Letter to the editor: Public colleges should be more affordable than they are

College is something that is not a requirement in life, but some jobs can only be acquired after graduating college. Unfortunately, college is not cheap, and the price to attend a public college keeps going up.

According to the College Board report "Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2023," in the last 30 years, the average cost of four years in a public college has increased from $5,380 to $11,260 after being adjusted for inflation. On average, students now pay around $28,840 in state tuition for a public college. A public college should be more affordable to the general public than it is.

Not only has college tuition gotten more expensive, but the total amount claimable through federal grants has decreased by 33% in the past 11 years. Undergraduate students who receive a federal loan now receive 49% less today than they did in 2012, while graduate students have a decline of 11% between those years.

This makes it much harder for students who are less fortunate to finance their education, and it’s only getting worse. Some of these students may be eligible to receive a Pell grant to help pay for college but may be discouraged by how the approval process works. To get approved, students must first prove that they have a low enough income and have not received any degree prior to applying for a Pell grant.

Pell grants have also decreased in size by 33%, with its peak amount during 2010 being $47.9 billion while decreasing to $27.2 billion by 2023. During 2012, 9.3 million students received Pell grants, but during 2023, only 6 million students did.

College students should not have to pay such outrageous prices for tuition. Federal and Pell grants should have more of a positive effect on a student's debt.

Robert Austin, Jackson Township

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Letter to the editor: Make public colleges more affordable