At eighteen years of age, high school students are expected to determine the rest of their lives. To choose one of the overpriced colleges or universities our nation offers while inheriting the debt that comes along with it. Does the education we’re paying so much for earn us a job that’ll pay off these loans?

“I think it’s ironic that they’re going to make me pay for a school that’s not even going to pay off my student debt,” said senior Nina Hambleton.

Many colleges in our nation are overpriced because they better your education and job opportunities. But what job could help us pay off $200,000 while being a homeowner and supporting our families? It’s impossible unless you win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money from an unknown relative.

You grow up looking forward to attending college and awaiting its mysterious glory. But when the long-awaited time rolls around for you to pick a college, the experience is more depressing than it is uplifting. You would think that planning your future would be exciting, but all I see when I think of mine are grey skies and insurmountable debt.

I don’t want to live the rest of my life scraping by and paying off student loans until I’m fifty. Is a sufficient education too much to ask for without the huge price tag? Federal Aid doesn’t help most people. Sure, your parents are making enough money to survive, but they won’t be paying for your education! The burden will fall on you.

It’s difficult to receive full-ride scholarships or scholarships that make a dent in your payments. Every person heading towards college understands. We want to further our education. But we don’t want to spend our life’s earnings on it to the point that we’ll never own a house!

This is a stressful point in every senior’s academic journey. We’re taking the first step to the rest of our lives. It doesn’t help when, after looking at the colleges’ financial packages, we sink into a pit of despair for the future.

“I would just like to be able to attend a good college without being in lots of debt for the rest of my life,” said senior Megan Dunlap.

We are not asking for free education, but current prices are irrational. You can’t expect seventeen- and eighteen-year-old students to sign away their lives to an eternity of monthly payments for four years of general education.

Students are weighed down for their whole lives with the burden of debt accumulated during college. (Photo courtesy of Mortgage Fraud Investigations Miami).