One thing everyone seems to agree on is that college tuition costs are high, and student debt remains a serious issue among working adults and young professionals. Many adults view higher education as burdensome, or simply associate it with financial uncertainty. 

According to polling results from Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization, 83% of Americans (the poll does not provide ethnicity or race) see college costs as prohibiting to low-income students. The issue stems from figuring out how to get resources and avoid debt. 

However, 66% feel colleges are not meeting the needs of today’s students. The American Psychological Association reported in 2019: “More than a 1/3 of college students in the United States lack enough to eat and stable housing. A study of 43,000 students at 31 community colleges and 35 four-year universities in 20 states and Washington, D.C. found that 36% of college students are food insecure, and 36% are in precarious housing situations…students barely escape their conditions of poverty long enough to complete their degrees.” 

College students face many uncertainties in their pursuit for a higher education. Many live in poverty and violence-stricken sectors that make it difficult to properly find resources. 

Although 86% of respondents believe higher education can help working people advance their careers, 64% believe people with only a high school diploma would make a better living if they had a college education. 

People will always have conflicting feelings about the benefits of higher education, but it is important to understand that the education system and higher education are not benefiting the people because it is not affordable.