Nowadays, education claims a steep price tag. You have in your department store the necessities -- socks, underwear, shoes, shirts, pants. Enough to suffice. This is your high school degree.  In the center of this store lies your jackets, dresses, suits, accessories, all the extra amenities. This is your college degree.

As the decades progress, minimum wage must be raised, gas prices increase, the simple act of living requires a bundle of cash. Those who stick with the necessities find themselves requiring more to accomplish this task. A simple high school degree is failing to satisfy the demands of today’s society. Hence, us as students must undertake acquiring a college degree. Sounds feasible, right?

Wrong.

To the average household, the cost of attending a university stresses financial  burden among a student. Debt follows 43.3 million americans with student loans, a debt they must fulfill when often they come out of college unemployed.  If that’s not terrible enough, there is a whopping 1.3 trillion dollars of student loan debt in the US.

Is this the price to pay for an education? To learn we must fall into an abyss to which we must spend the next decade climbing out of?  Many feel they are unable to continue their education in account of their family’s financial situation. Despite this, while college tuition rises, students comply. We pay this cost anyways, despite its outrageousness. Sparks have been ignited against this atrocity, and already students are beginning to advocate against the increasing costs of university. Nonetheless, we have yet to leave a footprint in the bank vault these colleges associate us with.

Education is not only a stepping stone into the world, it is the means of acquiring a secure lifestyle and one of pursuing passions. It is something that should not have to be disputed, the right to learn, the right to pursue, the right to an education. Let’s diverge from being complacent and strive towards changing our futures for the better.