I’m sure most college-bound seniors can relate to the stress of scrambling to find the means to pay for college. Whether it’s applying for countless scholarships or spending hours filing for financial aid, it’s customary to spend an unhealthy amount of time worrying about how the tuition for the next four years of their education will be afforded. 

I am one of these stressed-out seniors, but recently I’ve taken a step back to question these college financing procedures. Why are we having to face this much struggle to finance our futures when in a better world they would just be affordable in the first place?

Now I know very well we can’t just flip the switch one day and make every college and university’s tuition under $10,000, but we can always beg the following question: why would these colleges and the government rather pay me to attend an institution that I can’t afford instead of making attendance a rational price in the first place?

I believe that since college is so heavily advertised to us as an important stepping stone in a person’s successful life, it should be made way more accessible to the general public.

Of course, this is the cycle of capitalism being observed. With college being so important to most people, it only makes sense that it would be so expensive.

The U.S. is not completely capitalistic though, and there are socialistic practices within this country. So why can’t this socialistic influence be introduced to college?