The Rising Cost of Higher Education

I still have a hard time believing that this coming June I will be 22 years old. When I was younger I used to think 22 was so old and that I'd be more independent than I currently am now. For the past year I have had what I can only describe as an "identity crisis" but I was completely unprepared for it because we are expected to pay for college, go to college, have a job, have money for an apartment, for food, and know exactly what we want to do for the rest of our lives. It's completely unrealistic in todays society where college alone puts us thousands of dollars in debt. I want desperately to be independent but financially its near impossible and there isn't enough time in the day to earn money and go to college at the same time and somehow manage to come out debt free.

The cost of higher education is ridiculous and when you don't have rich parents or a trust fund to tap into you find yourself asking yourself "is this really worth paying thousands of dollars for? "

I love to learn and I generally do well academically but when I'm sitting in a class wondering how I am going to be able to afford to pay for food and other expenses it becomes depressing.

The United States needs to make college less of a financial hardship, even middle class families are now facing difficulties paying for higher education and as a result it stops so many individuals from graduating as they sometimes find it nearly impossible to work and properly pay for college and pay for living costs at the same time. We lose our drive to learn when we are faced with debilitating debt for years. Many of my friends have dropped out of college because of this and its not been because they were drinking too much, or not attending class, but because the financial assistance and money to pay for college just wasn't available to them.

So much of our lives are centered around money, everything has a price, a pro and a con. And parents should not be surprised when their children who are 20-30 years old find themselves faced with moving back in and believe me very few of us want to go back to living with our parents. If college was like high school where it was public and you didn't have to pay unless you chose to attend a private college we'd see a decrease in crime, in drug use, in mental illness, in welfare assistance and instead we'd build a society of well informed individuals who have individual identities, thoughts and ideas. There would be more medical breakthroughs, more scientific research, more progress. It seems as if we as an America have become all too comfortable being dumbed down and instead of learning we numb ourselves to ignore the realities of money problems, of war, and current world events.

Education is so important and I'd like to get more than one college degree and if one single college course didn't cost me over a $1000 at a State college I could do it without crying in the shower at night wondering how I am going to pay off my debt of over $20,000 at the young age of 21.