Editorial: College Tuition/whats the best option?

For many high school seniors college is the next step in their education, But more and more it is becoming a very costly next step as the average yearly cost of a state college is around $30'000,example: the nations #1 ranked school is Harvard (also ranked #1 in cost for a public college) and its tuition this year is $36'173 .It's even more if you want to go to a private college (example: University of southern California).The most expensive college in the country is Sarah Lawrence College located in New York, It goes for a total cost of $54'000 a year. Many people overlook of feel "Above" going to community college for 4 years or even 2 then transferring. The yearly cost of a community college is way less at around $6'000 a year and if you just go for the first 2 years and get your basic classes done and then transfer if it still about a third of the cost for basically the same education. Granted that many kids can get grants or scholarships but unless you play sports you will still have to pay for a big chunk of that.

Tuition seems to be rising every year with no end in sight. Tuition rose 6.6 percent last year and has raised an average of 4.2 percent each year for the last 10 years. 10 years ago average tuition was around $25'000 now it is above 30'000. Between 1981 and 1995 college tuition rose by 274 percent and now many colleges don't let students enroll for the next semester until they have paid for the previous semester. At Spelman college in Atlanta almost 500 students are so far behind on bills that they are unable to register for the next semester. However Blackburn college is cutting tuition by %15 and getting rid of many merit scholerships, "we spent way too much time figureing out scholerships and taking the used car approach to many of those things and not enough time on programs" said Miriam Pride, president of the college. Many colleges are also increasing the price of books and book rental fees. What has changed so much to see such a dramatic rise in tuition costs? Many experts say that the big reason is population, if everybody could afford to get in then it would be way overcrowded and raising the minimum requirements seems unfair and unrealistic to many schools. In the 2008 National report card on higher learning, every state except for California received an "F" in affordability. So how can you make the most of your college money?

Many believe that the fastest solution is to take student loans, but those can come back to bite you later and it's best not to have all of that hanging over your head. Others believe that the government should give tax breaks to college students to help with the money troubles, but all those people who aren't would end up having to pay for it and they don't like that so that idea must go out the window. College grants are also huring the economy, the money comes fromthe government or the taxpayers and that is not good for and economy already in a recession. So the one choice that many people agree on is community college, The tuition is less, the population is less, you save money on food and most likely you will be living at home so you can save a lot when you don't have to pay for a dorm and because most allow you to transfer after 2 years you can still finish at a 4 year university. Community college can also be good for those who maybe struggled a little bit in high school, but there can also be something said for spending the entire 4 years at the same school, you get used to the environment, meet people and some might say that a full 4 years at a state school is more impressive, but because of all the previous examples community college seems like the best option to save money on college and still get a very high education.