Over the last 50 years, the world economy has changed. With these changes, we have evolved in what we expect people to be able to do. The value of a dollar has changed and so have the means that go by acquiring currency. Just look at cryptocurrency. It's only been about 10 years since the first smart phones have come out. They have been revolutionary and do not even touch the limits of technological limits. Cryptocurrencies have existed but only now are they finally in the public spotlight. These innovations just go to show that society expects more production at a higher quality.

What is the point of this paragraph talking about changes? It's quite simple; the dynamic of people going into the workforce must change. And how do we impact that dynamic? Education. Yes, kids are receiving a new kind of education that we believe enables them more than ever to make a greater impact on society than those that came before them. Since the "quality" of this education has improved significantly. Whether or not you agree with this, this is the standard that we agree to believe in as colleges significantly increase their cost. Student debt has never been hirer and I fear that we will continue to have people that go into lifetimes of debt because they wish to try to better themselves. 

I have created a chart based on data retrieved from various sources gathered on College Board. 

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmP7RGkZpyWgntnX2ive9YoE8pBnrtFjt48Meigo5xj1XA/image.png)

I went with an expotential curve as it seems to fit the shape of the curve well over 40 years. From there, I extrapolated data for the next 30 years. Personally, this is about the time I would expect my first child (I do not have any yet) to attend college.  If they attend a private university, this cost will be close to $100k. That is absurd and it would make me question sending a child to a private college is they did not have substantial funding. If you don't like prices the way they are now, it appears that the price of public education will rise to about what the cost of private education.  As an adult who is searching for ways to obtain funding for my graduate studies, this is a cause significant to me. It is already competitive enough to try to get funding amongst my classmates. 

One thing worth noting is that the rate at which Private education increases is higher than the rate at which Public education increases. I wonder why? ;) 

Unless you have a great research background or a wealthy backing, paying for graduate education is nearly impossible. In fact, this can serve as a detriment when it comes to be admitted to graduate programs. See, only in undergrad do we mainly ignore want kind of financial situation you are in when it comes to admission. You can get in despite having almost no funding and obtains loans or scholarships to pay things off. However, some graduate programs are not so easy to afford. If you are looking for a terminal masters degree in engineering, for example, you really will not get funding unless you find it upon arrival or outside sources. 

Imagine what it will be like 30 years from now? Will the cost of college stop increasing at such an exponentially high rate? Are we still going to be blind to financial situations when it comes to undergraduate admissions and just allow debt to pile up, harming the economies of many countries? Or are we going to start considering funding as it pertains to admission opportunities?  Are these issues somewhat an issue of affirmative actions? Is basing admissions off of finance an unfair method of discrimination? These are interesting questions to debate so if you feel passionate about one of these feel free to leave it in the comments.

Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this feel free to upvote, resteem, and follow me! I post about topics ranging from technology and education to sports and finance. 

Source: https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/tuition-fees-room-and-board-over-time