One of the consistently growing enterprises of today is becoming a confusing business— college. In the modern day, in which a college education is often necessary for success in the career or everyday life, costs are high and schools are selective. While it is logical these two aspects would exist, the rate at which each increase is astounding.

Before getting ready to go to college, one must consider many aspects- location, majors, climate, size, atmosphere… but none are as important as cost for many. With cost continually going up over the years, it is sometimes discouraging for high-schoolers to reach for higher level, often more costly schools, and it definitely influences decisions about which colleges or universities are the best option. Chloe Reindl, a senior at Air Academy, said that her school of choice, University of Missouri, was definitely the right one, because they “offered a good program for Journalism, they have a good surrounding area, and they offered [her] a scholarship.” Similarly, senior Stephanie Ward also considered cost in her decision— “Princeton offers generous financial aid, so it is actually cheaper to go to this school than the in-state colleges of Colorado.” Thus, many aspects affect the college decision.  Moreover, due to the influence some schools have, students may have to go through stressful decision-making processes while awaiting the next step of their lives. Just like name brands, different college names sell; it could be the case that the name isn’t always worth the price. Luckily, many situations are made easier by scholarships and financial aid, but costs are still at levels high enough to negatively affect students and parents.

Equally important is the preparation process for college. Both students, Chloe Reindl and Stephanie Ward, agree that “senior year has definitely been hard, yet it’s about the same workload as junior year.”  Each also believes there was quite a bit of stress during the application process first semester, when taking into consideration all other activities going on and academics. There are often varying degrees of effort in how students spend their high school years building the best version of themselves for colleges. Again, each student did take harder classes in order to look better for applications, and both are involved in multiple activities and clubs. Ward stated she “takes dance, plays violin and participates in orchestra, is a member of A Capella choir, SHS (Spanish Honor Society), NHS (National Honor Society), and volunteers at the Humane Society,” while Reindl has “participated in swimming, the A Capella and Chamber Choirs, track, Green Team, and Spectrum.” Thus, to exemplify a good balance in every area of life, it can require participation in many extracurriculars, while still maintaining a decent academic prowess. Generally, the high selectiveness of colleges is a good thing, but the large variety of a student’s achievements that is needed has the potential to facilitate negative mental and health effects. While many activities can serve as an outlet to balance academics, there is a point when students might take on too much to impress colleges to the greatest degree they can.  However, Ward stated, “You do get used to the process of taking on more and more and it becomes possible to balance it more easily.” Although this stress doesn’t affect everyone in the same way, a good majority of high achieving students do choose to push themselves to their limits in order to keep up with others across the country. Overall, this mentality is beneficial, but can also create many adverse effects if not refined correctly.

Consequently, while college cost and competitiveness has many good aspects, they also have multiple negative ones. While there is no clear solution, it is a difficult issue to consider—   It’s often just how the world of colleges works. However, there are more reasonable proposals regarding cost currently, yet it is still a problem that plagues many. Generally, there needs to be less stress regarding the college process overall, a difficult, but necessary standard to achieve.