Cost of College?

This is a freewrite essay that i wrote about College Cost:

Most students received financial aid. In 2008-2009, more than 126 million in Financial aid was awarded to undergraduate students. Students sometimes can receive more financial aid if their college costs are higher. Out of a survey of 220,000 freshmen who attended one of the 1,555 4 year colleges and universities in the US, 30% estimated that their parents’ income was less than 50,000 and 53% have borrowed to attend college. Also at private universities, tuition increases have been accompanied by an increase of 10 percent in per student spending. A state budget cut is affecting more than 21,000 college students in California. Although many students and colleges had been affected by the economy there are still opportunities for financial aid.
First of all, colleges are expensive and from the early 1800s to now present days there is a massive change of college costs, but there are still ways that would be able for students to go. The comparison from the past and present days of college costs are big differences. For example, back in the early 1800s for university of Penn had been really cheap to go to because college fees were around 100-200 dollars and other expenses maybe a minimum of $ 285 and a maximum of $300. From the early 1800s until 2010, the cost to go to university of Penn had been massive because it became an average of $40,000 dollars. Although the past were a lot cheaper doesn’t mean that the price would be the same now in the present days. Since colleges are so expensive, students can apply for financial aid, which are student loans that must be repaid and students would have to pay interests. The average of loans would be $10,000. Another way to receive money is grants which are a form of funding that doesn’t need to be repaid and the average amount is $5,000. Scholarships are also a way to receive money to go to college which don’t need to be repaid and are awarded based on abilities. Our president Lyndon B, Johnson quoted, “We believe, that is, you and I, that education is not an expense. We believe it is an investment.” As you can see, expense is not a problem if you work hard to go to college.
Additionally, colleges and universities have suffered because of the bad economy. One way of affecting the colleges and universities are the budget cuts. The budget cuts had widely reduced 10% to each college’s overall budget. A Dartmouth staff Mitch Davis reported, “Dartmouth will lay off 60 employees which is 2% of its staff.” Not only that staffs are getting fired, but classes are getting cut back too. These cause students to lose their college opportunities. State budget director Linda Luebbering said, “The program offers financial need based scholarships of up to $4,600 a year for students ate private institutions, $2150 for students at state universities and $1,000 for those at community college. The cut is estimated to reduce those scholarships to $1000 at private institutions, $500 at state universities, and $150 at community colleges.”This budget cut affected high school graduates that want to go to college, but they don’t have the money. Many colleges had cut 800 course sections- more than 10 percent of its classes. Some professors may need to stretch their class size trying to take in as many students as the room could hold. According to a college student Mr. Villalta had reported that he was unable to take any history courses because he had a late registration and every course he tried to take was full. Large amount of students had to face the same problems with college right now.
Lastly, there are varieties of type of colleges including private colleges, universities, community colleges, online universities, and graduate schools. Private colleges are usually more expensive than other colleges because it is mostly funded by other sponsors and it is not public. Graduate schools are colleges that student would take after their 4 year college to earn a higher degree such as the master and bachelor degrees. Graduate students may receive financial aid and there are different types. If it is eligible, graduate students could receive more than one aid. Community colleges are the least expensive out of all the colleges. There are also online universities where students would go online and study their degrees. They don’t need to go to a real college but instead they can study online. The expenses for online universities and any universities are pretty much the same. Many professionals find it as a helpful resource to earn a degree.
Clearly, there are still ways to go to colleges and universities although there may be problems caused from the economy. There are ways like scholarships, financial aids, and grants, so don’t worry if u can’t afford to go to college. There is a bad economy right now and it is reducing all the college privileges that high school graduates are suppose to receive.