When most people apply to colleges, they’re looking at things like which school is closest (or furthest) from home, if the school has their major, a sports team they want to be recruited by or perhaps the biggest motivator of all, how much the school costs.
For the upper class, it’s no problem, they can just pay for it. For the lower class, there’s financial aid and scholarships they can apply for to help cover the cost of college, and although not ideal, student loans. For the middle class, there’s virtually nothing except those student loans.
Middle class gets stuck when it comes to things like paying for college. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) might say your parents make too much money to qualify for financial aid, but they also might not make enough to cover the cost.
It also doesn’t help that the average wage of a middle-class worker has become stagnant over the last decade. According to brookings.edu, a non-profit public policy organization, the average income growth rate for a middle-class household from 1978-2014 was only 28%, while the rate of growth for the upper class during that same time period was 95%.
Inflation rates are also at the highest they’ve been in almost 40 years, but an increase in wages has become stagnant. According to brookings.edu, what one worker would earn in income in the past now takes two workers to achieve.
Whether it’s increasing wages, or making living more affordable, something needs to be done to help.