Kaylee Pierce
CONTRIBUTOR
Students may face an increase in tuition and fees due to budget cuts affecting the University of Nebraska schools.
Tuition hikes are to be expected but are hard on everyone. With the cost of living going up as well as schooling, it is becoming more difficult to remain optimistic.
Just the other day one of my professors mentioned to my class that he was going to have to be covering more classes to take the place of new teachers coming in. Not only will these budget cuts affect paying students, but will wreak some havoc on UNO staff.
If these budget cuts come through and our tuition spikes, it is likely students will fall more in financial despair and some may choose to drop out.
College education shouldn’t have to be so unattainable if you are lower to middle class citizens. College is going to be costly, but at what point is costly going to cost you your future? The way I see it, right now most of us are going to school to get a job that will pay off the previously mentioned schooling. Doesn’t that seem a bit outrageous?
Financial aid will only help us out so much. For those who have a set amount given, if the cost of our schooling rises, those scholarships will help less and less. I really don’t want to be paying off hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans for the rest of my life. If push comes to shove, I would take my education so far and then either drop or transfer.
UNO is a great college but I would leave if I had to. I am a middle class adult working 30 hours a week on top of going to school full-time. If tuition were raised, I would have to make up that extra money somewhere. I could get a loan, but by the time I was actually able to pay it all off, it would most likely be twice the original amount. I already work two jobs, I cannot and will not add yet another.
I have always wanted to go to college and get a great job, but I could somehow manage without a degree in journalism. I don’t want to place more stress on myself to work more and make more money to afford my degree. It would be too much. I couldn’t even imagine working more than what I do now but I know some students out there work twice as much as me.
We shouldn’t have to make a decision to drop out because of rising costs. We can only hope our tuition remains as least semi-bearable financially.
