College is one of many options for students after high school, the same with technical schools, or just going into the workforce. College is costly, especially if it’s a well-known school or an Ivy League College. Ivy League Colleges are private research universities, they are Harvard (Massachusetts), Brown University (Rhode Island), Columbia University (New York), Dartmouth College (New Hampshire), the University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania), Princeton University (New Jersey), and finally, Yale University (Connecticut). College is also very selective.

College is expensive for a reason, colleges are hard to get into for reasons. While it would be amazing if colleges were free, it simply isn’t that easy. College is for those who are serious about continuing their education, or at least, should be. College isn’t for people to take advantage of, it’s a learning resource to grow and further your career. While I will agree, that college is extremely high priced, it’s expensive because it poses the question “Are you willing to spend this much money to further your career?” And hopefully, by asking that question you can make the right decision. According to Education Initiative Data, the average cost for a student year in college is $36,436, which for many students is not pocket change. In Pennsylvania, according to CollegeCalc.org, for the 2021-2022 school year, the average price was $23,916, which is a lot of money. When asked his thoughts on the matter, Mr. Ellenberger, the business teacher said, “The prices are way too high, and universities are not spending it [the money] on students. [As for getting into a college] it depends on what you go for getting into a college, because like a doctor I want the best of the best, but for business, you wouldn’t need the best of the best.”

Colleges are also hard to get into because of your skills and your transcripts. Transcripts show your academic performance from grades 9-12, and if you get suspension or detention for any reason, it will be marked with a black box, it will be with you forever, there is no escaping that black box. It also really depends on the college and whether it’s an Ivy League College, Ivy League colleges require a 3.9-4.0 GPA, there is not a lot of wiggle room in there. According to the Academic Approach, many top universities require a 3.5-4 GPA, which gives you more wiggle room, a GPA of 2.0-3.0 could get you into an unselective college. This shows, what you do in high school right now, will impact the rest of your life, especially your educational career.

I think there should be a drop in college prices, but I do not think they should be free. If you make a free college then everyone is going to want to go there, there isn’t going to be enough money to pay the professors because the college won’t be making any money. I think by dropping the prices more students would be interested in going because then they wouldn’t be drowning in student debt for the rest of their lives. If you make a free college, people are going to use and abuse the opportunity they’ll go just because it’s free, which would be taking someone’s spot who may have needed that spot. On top of the students, if there was a free college, the professors wouldn’t be getting paid, because there would be no money going into the college. We shouldn’t take the opportunity from people because, in all truthfulness, high school is hard, you wake up super early 5 days a week, whereas in college there are only certain days you go to take your classes, it’s not the same thing day after day. College definitely should not be free, there would be so many college parties it would be out of control. The cheaper the college the more likely high school seniors and graduates would be to apply for college. But that being said, you pay for what you get, so if you “pay” for a free college, chances are, you aren’t getting to the proper level of college education as you should be.