Behind the Cost of College

In today's society, the price of a
college education is on the rise. With the increase in the belief
that students aught to be able to fund themselves and be independent,
parents are often times not funding as much as colleges believe they
will. In addition, these same parents attempt to trap their kids into
being dependent on them by constantly calling and asking them to come
home, even when their student has made it quite clear that there is a
reason why they do not wish to speak to them. The parents can also
freeze what little resources their child has by placing their money
into an account controlled by the parents when the kid is too young
to have their own bank account, and then not release the account or
money when the child is old enough, instead forcing the student to go
through them every time they need to do money related activites.

Colleges often look at the parent's
financial status first, and decide on the student's need with that in
mind. Even if the parents do not plan to fund their child at all, the
colleges will still withhold financial aid as the family the student
comes from is upper class. Likewise, most scholarships for students
with financial need look at the family's status, as in, the parents,
and ignore what their actual contribution to the student's finances
are.

It is entirely possible for a student
from an upper-middle class family to be utterly broke, in debt, and
in serious need during college. They can still go for other
scholarships, but the amount of people going for these scholarships
is generally so high there is a slim chance for them to get any.

To make things worse, inflation
generally means that the student is paying more per year for tuition
alone as the years go by. In addition to tuition, colleges also have
many other costs, some of which a student cannot immediately avoid,
like the meal plan. For some students, the meal plan is an expense,
but it is one they can deal with as it brings some good. Others need
to get off of it as they are paying a lot of money per semester to
eat almost nothing due to dietary restrictions.

In the end, something needs to be done
to free students of the true dependences they have forced upon them
and to support them in ways they need it. A student coming from a
rich family is not guaranteed support from that family, a student
coming from a middle-class family is not guaranteed freedom from
their family, and a student coming from a poor family is not
guaranteed scholarships. All three classes of family income need to
be evaluated to see who needs help where instead of just making broad
generalizations.

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