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College Costs Are Out Of Control

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People with college degrees are paid 80% more than people with only a high school education. When the college degree is from a more prestigious school, that percentage increases even further (McArdle). Even President Barack Obama acknowledged this in a 2012 speech, saying that “The incomes of folks with a college degree are twice as high as those who don't have a high-school diploma” (Lemann). While a college education is a good investment for the long run, the cost of college is not a positive. The price of goods has risen due to inflation over the past decade, but during that time college increased drastically. The rates have nearly doubled, but the things that students learn still remain the same. If students are paying so much more for a higher education, then shouldn’t graduating students be smarter (McArdle)? The truth is that students are not learning anything extra. Instead, the government is decreasing college funding and more students are forced to take on student loans (Lemann). While it is better to have a higher college education rather than a high school diploma, it should not be necessary to pay so much for college.
Evidence shows that attending college is becoming more common among high school graduates. Since most children worked on their parents’ farms in the 1990s, only 10% of Americans between 14 and 17 attended high school and only 8% of children graduated. This led to a very small population pursuing a college education. Nowadays, “more than 90% of high school students expect to at least start college; 70% expect to earn a degree” (Kingsley and Vance). Some colleges are also helping to persuade local students to expand their education to include a college diploma. Faculty and administrators from an Idahoan c...

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Mills, Joel. “State Board of Education puts emphasis on getting more kids to go to college.” Lewiston
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Montgomery, Mark. “High Tuition? Quit Whining.” - The Denver Post. The Denver Post, 3 May
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Ramsey, Tim B., and Jim Stiehl. “Cost Considerations.”Climbing Walls: A Complete Guide. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2005. 54-55. Print.
The Associated Press. “News Summary: Tuition Just 1 Of College Costs.” AP Financial News
(2013): Points of View Reference Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
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