Unfortunate. This is the only word that comes to my mind when I think of the cost of a college education. As a student of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I can relate to this issue. Now that I am here, I am proud of my school and the education that I am receiving, and with good reason; however, there will always be the side of me that wishes I could have gone to Emerson College as I intended. Much to my dismay, like many students across America, I simply couldn’t afford it.

The rising cost of college has been a large concern recently, especially in the midst of an oncoming election. On one hand, Barack Obama would like to make tax credits for college students and expand Pell grants for students with lower-earning families. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, would like to cut most of these federal college financial aid programs and direct the Pell grants only to, “students that need them most”. As much as I’d like to go off on a rant, I must refrain from doing so. But I digress. The main problems are that tuition is too high, colleges are becoming business ventures, and degree inflation is rampant across America.

I’ve only been in college for a little over a month, yet I cannot help but be slightly critical of the University. In many ways, I think that all students should be critical – for one, you’re paying for this. Each day, I think of ways to take advantage of the resources handed to me. As I look around, I’m starting to realize that every college is what you make of it. In many ways, you’re paying more for the non-academic perks than you are an education. According to Arne Duncan’s, “Some Welcome Steps Toward Reducing the Cost of College,” “Too many universities today actually have a perverse incentive to invest in expensive non-academic perks to drive rankings and attract students, like building gilded athletic centers and residential dorms.” Duncan points out the main difference between education in the United States and education abroad, you’re paying for more than just a diploma here, and it’s driving the cost up. Though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s important that as cost rises, the quality of education rises as well. There should be a positive correlation and unfortunately many people argue that this simply isn’t the case.

Forgetting the cost all together, walking around campus with 21,000 other undergrad always makes me wonder, “What makes me unique if everyone else is receiving a degree with the same name?” Adam Davidson of the New York Times put it perfectly when he wrote, “One of the greatest changes is that a college degree is no longer the guarantor of a middle-class existence.” Reading a quote like this is troubling, especially with the reality of graduates being unable to find their place in the job market. What is even more troubling is the fact that student loan debt has for the first time eclipsed credit card debt. Even with a degree, how are students expected to succeed in the job market with loans hovering over their heads?

The most interesting argument within this debate over the cost of college education is one backed up by Robin Marantz Henig of the New York Times. Henig wrote, “We’re in the thick of what one sociologist calls “the changing timetable for adulthood.” Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so.” This data is troubling, and in many ways you can look towards the cost of college as the source of this problem. College has become a prerequisite, there’s no doubt about it, but is it really necessary? There are over 1,000,000 jobs starting at a pay of $50,000 that exist in the job market and are unfilled. With student debt as high as it is, leaving home and becoming financially independent is becoming more and more difficult. Thinking ahead, with the number of currently enrolled college students at 21 million according to the Institute of Educational Sciences, even if a small percentage of these graduates cannot leave home this will devastate the economy. Buying or building a house is hugely important for the economy in terms of job creation. Yet, with fewer and fewer adults being able to complete these milestones of life, fewer houses will be built and bought. Not only this, but with the expense of marriage, fewer marriages will occur, reducing the duel-income families of America, which play a huge role in the economy. With the cost of college and the debt that many students have acquired, it’s difficult to not put the blame on these institutions.

Education isn’t bad, that isn’t the point I was trying to make at all. However, it is also important to look at your skill sets and decide if college is actually right for you. In my opinion, which ever candidate does win ought to increase the amount of trade schools and community colleges in the United States. Education is imperative no matter what way you look at it, and too many people are unable to access such an important entity. At the same time always remember the quote by Mark Twain, “Don’t let school interfere with your education.”