Congratulations! You have been accepted into the college of your choice; All that's left to do is figure out how you're going to pay for college. Unfortunately, college costs don't stop at tuition, room and board, you'll also need to pay for textbooks, meals, transportation, and a computer with a working internet connection. We have been told that we live in a free country, but if our country is so-called "free", how come the costs of education are not? The most important thing in my case and in the case of many low-income students is trying to attend college and be able to pay without going into debt. Since 2010, I find myself hearing the same stories from former college graduates, who fell into debt by the time they reached their second year of college. Excited about venturing into “college life,” I’m starting to notice that paying for college isn’t like paying some high school tuition. Although college has brought many benefits to our society, paying for it has not. At the age of fourteen, we enter a completely different atmosphere, only to discover that as soon as we feel comfortable, we have to leave our high school life and start fresh at college, but we notice that the College is like high school, except this time we have to pay to get an education in a “free” country. We are told, by our parents or by the administration: “Make no mistake, this will cost you dearly in the long term”, are we listening? Some of us do, some of us don't, and we realize when senior year rolls around that we literally have to pay for college. The cost of attending college has become 500% higher today than it was in 1985. Due to rising tuition costs and the incomes of low-income families, fewer and fewer students graduate from college every day, and unfortunately have to... ... middle of paper ......ips, but only 2,000 of the 40% admitted receive scholarships. Someone wins these scholarships and it could be you for simply applying early, but the chances of winning are still limited, it's more like winning a scholarship? There's not much chance of that happening. Works Cited Cohn, Scott. “The debt that won’t go away.” CNBC.com. Np, December 20, 2010. Web. November 18, 2013. Sheehy, Kelsey. “Pay for your university studies without incurring student debt. » American News. USNews & World Report, September 10, 2013. Web. November 18, 2013.Hero, Martin. “Construction of new dormitories and parking garage begins; note road closure.” News at FIU Florida International University. Np, March 9, 2013. Web. November 23, 2013. Mosbergen, Dominique. “The cost of college degrees in the United States has increased 1,120 percent in 30 years, report finds.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, August 15, 2012. Web. November 21. 2013.