College is the worst, and here’s why. My sister went to a college that is over 2 million dollars in debt. Limestone College is dying faster than a fish in the Sahara Desert. She decided to go to this particular school because it was the one offering the most scholarships even though it was one of the poorest schools; This college has a starting tuition of $23,900 but after room and board, books, and a meal plan almost another $2,000 had been added to the starting tuition. 

The average cost of a 4-year private college is estimated to be around $35,000. The average part-time college student’s income is only around $25,000. This is evidence of the fact that colleges overcharge their students and the fact that students can't keep up with the bills even if they are working while in school and having help from their parents. My family paid a $16,300 tuition for my sister to go to college, this was almost 7 years ago and the bills have still not been paid. “The cost of attending a four-year college has increased by 1,122% since 1978. In 1978, a student at a four-year, public university could earn enough in a minimum wage summer job to pay tuition.” (Kurfiss, Deborah. “Should College Be Free? We Answer The Burning Question.” Student Debt Relief | Student Loan Forgiveness, Student Debt Relief, 25 June 2019, www.studentdebtrelief.us/news/should-college-be-free/). Because of these events, the only way I can get to college is on scholarships through academics and sports, unless my government does something about the injustice it is allowing. 

The cheapest Ivy League school starting tuition is $47,140, that's almost double what my sister put on our family I can only imagine how much financial aid and student loans those kids had to take out to even go for a semester. Princeton is the cheapest Ivy League school, it has an acceptance rate of 6%. Limestone has an acceptance rate of 48%; when noting these facts you also have to take into account that more people apply to Princeton than Limestone so it's a much larger difference. To even be considered you need to have an SAT score of 1430-1570 and an ACT score of 31-35. At Limestone you only need an SAT of 960-1110 and an ACT of 17-22. Both the ACT and SAT are meant to test intelligence and they do, but the smarter you are the more you have to pay for school. 

Some people are not able to attend college and are not able to provide for their families because they do not have the means to pay, even after student loans and scholarships it just wouldn’t be enough to make ends meet. “In 2017, the total amount of student loan debt in America was estimated to be almost $1.5 trillion (over 30 percent higher than it was just four years earlier). And student loans are, by far, the most dominant type of financial aid. During the 2012-2013 school year alone, about 10 million college students took out student loans (a 66-percent increase from a decade earlier).” (Beelineweb.com. “Should College Be Free? Here's What You Need to Consider.” Trade-Schools, Trade-Schools.net, 5 Feb. 2019, www.trade-schools.net/articles/should-college-be-free.asp.). Getting a higher education is now crippling the average American family.  The actual education provided is hardly ever worth the money you have to pay for it. When applying to college you are more paying for how fancy of a degree you want rather than the actual learning you would like. The better regarded the college, the more options you have for jobs. 

My sister went to college to get a degree in Pre-Law, she was told multiple times by multiple sources at the college that her degree would say on it “Pre-Law”. But she got a History degree; The college ruined her degree even after she continuously made sure it would come outright. “A full 17 percent of the U.S. population has some college but no degree” (Langfield, Amy. “How Colleges Can Screw up Your Career.” CNBC, CNBC, 23 Sept. 2014, www.cnbc.com/2014/09/18/how-colleges-can-screw-up-your-career.html.). This is due to the fact that most colleges have a sloppy data tracking system. As for my sister she has just decided to change career paths for the time being. 

When most kids go to college they get a scholarship or two, a bunch of student loans and a little help from their family. But this affects the family so tremendously much. For example, younger children in the family might not get the same options college why because the older one picked one that was too expensive or the family has to start cutting things out of their lives such as sports for the other children and eating out a lot. Pushing the cost onto the families of these students hurts the families economic stability. Individuals with some type of degree are 75 percent more likely to have a higher income than their parents. Even though these children are highly likely to be more successful than their parents they will also more than likely push their parents into poverty while going to college. 

College needs to be free because the goal of college should be to educate the youth so we can have a better future, the goal is not to squeeze every penny we can from every kid looking for higher education. College used to be a lot cheaper in the 70s but the prices have risen by a lot since then and the average family income has not risen at such a significant number. My sister’s college loans are a burden on our family and the way we live, as I am sure they are on every single family that has student debt loans to pay. She got her degree and was able to get a job because of it but her yearly salary now after she has the degree does not even come close to the cost of tuition at Limestone College.