After high school graduation, students choose whether or not they want to continue their education in college. While a college degree has many benefits, the price it takes to go to college is ridiculous in a society where a degree is almost mandatory.

While I understand that the price of college is due to many aspects it takes to operate the building and funding staff, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 4-year education is absurd.

Over the last 20 years, the cost of education at a public 4-year institution has increased by 179% for the average student according to Bankrate.com. This makes the average cost for an out-of-state student $42,000 a year, and $24,000 for an in-state student — which is not much better and limits your options. This is overall a consequence of colleges receiving less funding from state governments, and rising inflation rates in society.

Not all hope is lost, however, as available financial aid for students continues to increase. Scholarships are also another option to lower the overall cost for attending college, with different scholarships for different things. This does help make the prices a little lower, but still not necessarily affordable.

Middle-income families are not offered as much financial aid as lower-class individuals, due to their salary being viewed as enough to be able to afford college. However, with prices being so high throughout society today, thousands of dollars are not just sitting around not being put to use.

You may think at this point that going to college is only an unnecessary step before entering the workforce, but that is not an option. Those with a bachelor’s degree earned a weekly salary that was 68% more than those with only a high school diploma in 2023, according to Bankrate.com. This makes college very beneficial to live a successful life and make a decent amount of money, for the price to live in today’s society is so high.

By the time students receive a college degree and are released to start to live their lives as adults, many are left in severe debt due to their education. Student loans currently have an interest rate of 5.5%, according to Studentaid.gov, which only adds to the overall debt. So why does college cost so much if individuals will only live with this debt when they are expected to live alone and start their jobs in the workforce? They cannot be expected to be able to afford a house, food and other necessities in their lives if they are only focused on devoting their money to pay off their college debt. College is very beneficial, but the expenses almost make it impossible to live comfortably following graduation.