Watching the news a few weeks back there was a big story that had me thinking. Across the Atlantic over in England there was a protest going on by thousands of students. Basically the were protesting over the governments plan to increase the costs of students college tuition. In England up until this point almost all education costs for students were covered by the government. This allowed every student the oppurtunity to pursue higher education at a minimal cost, and sometimes at no cost. This system had been in place for decades and gave England a leg up in education over a lot of the world.
This idea is something that Ive been fighting for here in the United States. The idea of scholarships and grants is wonderful but they really only help a small fraction of the population. Now I understand asking the government to burden all the costs of a students college education may be a bit much but there has to be a happy medium here. The costs of colleges and universities is astronomical. Every year the average cost of a college education raises tremoundesly despite the economic climate of our country. College tuition has almost doubled since I was there 8 years ago. Whats happening is were dividing society into 2 groups, those who can afford and those who can't. Now financial aid and scholarships help many students who can't afford tuition fees but usually these programs are given to only the best and the brightest. This leaves a whole segment of the population cut off from the oppurtunity to get a decent college education. The other option some have is student loans. All though this helps it can leave young adults financially crippled after graduating college. Especially with economy not at its best many graduates are having a very hard time finding jobs out of school. These loan companies usually want the loans to start being paid back within 6 months to a year after graduation. After that the interest rate goes up. This forces many students to take any job that makes itself available right out of college. Usually this tends to not be in the field that was studied in college and is usually not as high paying of a job as what would have been gotten if the loans didnt need to be paid back so quickly.
Is there a perfect method? Of course not. There just has to be a better way. Scholarships, grants, financial aid, student loans are all good things but I think we can be doing more. We don't want our nation to fall behind other countries simply because we put too much of a financial burden on individual who wants to go to school. I for one think a drastic change is in need. The longer we go on like this the further we will fall behind. Our young people will be in constant debt and in-turn will put our society at a disadvantage. Like I said there is no right or wrong but there has to be a better way. For the time being fund and donate to scholarships and grants and do your part.