College is a wonderful place for anyone to attend. Both young and old can attend college and get an education like no other. Whether you come to college for an education in mathematics, social science, or just to play for a football team, you get an experience that few get to enjoy. First comes all the fun and learning that happens when you attend college, but then comes the not so fun part – tuition.

Many students are forced to take out student loans either through the college, state, or federal government. In the short-term, this feels great because it feels like you are not paying any of your own money to go to school, but after graduation those bills start to add up. Depending on school, major, and how long it took to get a degree, a student’s loan bill can last for years, but it wasn’t always this way.

From 1983 to 1984, the average cost of attending a four year institution was about $4,747 (current dollars). From 2013 to 2014 that price is now about $24,706 (current dollars) – National Center for Education Statistics.

So why does the price of a college education keep rising? One may point out many reasons: student activity fees, more money going to a school’s sports team, or the increase of non-teaching jobs at a college. These are all fair reasons why tuition may be raising, but there is another one that may be contributing more than the others. States are cutting the budget for their public higher education in turn placing a heaver burden on the students and parents to pay the bill.

We must start asking ourselves if there is a more important place that our state’s money should be going than our higher education. Perhaps there is in some people’s opinion, while others (college students) may disagree. Working summers to help put yourself through college would be great, and that’s the way it used to be, but it’s not the case anymore. Next time you see your tuition bill come in the mail, ask your parents what they had to pay when they went through college, then ask yourself why yours is so much higher.