Work for Tuition Program Brya1 is an eighteen-year-old, recent high school honors graduate. Her life should be filled with hope for the future, but this is sadly not the case. Instead of fielding college acceptance letters and contemplating scholarship opportunities, Brya is fielding orders at a local Starbucks and contemplating how she can earn the money she needs for college. Not wanting to fix cups of coffee at minimum wage for the rest of her life, Brya finally opted to go into the military until a college education is within her financial reach. Unfortunately, Brya’s story is not uncommon. According to statistics gathered by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), while eighty-one percent of high school students graduate on time, less than sixty percent of these students continue on to college (Mortenson). A recent poll conducted by a college student asking two hundred-fifty recent high school graduates why they chose not to attend college right out of high school, shows a whopping two hundred eighteen students say it was because they could not afford to attend.2 With many graduates choosing to work or into the military, instead of going to college, the question now becomes are they really …show more content…
In the last five years alone, tuition and fees across public and private colleges have increased by an average of thirteen percent for public schools and eleven percent for private. Even the costs of attending a two-year college has risen by an average of fourteen percent. When you include the costs of room and board, the price for a college education has still risen by an average of ten percent within both the public and private university sectors (“Tuition and Fees”). Of course, while many manage to attend and complete a college education, most of these graduates are still ill-prepared for the ever-changing workforce ahead of