republican candidates. Many politicians have offered their solution and I have heard President Obama speak about it on numerous occasions. Yet, despite the attention  from both the media and even our president, little headway has been made to solve this problem, which some may deem  a “crisis”.

South Burlington High School is an incredible high school filled with so many bright minds and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to spend year very important years there. However, our school is also a very inaccurate representation of our country in terms of percent of students who go on to attend a university. It is a reality in our country that only ? our children will go on to earn an associates/ bachelor's degree after high school. That seemed like an impossible statistic based only on our school until I compared to other schools/ places I have visited.

On example of this is Burlington, Vermont. Since the beginning of this year I have been fortunate enough to spend time tutoring African refugees at BHS. For many of these kids, English is their second language but they have been quick to adapt to the American school system. These kids (ages 5-18) are now balancing their school’s vigorous workload with extra tutoring sessions to maintain fluency in their native languages.

Because I have worked with these children I have seen first-hand how intelligent they all are. This is why it saddens me to think that because of their socioeconomic status they will unlikely be able to afford college. Many of their families are struggling to put food on the table so the idea of sending their child to an extremely expensive school with no immediate payback is out of the question.

This tragic situation is not unique to Burlington but rather, it can be seen mirrored all across nation. That is why it is unacceptable that our nation has not yet modified college tuition to make it affordable and attainable to all.  To those who argue that the rising cost of college is not a pressing issue I’d say the following: College provides opportunities to create better a life, which is a basic right to which every American is entitled.

A person who attends to college makes, on average,  a million dollars more in their lifetime compared to their less educated counterparts. This disparity of wealth has been credited with creating a gap between the rich and the poor that could potentially cause an entire economic collapse, devastating our country. This further explains why I think this issue should be at the top of our nation's priority list.

The cost of college and a higher education isn’t just an issue for those who can’t afford the initial price, but also for those who struggle to repay their college loans. My father went to college and after that attended law school. He recently told me that he finished paying off his loans from college and law school 3 years ago... 20 years after graduating. That is a ridiculous scenario that has somehow been normalized in our society. Even though my father has had a steady job since graduation, it took him almost half his life to repay all of his debt while also  paying a mortgage, taxes and living expenses on top of that. And now I’m scared because this could be me in 20 years, overwhelmed by the mountain of debt I owe.

In conclusion, if our society wants to continue to put such a high emphasis on college, making it a requirement for so many jobs in today’s world, it needs to become more attainable for the average american. Our nation as a whole needs to reassess and it should be an expectation that our government will create more rules and regulations around the tuition for our universities in order to make it more affordable. I believe that we need to work to make college a possibility for everyone, no matter the person's socioeconomic status. The end goal should be degree that is free because, after all, all men are created equal, and everyone deserve an equal chance to succeed.