College is an experience everyone deserves to have. It’s the chance to stretch their mind, find a career that interests them, and live on their own for the first time. But the price tag of college is reaching excruciating levels, leaving people without this valuable exposure. The tuition of private schools, along with room and board, is almost $100,000. The catastrophic changes to this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will leave students without any aid, preventing them from attending college. Education shouldn’t be a privilege; it should be accessible, and this starts by lowering the costs of college.
A prime example of rising college costs is the University of Southern California. USC’s $95,225 tuition for the 2024-2025 school year includes fees, room and board, but doesn’t take into account additional costs for out-of-state students and other expenses. USC claims that with prices trending upward, they will continue to save enough money for students who need aid, but these costs are outpacing inflation at an agonizing rate. Students were not informed of this obscene price spike immediately and this is incredibly disrespectful.
Other schools that are reaching record numbers are Wellesley College, Boston University, Tufts, Vanderbilt, and Yale. Tufts will reach $96,000 in the upcoming school year. Luckily, most students aren’t required to pay face value because of student aid, but some do. Typically, these are the students in the middle class and upper class. Those in the middle class can afford some college, but can’t afford others without aid, which they won’t receive because their income is too high. Plus, many people wish to do additional school, which can require more loans. Many parents have multiple children in college at the same time, making the higher prices even more burdensome. According to a Georgetown University Center report on Education and the Workforce, from 1980 to 2020, the average price of tuition, fees, and room and board for a bachelor’s degree increased by 169%. Inflation is rising, yet income for families remains the same. How can parents send their children to college with this rising cost if they are not making more themselves?
In a study by the Higher Education Act group, people are more likely to get a job and have a steady income when they have at least a bachelor’s degree. The study followed former college students for 10 years, tracking their income at basic income. The majority of the students with a bachelor’s degree did better financially compared to their counterparts who only have a high school diploma. If society wants more people to be employed and live comfortably, then they must lower the cost of college. And if they don’t want to lower the cost of college, then companies must be willing to hire people who don’t have an undergraduate degree. The more accessibility to education will allow for workers to be better compensated.
In addition to the astronomical prices of college, this past year, the high school class of 2024 faced a whirlwind of issues with the FAFSA. The form is used every year to help families and the government calculate the aid they are owed. Congress passed legislation in 2020 that would make the 100-question form shorter and simpler. Unfortunately, with the simplifications came disaster. The first issue was the delay in receiving the form. Typically, it is released on Oct. 1. This year it was released in January due to unforeseen issues. There were other problems, such as glitches and the inability to submit the form, due to unknown reasons. These issues caused incredibly long wait times to get in touch with the Department of Education to get these problems resolved (The Atlantic). The department finally released the forms to colleges in mid-March when they were supposed to go out on Jan. 30. The time between the announcement and the release date was used to reconfigure the formula so inflation was taken into account. According to an Atlantic article published on Mar. 30, the department announced that they have processed about four million forms, but two million remain untouched. In addition, about 200,000 forms have been incorrectly calculated. Each mistake delays how much time students have to make this life-changing decision.
According to National College Attainment Network senior director Bill DeBaun, 31% fewer high school seniors have submitted the FAFSA compared to last year. This would correlate to about 600,000 missing students. About two million adults who are current college and graduate students have not yet applied for the next academic year. It’s heartbreaking to learn that this many people will be missing out on a college education and degree.
For some, all this information is the deciding factor in where or if they are attending college. Students should not have to fear if they will be able to get a higher education because they simply can’t pay for it. Education will never be equal due to the ability of some students to attend more prestigious colleges than others, but this doesn’t mean a college education shouldn’t be more readily available for the average person.
