It seems to be pretty well-known that students are paying a hefty price for their “higher” education. 

In a survey addressed by Forbes Magazine, many said this price is higher than either what it should be and/or what it was “back in the day.” 

According to Forbes Magazine, nearly every year there is a spike in tuition costs, but every year there are also promises of a better experience for the student. 

This better experience normally has something to do with an upgrade, mainly in the form of a material object.

If we compare the price of Northern Michigan University’s tuition from 12 years ago to presently, this is what we would see:

According to the official NMU website, in 2002 a full-time resident undergraduate student paid $4,780 per year; in 2014 a full-time, flat-rate undergraduate student paid $9,323.76 per year. 

This year, students will pay, on average, double for tuition than in 2002.

What are we paying for now that the people were not paying for 12 years ago?

Inflation—an increase in the general price of goods and services over a time frame—is always a factor. 

The cost of living itself has been on the rapid incline, and tuition is not the only aspect of the cost of college. 

Books, food, transportation, recreational activities, all of these play a role in the cost of college. 

The lifestyle or rapid change to our daily lives is what contributes the most to the rising cost of college.

We are a consumer-based society; we want more. 

So yes, the cost of college is on the rise. I do not necessarily like that fact; I do however, understand why this is happening. If we as a society stay in this mindset of always needing “the upgrade” there is no possibility for the cost of college to shrink. The only way to make that happen would be a radical change to one’s way of life. As Henry David Thoreau said, “simplicity, simplicity, simplicity…let your affairs be as two or three”.

I do not see the cost of tuition falling anytime soon.