Texan Mosaic

by VANESSA DELGADO//Staff Writer

The problem with today’s higher education system is the price.

The price for college has skyrocketed through the years. It is absolutely ridiculous and puts many in debt at an early age.

College tuition has increased by 13 percent in the past five years. Are college students supposed to keep three jobs while striving for the very education that is supposed to save them from financial ruin? For those students who have been in poverty or the lower middle class, grants may be available. But for those who are not, they have to work toward earning scholarships. When students don’t get scholarships, loans are one of the only other options. The amount of loans the average student accumulates is more than $26,000! That is way more than an education should cost.

Even if the price is ridiculously high, nothing can compare to the experiences most students have in college. They are some of the best years of your life. But for some students, college can be some of the hardest years as well. Some students have to balance classes, homework, family, full-time jobs, and so much more.

Many students tend to go directly to college after high school. A large number of these students choose universities that are far from home. This can be very exciting and riveting. I personally chose a college close to home because I would be too homesick. Both ideas have their appealing attributes.

For people who stay close to home, they have the comfort of their family and friends. When a student moves to a university far from home, there is the luring thought of new adventures and new friends. The problem with this is that many students go from being nurtured and taken care of by their parents to being hundreds of miles away from them. We go from asking our parents if we can go to a friend’s house, to staying out all night almost immediately. This may be hard for some, because we now have to motivate ourselves without the constant coaching by our parents. This is a major shift in some people’s lives.

With study sessions that last all night, drinking six cups of coffee to get through the day, working full time to pay your bills, and rushing to class every day, we couldn’t put a price on all the wonderful memories that college has given us. We meet new friends, go on adventures, and learn some incredible things.

Even though on some days we want to pull out our hair, college helps us get to where we want to go. The memories that go along with it are just the cherry on top of some of the best years of our entire lives.