3 Different People, but the same Opinion: The Cost of College is Too High
There are many problems and concerns that students here at the College at Brockport face every day. Whether it’s finding a job to help pay off tuition, or how to help out at the university to potentially lower some of those costs. One thing seems to be the problem above everything else, and that is the cost of college and how to pay for it.
Nowadays, when you graduate college, you are expected to have a good amount of debt that you need to pay off over a certain period of time. To find out actual students opinions on the costs of college, we went around and tried to find a couple opinions on what students think about the money pit that is college, along with talking to a former college graduate and why you don’t want to have a lot of debt leaving school.

Claude Cajuste, a senior at The College at Brockport, had a lot to say about the matter at hand. “When I go to class everyday, I’m learning and trying to better myself, but having that burden of knowing that I’m gonna have to pay all these student loans… it’s like a monkey on my back saying that this sh*t is about to kill you when you graduate.”
At Universities around the United States, room and board covers students living facilities if students choose to live on campus. This is practically more than half of the yearly expenses that they pay for at The College at Brockport, as well as at many other universities too.
Cajuste also commented on his opinion on this by saying, “I’m paying roughly fifteen [thousand] a year for room and board, I go to parties at houses and apartments where it’s garbage there but it’s still better than my room here,” He went on to say that he understands that the people that work at the residents halls must get paid, but he still doesn’t feel like it’s worth 15,000 dollars.
This is a problem not only here at The College at Brockport, but nationwide. People from all different parts of the United States think that the prices for some of these colleges is unfair. One study using Northwestern University, shows how the price of tuition has changed since 2000 to 2017.
You can clearly see in this chart the spike in cost every year, and how the percentage just keeps increasing overtime.
Some people disagree with college kids paying for tuition at all. One of these people is Alexa Johnson, who we got to talk to about where she stands on certain costs of college. Johnson is on the Excelsior Scholarship here at The College at Brockport. Therefore, one of the benefits from this scholarship is that she does not need to pay as much as the common student. In an interview with Johnson, here’s what she had to say on her opinion about students paying for college and the cost of tuition.
“I feel that everyone should get free tuition, whether you live in New York state or not shouldn’t matter,’’ Johnson said.
On the Excelsior Scholarship that she is currently on, tuition is covered by the State of New York, but everything else she is still required to pay for. However, due to her being on this scholarship which she will be on for four to six years, she is ordered to stay in New York state for six years.
Johnson explains why she believes this is also unfair: “I think that I shouldn’t have to stay in New York, especially because I personally want to be a travelling nurse and due to this scholarship I’m not allowed to do that.”
She definitely isn’t alone with her opinion. Senator Bernie Sanders is also a component of free college tuition. He wants to erase all student loans, debt and make two and four year colleges free. This has helped him gain some momentum politically, as people are starting to realize that it truly is hard to pay off your college debt. Right now there is about $1.6 trillion in student loan debt.
As many may know, the cost of college has increased every year and it’s not going to stop. We got to interview a police officer who talked about his experience in college, and what it was like for him 20 years ago.
University police officer Mike Petritz went to Erie Community College and graduated from there in 1999. Petritz has talked to some college kids that have been there more recently than he has, and said that the price for Erie has stayed at about the same price. He noted that community college may be better to some people simply because they won’t have to pay off as much as you would for a public school.
“Financially, you don’t want to leave college with a lot of debt because you’re trying to enter into the field, and assuming a lot of debt will make it harder for you to succeed,” Petritz added.
He also went on to say that many different professions will give you small amounts of money based on the degree you get once your out of school which could help you out down the road in paying for college.
Looking at three different people’s opinions, one theme seems clear: the cost of college is too high. Not just here in Brockport, but across the entire nation. There are only so many things that could be done to lower these numbers and lower the debt that almost everyone has coming out of college. The amount of debt that students have now may just continue to increase in the coming years. Therefore, get ready college students, because it’s only going to get worse from here.
