The Rising Cost of Higher Education

I still have a hard time believing that this coming June I will be 22 years old. When I was younger I used to think 22 was so old and that I'd be more independent than I currently am now. For the past year I have had what I can only describe as an "identity crisis" but I was completely unprepared for it because we are expected to pay for college, go to college, have a job, have money for an apartment, for food, and know exactly what we want to do for the rest of our lives. It's completely unrealistic in todays society where college alone puts us thousands of dollars in debt. I want desperately to be independent but financially its near impossible and there isn't enough time in the day to earn money and go to college at the same time and somehow manage to come out debt free.

The cost of higher education is ridiculous and when you don't have rich parents or a trust fund to tap into you find yourself asking yourself "is this really worth paying thousands of dollars for? "

I love to learn and I generally do well academically but when I'm sitting in a class wondering how I am going to be able to afford to pay for food and other expenses it becomes depressing.

The United States needs to make college less of a financial hardship, even middle class families are now facing difficulties paying for higher education and as a result it stops so many individuals from graduating as they sometimes find it nearly impossible to work and properly pay for college and pay for living costs at the same time. We lose our drive to learn when we are faced with debilitating debt for years. Many of my friends have dropped out of college because of this and its not been because they were drinking too much, or not attending class, but because the financial assistance and money to pay for college just wasn't available to them.