Should Everyone Go To College

Submitted By Britt-Santucci
Words: 897
Pages: 4

We all know that a college degree is an American dream and a priceless memory if you can receive one. But that dream is only a “dream” in many low-income households, throughout the country. Upon reading this article I saw many things that shed light on my college experience and how I probably would have never gone had I not received a football scholarship from the University of Wisconsin. This article discussed the idea of “paying” for a college education and the barriers and solutions for students and their families. As I read this hearing and problems were being brought up, it almost made me question, “should everyone go to college?” There are two groups of committees. One is a subcommittee on higher education, lifelong learning and competitiveness and the other is the committee of education and labor. The hearing itself talked about how there were ways to get into college for low-income and moderate-income families. It still wasn’t enough, because all it did was put them in a financial bind once they got to college. Many of the low-income families are minorities who didn’t really come from much monetarily. So given the opportunity to receive a large lump sum of money at once could be a tab bit overwhelming. The main reason the hearing was occurring is because one side felt like most of the barriers came from the lack of money and financial responsibility associated with money. Now what they want to do or are trying to do is come up with a couple solutions to these barriers so they can work on reauthorization. An additional barrier that this committee presented that I took note of is that students’ main concern is money. They just might not go to college, due to the risks that are involved in them not being able to pay for college once they are there. One of the steady arguments in this hearing is that financial aid is increasing, even in today’s age it has doubled, but so has the cost of going to college. Higher income families can afford to go to the better schools, and have access to better teachers and better books that ultimately lead to a better education. They also deal with less stress because they don’t have to find money to go to college. They are born knowing that college is just a part of the normal life experience into adulthood. According to this hearing, they touched on how some of our brightest students are the ones who face the biggest financial barriers. For example, a student may want to become a doctor but doesn’t have the financial means, so instead settles for an easier degree program. This will be financially beneficial for the short term but they will not be following their true hearts’ desire. We are almost forcing them to go this route all because of finances and as a citizen they are supposed to be living the American dream? On the contrary some of the solutions were pretty obvious and I think they resonated with many people on the committee once they were spoken. According to Dr. Claude Pressnell, there are six solutions that can help to solve this issue present in our education system. They needed to first reinvigorate the access and resistance partnership to increase need-based aid from all sources (pg. 26, 2007). In other words, depending on a student’s financial situation they would be able to ask for that allotted amount. Secondly, “placing limits on the increase in the price of college” (pg. 26, 2007) could be a solution, as a bachelor’s degree is becoming a pre-requisite in today’s society, so why make