The price of a college education in the United States has always been a pretty hot topic. It has come into the spotlight even more recently with the 2016 presidential race, due to the democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders has strong views on this issue and a goal of his, if he is elected, is to do something about the high price of a college education. His point of view on this, as well as many of his other views, has created an incredible support network composed mostly of millennials. However, this has also lead to many people, mostly members of older generations, believing that millennials are spoiled and lazy. I am here to say that is not correct.
The average total cost per year of a four-year college in the United States is $18,943. The average annual household income is $50,756. The average amount of children per married couple in the United States is two. So what does all this mean? It means that if a family is putting both children through college at the same time, nearly 75 percent of their income would be going towards their kids’ college education. However, the truth is that most families cannot dedicate 75 percent of their income to tuition. So the children take out loans or work a part time job for a minimum wage of only $9 per hour. The class of 2015 had an average amount of loans of $35,000 over the course of their four years. The average starting salary for a graduate with a four-year degree is $45,327. None of these numbers really can add up.
Whether someone is in favor of completely free college or just majorly reduced prices for college, it is unfair of anyone to tell millennials that this makes them ungrateful or spoiled. My father attended a private four-year college for a total cost of about $20,000. That is significantly less than just one year at my private four-year institution. Yes, that was 40 years ago so of course, you have to consider things like inflation and just how things generally change over time. However, even taking that into consideration does not account for the huge price tag of higher education in the United States.
There are a lot of negative things people can, and do, say about millennials. After all, we are the generation of getting an award for just participating. But telling us that we are in over our heads and downright bratty for wanting this is just unfair. Not only is college nowadays incredibly more expensive, but it is also a lot more necessary in order to get a well-paying job. After all, we want to be able to support ourselves, and our families, just like generations before us. And we don't want to worry about being in debt until the day we die. And I think that's a pretty reasonable request.
