The Struggle With Tuition Raises

   My colleague Megan Harlow wrote an interesting entry on the recent higher education tuition raises. Because of our hurting economy, Universities around the United States including Texas have raised their tuition rates up 20% a year. This increased tuition rate has devastated many, especially the lower and middle class citizens. Harlow points out that there are other opportunities for those struggling to afford these new tuition prices such as community colleges or junior colleges. People could also go straight to the military or simply save money after high school. Unfortunately these options aren't appealing to most.

   Harlow makes a good point when she states that funding for higher education from the state has been shot down because higher education is a choice. In my opinion higher education shouldn't be a choice because to be hired for any decent paying job you have to have a degree, and most jobs will take a degree from a university over a community college. Higher education is essential for most people, so many are going into debt having to pay off all of the loans they had to take out just to earn a degree. For many years people will have to pay off these loans, so they need a good job to do so. But to get a good job you must earn a degree...its a never ending vicious cycle!

   Most students aren't going to receive full ride scholarships, so hoping for a full-ride scholarship your entire life just isn’t practical. Like Harlow said, a solution to this could be attending a community college or a junior college. I can relate to this personally because I attend a community college to complete my basics in hopes to transfer to a university. While this decision saves a good deal of money, it has left me without the "college experience" as Harlow stated. Because I can't afford the going tuition for a university I have had to live at home and take classes at a community college, which has made it difficult to feel like I'm even experiencing college. I'm sure many others are going through the same situation. Texas needs to do something about this. It needs to make higher education a priority and somehow help students that aren't able to afford tuition. If we want our state to prosper I think we need educated people to run it, meaning people with a college degree.