Did you know that there are seven countries where it doesn’t cost you everything you have to go to school? You don’t have to be drowned in debt for the rest of your life to achieve a higher education?
Shocking, I know. It’s so strange that a student can go to college in Brazil, Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France or Slovenia virtually free.
I almost want to cry. Instead of having to work 15 jobs at once while also taking classes and finding time to sleep, those students can attend class at a full mental capacity and retain some of the information without being addicted to caffeine to support the illusion that you’re a functioning human being.
Just take a minute and let that sink in – free college. Some of those colleges do ask you to pay for your living expenses, or maybe the registration fee. But, that is still only a 1 billionth percent of what we pay yearly to attend Gannon.
I was looking at the current cost of just tuition for a full-time student and it made me actually laugh. It is almost $30,000 in just tuition – not including living expenses and other mystery fees – just freaking tuition. In four years at Gannon you can very easily drop $120,000 in only tuition fees.
Now, that is not including any support from financial aid or scholarship money, but holy crap, you could buy a house, or I don’t know, not be in debt your entire life? It’s just a thought, hear me out, but maybe Europe has the whole thing figured out and maybe, just maybe, North America should follow suit.
The thing that bothers me the most I think is that there are so many additional fees that are essentially pointless that are added after the bills are sent out or just topped on like the school assumes I am just rollin’ in dolla bills.
Why must I pay $150 in APB/SGA Leadership fees when I attend no function they put on? It should at least be optional. No other organization on campus sneaks in a mandatory payment that all students must make every year. Those organizations have to fundraise and pay out of pocket sometimes to put on activities for other students to attend.
At least that fee is blatantly shown on the bill each year and you know it is going to be coming up, but the ones that are added after the fact are irritating and frustrating on principle alone.
I am finishing up my last year at school, so I have to apply to graduate – which is weird in itself because why would I torture myself with four years of school and not want to put my credits toward a diploma? But, what got me was that there is a fee to apply to graduate.
It is only $80, but still. We pay how much to go here on a regular basis and the university can’t spot us $80 and give us our diploma we worked so hard for? You have to pay that fee regardless of whether you’re deciding to walk across the stage to receive it during commencement.
But, I am sure there will be another fee for that too and the request for it is being mailed out as you read this. It feels like every time I think I am in the safe zone from Gannon bills, I log onto my account and BAM another fee pops up. Honestly, I just don’t get it.
I should have gone to school in Germany instead.
BECKY HILKER
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