College costs are at an all-time high

By Noah Robinson

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

 

The overall cost of education beyond high school has risen to a level beyond the reach of many families and individuals across the United States.

The average cost of attending a four- year college in the United States in 2016 stands at around $30,000 per year, and is trending north of $70,000 per year by 2030, according to Forbes. Americans today are leaving college with an average of around $28,000 in student loan debt, according to US News, but on this current course that number could likely hike to well over $50,000 if costs continue to climb, and that should be a major financial concern for young generations today and in the future.

Being tens of thousands of dollars in debt out of the gate has a long lasting toll for people. All of sudden, the ability to purchase cars and houses are handicapped. Retirement plans are put up in the air. Many people are forced to abandon their lives as their own dependents and retreat to a more reliable place to get their feet under them. These rising loan debts stemming from increasing tuitions are among the reasons why, according to the Pew Research Center, living with parents is now the dominant living arrangement for 18-to-34-year-olds.

These significant financial obligations have also proven to have noticeable mental and physical side effects down the road. The Atlantic reported a 2013 study by Northwestern University showing higher levels of stress, depression, and worse overall self-reported health among people with higher levels of debt. It also found a link between higher amounts of debt and an increase in diastolic blood pressure, which in turn can heighten the risk of hypertension and stroke. But don’t worry, the likely source of those problems is on pace to more than double over the next 15 years while these education costs continue to be put on the backburner by many colleges themselves and the federal government.

When applying for student loans, many families are given minimal amounts of money while being told their income is too high to receive any additional help, causing parents to have to make crucial decisions like whether to apply for loans themselves or delve into their own retirement and savings for the advancement of their children. The only real possibilities after that are headlined by the daunting task of sending a child on their own into the world and therefore not claim them as a dependent for financial aid applications. To defend this as fair or adequate for supplying average middle class families with resources to pay for higher education is simply not correct.

Over $1 trillion is being paid by 7 million people (including 40 percent of millenials, according to a 2014 Wells Fargo study) in the United States in student loan debt, according to the US News & World Report. And those numbers will only continue to rise until the proper attention is brought to the epidemic of the soaring short- and long-term costs of receiving a college education.