Madison Kincaid

1820 Kori Ave.

Blackwell Ok 74631

President Donald J. Trump

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

June 6, 2019

President Trump,

I hope your presidency is going well, and that you and your family are all happy and
healthy! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this letter, it means
a lot to me! Did you know that, according to the research of Amanda Ripley in her article
“Why is College in America so Expensive?,” the average college tuition in the United States
is nearly twice as much as the average developed country? All my life I have heard that the
United States is the best country in the world to live in, but that is hard to believe with
statistics like that. I know from experience that a lot of people do not chase the career they
want solely because they do not want the debt that comes with college.something must
change for our nation to improve. Mr. President, are there actions in place to remedy the sky
high prices of higher education? If not, I hope this letter will help to inspire you, and
hopefully others, to take action to make college more affordable for the average American
student.

In today's world, college is usually a necessary step that most people must take in order to
achieve the career that want. Unfortunately in America, that 2-4 years in college lands most
people in serious debt, debt that they will have to live with for most of their lives. In Ethan
Schlegel's “Why College Is So Expensive, And How To Fix It,” he discusses how student
tuition has continually risen over the past few years, even though the main factors of cost, like
teacher pay, have not increased. According to the research in Dave Rathmanner “Average Cost
of College for 2019,” the average cost for in-state tuition is $25,290 a year and for out-of-state, it
rises to a whopping $40,940! That amount is hard to wrap your head around. I know this large
number has made me consider if I could live without college. I cannot even begin to imagine
how other students like me feel.

It is hard to understand exactly why the price of college has risen to be so much. After
researching I have come to the conclusion that there is no one reason that I can place blame
wholly on, but there are several factors that have played their part in the cost rise. For one, the
research of Amanda Ripley in her article “Why is College in America so Expensive?” shows that
many state legislatures have been cutting funding to public colleges, and due to this cut colleges
are forced to raise their prices. Also, though unintentional I hope, the government has increased
demand for higher education via increased subsidies and student loans, all shown in Pascal-
Emmanuel Gobry’s article “The Reason Why College Is So Expensive Is Actually Dead
Obvious.” That article goes on to state that colleges that do not receive federal loans have tuition
roughly half of their similarly ranked peers. To me, this analysis is perfectly logical. If I was
doing someone a service, I would charge them as much as I think they could pay and if suddenly
they could pay a lot more, than I would raise my price too.
 The price of college has been a factor on my college education, and I am afraid it always will
be. It would be my dream to be able to choose whatever school is best for me, without having to
consider not being able to afford it. I find comfort knowing that through hard work I can get into
the college that want, but I find myself feeling discouraged when I look at my mom who is still
paying her college debt. I do not want to live with the dark cloud of debt hanging over my head,
but I do not have many other options in today’s world. This is why I am writing this letter,
because things need to change.

I can only wonder what the best solution to this problem is but I can think of a few possible
solutions.First we could think about experimenting with doing away with federals loans. This
would hopefully encourage colleges to lower their tuition since their students would not be able
to afford the current price. I also wonder if we could make college free like public high schools
or elementary schools. Is it possible to make college free? Maybe the money not used in federal
loans could go towards paying for aspects like paying teachers and staff. There might have to be
small fees to pay for other aspects, nothing is completely free but it would be an improvement. I
can only imagine how many people would benefit and lead better lives if this change were to
happen. Neither of these options might be the solution, but they could be possibilities.

As the world we live in seems to demand a college degree more and more, I believe it is
America’s duty to ensure that we provide a way for all students to be able to have one. So, I
would like to ask again, is there a plan to decrease the amount of tuition? Or a plan to provide
people with different solutions? Maybe the solution is eliminating federal loans or making
college free like high school. I would really appreciate hearing what your own opinion on the
matter is, or what your plan is to help students like me receive a college education. We need a
solution, I know there must be one, and I hope that if we are not yet you can help us towards the
path of finding this solution. You can send me an email at mkincaid.21.1820@gmail.com, I
would really appreciate it. I hope the rest of your presidency goes smoothly, and I hope this letter
finds you well.
Thank you again! Sincerely,

_____________________________________________________________________
Works Cited

“Average Cost of College Statistics for 2019.” LendEDU, 22 May 2019,

lendedu.com/blog/average-cost-of-college-statistics/.

Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel. “The Reason Why College Is So Expensive Is Actually Dead

Obvious.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Aug. 2013,
www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2013/05/09/the-reason-why-college-is-so-
expensive-is-actually-dead-obvious/#378fe51c47f7.

PhilQuand. “Why Is College in America So Expensive?” Why Is College in America So

Expensive?, Blogger, 30 Apr. 2019, www.linternationaledessavoirspourtous.org/2019/03/why-is-
college-in-america-so-expensive.html.

Siegel, Ethan. “Why College Is So Expensive, And How To Fix It.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1
Mar. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/03/01/why-college-is-so-expensive-and-
how-to-fix-it/#59ffc9b2252f.