Why Should College Tuition Be Lowered

One of the major problems with American high education is that it is too expensive. Often times, many students find themselves worried about how they will pay their tuition, which is either paid by loans, scholarships, grants, or “out of pocket”. College tuition has been on the rise since the 1970s and has brought many negative effects to the American society. By lowering tuition in America, student debt can be cut down. 

To begin with, lowering college tuition will decrease the high rates of student debt. Student debt is when college students take on loans to help pay for their college tuition. Over time, the loans will build up even while the student is attending a college or university. By the time that student has completed four years, their loans would have built up to a large sum of money. In which some students are not able to pay. Columnist for the Collegiate Times, Lina Barkawi, says that if students do not pay or begin paying their loans back, the loans go into “default.” In her article “College costs must be lowered” she says, “student loans are supposed to help students gain an education but may have a much more negative impact if things don’t go their way.” 

Pursuing this further, Barkawi went into detail on the negative impacts of loans. She says “Once in default, your loans may be turned over to a collection agency, you can be sued for the entire amount of your loan, your wages may be garnished (15 percent of your wage is taken away to pay off the student loans), the federal government may withhold part of your social security benefit payments, you won’t be able to receive any more federal financial aid, you may not be able to renew a professional license you hold, and on top of it all, your credit history will be forever scarred because you were unable to pay back your student loans.” She shows how great the consequences are when loans are taken and used for college purposes. In addition, Dr. Carlos Campo, the President of the Hispanic Education Alliance, says that “college tuition has outpaced inflation for years, and the current (jaw-dropping) $1 trillion in student debt coupled with intense pressure from a variety of sources to reduce college costs has led most of us in the academy to consider ways to enhance affordability.” This shows the reader how much college tuition has risen over the years. It passed inflation and caused $1 trillion worth of student debt in America. 

Although there are some that may refute this argument and, possibly, say that tuition is not high enough, they must look at what will happen when tuition does go higher. The Governor of Florida, Rick Scott refuted this idea by saying “raising tuition is a tax increase. And, unfortunately, it is a tax increase that directly affects whether Floridians can achieve the American dream of earning a higher-education diploma.” He was concerned that if tuition goes higher taxes will too, but he was focused on Florida. If tuition goes higher in America, maybe taxes will too. 

In closing, by lowering college tuition, many Americans will save themselves the trauma of going through loans. Due to the tuition increase, students has to rely on loans to help pay for their education. But after lowering it, the cost would not be as steep causing people not to go to loans. 

  

Bibliography 

Barkawi, Lina. "College Costs Must Be Lowered." Collegiate Times. 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 Apr. 2015. <http://www.collegiatetimes.com/opinion/columnists/college-costs-must-be-lowered/article_f9365dd8-fdaf-55ad-805a-0a8675c6d4ca.html>. 

Campo, Carlos. "Why We Need to Reduce College Tuition." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-carlos-campo/reduce-college-tuition_b_1913576.html?>. 

Scott, Rick. "Raising College Tuition Is a Tax Increase, by Rick Scott, National Review." National Review Online. 31 May 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nationalreview.com/article/349749/raising-college-tuition-tax-increase-rick-scott>.