“About 38% of current college students are worried they will not have enough money to cover their school expenses through the end of the semester,” (Leonhardt, 2020). Why is it that education, the most vital thing for success, costs so much?

In this day and age, college is vital. A high school diploma will not get you very far anymore, so you need at least an associate’s degree. However, even that can be a burden financially. On average, to obtain an associate’s degree, it will cost “$3,570 per year at public institutions,” (Goldy-Brown, 2019). That is $7,140 for a two-year degree and sometimes that will not even cut it. Some occupations require a bachelor’s degree or higher. That is enough to make people worry about paying for college.

Dustin Emig said, “Yes, I do worry about paying for college because my field of study is very expensive.” Additionally, Tyler Mitchell said, “I do worry about paying for college, I want to be able to stay debt free and school payments might not allow that.”

Student loans can add up fast. “43.2 million student borrowers are in debt by an average of $39,351 each. The outstanding Federal Loan Portfolio is over $1.59 trillion. Approximately 42.9 million Americans with federal student loan debt each owe an average $37,105 for their federal loans,” (Hanson, 2021). At this rate, with America being $1.59 trillion in debt with student loans alone, they will never be fully paid off. That is where The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School comes in.

The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School is a proposal “to make two years of community college tuition-free for hard-working students,” (Plan for education beyond high school: Joe Biden). This would make an associate’s degree obtainable for anyone who wants it. Even if your occupation requires further education, at least knocking down two years of the costs would still help.

Gavin Hirsh said, “If possible, I would like to obtain an associate’s degree completely debt free.”

Now that Biden is president, we might see this plan come to fruition. Maybe someday community college will be free for all.

References

Goldy-Brown, S. (2019, October 21). The average cost of college in 2018 – student debt relief. Student Debt Relief | Student Loan Forgiveness. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.studentdebtrelief.us/news/average-cost-of-college-2018/.

Hanson, M. (2021, September 27). Student Loan Debt Statistics. Education Data Initiative. Retrieved October 29, 2021, from https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics#:~:text=43.2%20million%20student%20borrowers%20are,%2437%2C105%20for%20their%20federal%20loans.

Leonhardt, M. (2020, November 11). 38% of college students worry they won’t have enough money to last the semester. CNBC. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/11/38-percent-of-students-worry-they-wont-have-money-to-cover-college-costs.html#:~:text=About%2038%25%20of%20current%20college,Services%20and%20EVERFI%20last%20month.