College isn’t free — at least, for most it’s not. All the talk about whether it is a viable move to make college free is both divisive and unashamedly appealing to a college student facing a mountain of unpayable expenses.   

The reasoning for making college more attainable has grown more pronounced in recent years, because it is certainly becoming increasingly difficult to find a career that makes a living wage without college or expertise in a trade. This brings into question if college is a necessary stepping stone to becoming a financially independent and productive citizen, should it be free or at least reduced? 

There are pros and cons that many argue would arise from making college either more accessible or free, and since I don’t pretend to be an expert in economics, I don’t want to argue one way or the other. Instead, there are moves that we can make at a university level that would make college expenses less traumatic for us cashless students.   

The expenses that I have experienced outside of general tuition and fees are ridiculous. It is clear that traditional college in the United States sets students up to be financially dependent on others, and they rack up debt before they’ve even started their lives. It’s ridiculous to think that any student without a full “mom-and-dad” ride to school can actually get through it without working a lot and dealing with all the stress that living with financial insecurity entails. 

Just to scratch the surface, in order to even get to park on campus, students need to purchase a nearly $400 parking pass. With these passes, you can park in one designated location, and if you are caught parking anywhere else you have to pay ridiculous fines, pay to get boots removed and even pay to get your car back when it has been towed. Parking expenses are a huge issue and wreak havoc on poor students’ finances. Any way that the university could minimize these expenses would be ultimately beneficial to students. Four hundred dollars is much more than just a headache to students starved of cash — that’s a month of rent and utilities, four to five months of groceries or six months of car insurance. 

Then there are textbooks. I’ve written articles recently vying for an open-syllabus campus, and I still think that this would be a huge financial benefit for students. Students should see the expenses that go along with a class in addition to tuition. If a student has two options to meet a certain class requirement, and one professor requires $200 in textbooks while the other requires a $20 course packet, students should be aware of this so they don’t unknowingly take on unnecessary financial burdens. 

Then there is buying clothes for interviews, internships, on-campus jobs … Most teenagers don’t have a professional wardrobe, and this becomes a huge expense once students start to transition into their careers. It would be really awesome to see resources available for building a professional wardrobe — we have a closet in the Poole College of Management where people can donate new or used professional attire for students who can’t afford it, but this is hardly publicized.

On top of all of this, there is the reality that both future employers and the university want students to be involved in campus life, hold positions of leadership and display passionate interests in their field. Being involved and invested in extracurricular activities can cost major dollars. There are the T-shirts, the retreats, the annual dues and the time it takes away from students’ ability to hold part-time or full-time work and still remain sane. 

Then there are the class rings, the fraternity and sorority life, the membership into honors societies, the alternative service break trips and study abroad trips that students have been pressured to believe that they need to get the “full college experience.” College students can’t maintain this constant stream of expenses. It gets frustrating when you feel like your university is much less invested in your education and success and much greedier for any amount of money that they can squeeze out of you. 

As I said, I don’t know if college should be free — but there are definite ways that our expenses can be minimized so that we save thousands of dollars every year. How can we expect our students to be the best that they can be if money stress takes over all their thoughts and energy?