Since a young age many of us have heard the same thoughts repeated so many times they’ve become subliminal messages: if you go to college you will be successful, if you go to college you’ll be smart, if you go to college you’ll do well in life, etc. the phrases go on and on. So what happens when you want to go to college and discover you can’t afford it?
This isn’t just an isolated event, average tuition and fees for a four-year public university have increased nearly 130% in the last twenty years (College Board), and since the average middle class income has not increased in proportion to these costs, well there’s a bit of a problem. More and more middle-class families are having the same issue, they want to send their child to college, but simply don’t have the money. They earn too much to be eligible for student aid, but not enough to actually afford a college education for their kids. There are two common solutions to this predicament. One would be to choose a two-year degree over a four-year, this is a fine fix, it definitely cuts down on expenses. Unfortunately with a two-year degree you end up with fewer job skills when employers need the opposite, not a great plan as far as getting a well-paying job in an already struggling economy. The second choice would be to just take out loans, this is a fine solution, until you have to pay them off. The average bill for a four-year degree as far as loan repayment goes now amounts to about $23,186. Graduating and searching for a job is hard enough, but doing so with the threat of debt hanging over your head isn’t the best option.
So what do you do? As much as we wish for it to happen most of us probably won’t have a previously unheard of great-aunt die and leave us with thousands of dollars, so for those of us with the motivation to do so, we must fund our educations on our own. Whether this means working a part-time job on top of a full college schedule, taking a year off to raise funds, or applying for every possible scholarship, those of us with the determination to do so will make our dreams a reality. One dollar at a time.
