Addressing High Cost Of College Tuition Important to HCC Students
Students at Housatonic agree that paying tuition can be a burden, but they disagree on how to address the problem.
Some assume college students would support Bernie Sanders’ plan for free college tuition.
But it is not that simple, as students have differing and unique ideas on how to lower college tuition. Hector A. Mendez is one of those students.
Also Mendez has encountered many friends who struggle to pay tuition. Many must work several hours a week just to pay for tuition alone.
Mendez believes the high cost of tuition is creating barriers for those wanting to receive an education. He argues that where you start in life should not be the final result of where you go in life.
“You’re starting out income should not determine your end result income because of not being able to afford an education,” he said.
Students at Housatonic are also taking personal initiatives in order to pay off college tuition .
Joshua Cree, also a student at Housatonic, does his own part by working to pay off his student expenses .
Also the negative side to this is that for some students working and paying close attention to academics at the same time can be a tough balance.
Cree believes that students could efficiently choose jobs that work with their class and studying schedule. He also believes students should pay off their college expenses gradually.
“Pay now play later,” he added
Cree believes that students in the future could have self-fulfilling careers without having to worry about college financial obligations.
Students at Housatonic take many other personal initiatives in order to pay off student tuition.
HCC student Yulissa Nunez says she spends less money on food such as takeout.
Houasoutic student Sidney Sath also spends less on things that he personally enjoys such as video games.
HCC student Chris Cloudio spends less on materialistic items such as expensive clothes and shoes.
“ In order to receive a higher education it sometimes takes short term sacrifices in order to achieve long term success,” he added.
Yet even with students taking personal initiative to cut down on expenses, that does not mean they don’t believe that college tuition costs need to be reformed.
Mendez agrees that more needs to be done to assist hard working students to help pay the high cost of college tuition, but does not agree it should be free.
“I personally do not believe free college tuition makes sense,” he said.
Mendez believes free tuition will discourage and create fewer incentives for private educational institutions like Sacred Heart University to compete, as well as improve services even more for parents and students.
Mendez has a new and unique perspective on how to address college tuition.
His idea is to regulate how much much educational institutions of high status charge for tuition.
He believes these institutions could give more assistance to colleges in need like Housatonic. In order to gain support for this idea Mendez believes we should mobilize those who would benefit from this policy in order to achieve social change.
Mendez is only one of the many students on campus who thinks that tuition is too high.
Anthony Bravo, for example, believes that the high cost of college tuition prevents students from truly enjoying their college experience.
“The high cost of college tuition is a burden to your educational experience, “ he said.