The high cost of college tuition
The rising cost of college tuition is always hotly debated during election season. Lost in the debates between career politicians and the poor versus the wealthy, however, are the voices of the middle class — the kids and families like my friends and I who are apparently “too wealthy” for financial aid, but “too poor” to afford college out-of-pocket. Speaking from experience, being in this middle (a personal income range from about $32,000 to $60,000, according to usnews.com) is a hassle in itself.
The wealthy class (people who make about $150,000 or more, according to usnews.com) can obviously afford college with little to no worry, and the low income families get far more money through federal and state grants such as FAFSA and Cal Grant due to the low income qualification cut offs (for a family of four the combined household income to receive a Cal Grant B is $47,600, according to csac.ca.gov) — but the middle class stuck in a gray area where they apply to neither circumstance, according to forbes.com.
These same people also qualify for fee waivers on AP tests, college applications, and other standardized testing — stuff that I know my friends and I spent thousands of dollars on because our parents’ income is in personal income middle class range, yet it still put a strain on our financial situations (for college applications, and sending test scores to colleges alone, I ended up spending roughly $1,383, the most expensive college application I had was to Columbia University — an ivy league — at $85 for the application alone). The middle class, the people who are just above the cut-off mark ($47,600 for Cal Grant B, according to csac.ca.gov) to receive these grants and fee waivers, are stuck in a perpetual Catch-22.
When I was around eleven or twelve years old, I thought that I would receive a lot of scholarships and grants when it was time to go to college. But now, as a senior about to embark on my journey to higher education, I realize how naive I was. I do not even qualify for most scholarships (I remember seeing a scholarship specifically for a Jewish orphan studying aeronautical engineering as I was filling out scholarships for UCs). The scholarships I do qualify for are small amounts, a couple hundred dollars at most — which could pay for my textbooks. (Maybe.)
One day a couple weeks back, my dad sat me down at the dinner table and told me his plan. My parents decided that they were going to take out loans to pay for my undergraduate education, putting them in debt for the first time in their lives. For law school, I will be on my own — only because when I finish my undergraduate work, my brother will start his undergraduate years and they want to be able to help him too. My brother and I should not have to lower our standards for a higher education so that the other can go to college — that should not even be a factor in choosing a college. “My brother is four years younger than I am, so as soon as I complete my undergrad he will begin his. Due to this, I have to consider the financial burdens of the schools I am applying to and it’s difficult , because even though I want the best education possible for me, I one hundred percent want it for my brother too, and neither of us should have to sacrifice in order to obtain the education that we worked for, and that we deserve,” Asha Kadakia, senior, said.
All of these reasons highlight a flaw in the system that neglects the needs of the middle class. This is why something needs to be done to make college more affordable, or even free. A plan needs to be concocted that benefits the middle class and the poor, not just the latter. The state of California spends $8,667 dollars per year, per student, according to thinkprogress.org. This number is substantially low compared Boston, MA with an average of $20,502 per student, according to washingtonpost.com). If some of these finances are redirected to fund higher education, it could help thousands of students in the state of California alone.
Another way college can be more affordable is through merit-based tuition cuts. If students are awarded tuition cuts through their academic achievements, it would add incentive for students to perform higher in schools and in turn increase the quality of education. An example of a school trying to aid the middle class is UC Santa Barbara (UCSB). UCSB has a scholarship called the middle class scholarship. Students can receive this scholarship if their household has a combined income of $100,000 to $150,000 and they can only receive it if they have been disqualified from the Cal Grant.
Additionally, reducing the cost of room and board would also save students from all financial backgrounds thousands of dollars a year. For private schools such as Occidental College or George Washington University, tuition reaches into the high $40,000s while room and board adds an additional $14,000 to $15,000. If schools were able to reduce the cost to dorm, it would help students save a lot of money.
“In California [especially] the cost of room and board is very, very high. I think this would be a great place to start looking at reducing costs,” Becky Marchant, guidance counselor, said.
As I expressed these thoughts to some of my peers, one of them asked me why we would lower the cost of tuition because then it would make colleges more crowded and the value of a Bachelor’s degree would go down, to which my response was, students would still have to apply to college and get in.
“My parents and I have worked so ridiculously hard to get through high school with a high GPA and of a lot extracurriculars so that I could get into my dream school. Now that I have gotten into my dream school, I have not received any scholarships, I have not gotten any financial aid, and everything added together is roughly $62,000 — not to mention I have two younger brothers who are planning to go to college as well,” Nicole Nam, senior, said.
The level of hypocrisy shown on this subject matter is frustrating. Since a young age we are encouraged to do well in school so we can get into our dream colleges and live a good life with excellent careers, but now, as this classic anecdote comes to life, it slaps us in the face with reality.
“Even though the UC system is known to be affordable compared to private universities, the tuition raise of recent years is definitely burdening to people, and it seems that people are only able to get the education they desire if they have the money to afford it,” Betty Lee (‘15), freshman at UC San Diego, said.
Students should go to the college they deserve, not the college they can afford. Those who say that students should only go to the colleges they can afford (also known as some of the Republican party and Donald Trump) have not seen the burdens of financial struggles. Students should not be set back from going to a school they deserve to go to just because of the financial aspects. The emerging generation of global citizens should not be burdened by substantial amounts of debt. People of a wealthy, underprivileged, or middle class stature should all have the same opportunities to attend the school of their choosing.
It is a massive setback when students of all financial backgrounds are paying absurd amounts of money (around $30,000 for public schools and $40,000 to $60,000 for private schools) out of pocket per year for a Bachelor’s degree — which nowadays is just as common as a high school diploma, according to Washington Post. This is why we need to take action, and this is why, if we do not, our future is meek.
