College for many seems like a dream with all the depictions people have seen in shows and movies like, the two Neighbors movies. They depict college life as just partying and not having to worry about studying or classes. One thing that these mainstream movies and shows don’t showcase is having to deal with student loan debt while juggling college as a full-time gig.

According to the National center for Education Statistics in 2019, 19.9 million students will attend colleges and universities and half of them are expected to take on student loans. Those students that rely on student loans to get a bachelor’s degree can expect to borrow $37,400.

It’s not just young people who have it bad. More than 3 million Americans ages 60 and older owe more than $86 billion in student loans altogether. “The fastest growing segment of student loan borrowers are actually older Americans,” Seth Frotman who is a student loan debt expert, used to work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said.

The federal government offers no support or relief on the matter. According to Fortman they will literally seize their social security benefits and that student loans are driving tens of thousands of older Americans into poverty.

One argument against the student loan debt crisis is that once someone has a bachelor’s degree, they would be able to get a good enough paying job that would pay off their debt. But what some people don’t consider is other expenses of living a sustainable life. People want to live in their own house and that means taking on a mortgage. They also want a car which comes with a car loan plus there are taxes.

Society has a long list of standards and going to college is one of them. While society has these standards they never wants to help once anyone needs financial aid to pay for college.

Out of the 38 thousand whom applied only 262 have successfully gotten loan forgiveness. With the rising debt in America individuals have taken it upon themselves to help the matter

Back in May, of 2019 billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the student loans of 400 graduating seniors during his commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Even local seniors have the opportunity to be accepted for the Buffet Scholarship which will pay for their resident tuition, fees, books, room and board, personal expenses and transport. But they have to attend a public, in- state school.

There’s also trade school as an option, which on average costs anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 a year compared to college that on average costs $20,000 a year, but no one advertises trade school as an option for students to pursue.

Once we lower the cost of tuition, maybe more people can see college as their future. College seems huge and daunting because of the risk that comes along with it, if they fail and don’t graduate they have years of debt and they don’t even have a degree to show for it. College seems more like a liability than an opportunity to further one’s education because the cost is simply astronomical, we must lower the cost of college.

Until tuition for college is lowered and more reasonable I won’t be going to college.