MN CB Nowadays, a college education is necessary for obtaining a career, but paying for it can be a struggle. Although college may pay off in the long run by getting you a job, how quickly will you be able to pay off the enormous debt you’ll be in after graduation?

Students have to worry not only about tuition, but also textbooks and room and board fees. Every year, graduates leave with a diploma along with tens of thousands of dollars in loans hanging over their heads.

This problem is not getting any better, but worse, with tuition skyrocketing within the past decade. The price to attend college is even increasing faster than health-care costs.

Because of this, students and their families are unable to make the payments on their own; therefore, more student loans are being taken out.

In 2011, the debt from student loans in the U.S. was higher than both car and credit-card loans when it reached an all-time high of one trillion dollars.

It is understandable why groups feel the need to raise their rates because of things such as state budget cuts, but it is getting to be outrageous. Those in debt from college will be paying off their loans for the next ten years after graduation day.

Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, deals a lot with student loans.

“In the coming years, a lot of people will still be paying off their student loans when it’s time for their kids to go to college,” Kantrowitz said.

College debt is continuing to rise, and now the unemployment rate also has increased to 8.3 percent this July. It is already difficult for college attendees to pay for a college education with today’s low employment opportunities, and adding increased tuition rates doesn’t help.

While it may be a stretch, the increasing rates to attend college may also be having an affect on the decline of literacy and education in the United States. According to a recent study, one out of two high-school students will not graduate. This could stem from the unrealistic costs of obtaining a college education.

If students feel that it is impossible to pay for a higher education, they may feel it pointless to work hard and graduate high school — although I’m sure other factors contribute to high-school dropouts as well.

Sure, the economy isn’t great right now, and budget cuts are happening, but getting a college education should be available and affordable for everyone.

As President Barack Obama said, “Higher education shouldn’t be a luxury — it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.”