When you think about going to
college, the first thing many people think about it how much it is going to
cost and if you can afford the repercussions if you can’t afford it directly. For
many people this means working long hours or taking out loans.
There are other side effects that
many people don’t even think about. We all know that tuition has been steadily
climbing for decades and it seems to have no end in sight. However, we never
think about all of the students that are not even thinking about going to
college because they know they will never be able to afford it and don’t want
to be doomed to be in debt like many of those before them. These students often
know they won’t be able to afford college way before it is actually time to
apply so they sign themselves off during their last years of high school.
Some people decide to put
themselves through college by working long hours and taking fewer classes. This
means taking a longer time graduating than originally thought of—which sometimes
lets down many friends and family who have large expectations of you. On top of
that, college becomes a larger investment than previously thought as well
because you have to pay for more than four years. Sometimes you have to pay
twice as much than you have previously thought, which means you have to work
longer at that dead-end job that you hate but begrudgingly go to anyways.
So you have to go to work every day
to pay for college, but going to work and school at the same time can be
stressful and time consuming. And you definitely can’t stay home from work to
complete your coursework because you need to pay the bills, so you have to
skimp on or even skip a few assignments to keep your head above the water. Thus,
your GPA that you fought so hard to maintain in high school gets flushed away
all because you can’t afford a traditional college experience.
And for so many unfortunate
students, dropping out is the only answer to their financial problems and all
of their dreams and aspirations get thrown aside. The stress that money put on
college is just too much to bear for some. Wouldn’t it be great if college was
seen as its job in itself? Even better, wouldn’t it be great if college was
free?
