College Tuition Rising

Growing up, kids are told that they are the future of the world. They are the ones that are going to run America, England, Japan and countless other countries. To say the least, this is a very true statement. But how are kids going to be ready to take on rolls such as businessmen and businesswomen, doctors, lawyers, politicians and other jobs that require an education higher than a high school degree. In today’s society, a four-year-university is a big milestone in most of the young adults in the world. Well, it is a milestone for those who can afford the high costing tuition, or those who are lucky enough to get a scholarship that covers all of tuition. With college tuition increasing every year, it is getting harder and harder for students to afford. A college education with free tuition would not only help the students stay out of debt at a young age, but also will help provide job opportunities for people that are qualified to teach at a higher educational level.

Fifty percent of students that start a college education in the United States will not graduate. That puts America dead last in total graduation rates for each graduating class compared to seventeen other countries. In 2011 alone, over half of the students that started college graduated in six years that attend a four-year college (“Why College Students…”). Another study states that close to fifty percent of the students that attend a four-year university don’t succeed to graduate in six years of coming in as freshmen. But, at more competitive schools, the graduation rates tend to be higher than that of a normal state school. James Madison University boasts in having an eighty-one percent graduation rate, which is thirty percent more than the national average (“55 Percent…”). Recently, an article was posted saying that only one-third of American students actually graduate from a college or university (Samuels). Graduation rates are contributed to those that drop out. Reasons that students drop out are not being prepared for the hard work to attain a degree, not wanting to study, family problems and financial problems (Carlozo).

Financial problems are a huge contributor for students that have to drop out of a four-year college or university. On average, families in the United States pay sixty-four billion dollars to send roughly fourteen million students to a public institution for higher learning (“Should Free…”). A free education could provide families to get out of debt and to spend the money that they are spending on college tuition on house payments, car payments, life insurance and other payments that require everyday living. Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, even goes to say in his article “Should Free Tuition be a Part of Education?” that if public institutions went on a free tuition basis, more young men and women will have a better opportunity to achieve their goals instead