College is supposed to be the best time of your life. Parties, lifelong friendships made, and you being on your way to a career. Oh wait…that’s if you can pay for it all. Tuition, meal plan, on-campus housing, and the random little fees tacked onto tuition, come to around $15,000. And that’s just in-state. Am I the only person that sees a problem with that? Think about it; how is a college freshman supposed to acquire $15,000?

Here is where financial aid comes in. To be fair, many praises should be awarded to the financial aid office; their never-ending work is greatly appreciated and they do help many students. But financial aid isn’t always enough. In my case, after three weeks of straightening out the issues, my final amount came in: everything paid for minus $44, without a meal plan. That’s definately a substantial amount, no doubt. However, it leaves a $44 account balance…not to mention any food! I hope you’ve caught on by now…this is some serious financial trouble! And I’m not the only one seeing issues like this.

When asked if he has run into any financial trouble, David Henderson, a junior and criminal justice major stated, “Not yet. At the beginning, it’s easy to take care of some of the stuff…but when it comes to paying for the bigger things, this year isn’t as much of a problem because I don’t have the meal plan.” Henderson had to drop his $1,200 meal plan, leaving him to buy food when he could or rely on others. And he’s not the only one.

The enormous and ludicrous costs of college, plus the addition of rising fees such as the athletics and parking fees have been, and continue to be, a great detriment to college students. I’m still alive, but it’s definitely not comfortable; it is not healthy to have Top Ramen as 50% of my main food source. I am also a very active person. Living in the apartments requires a lot of bike riding around campus. Tae Kwon Do and working out at the gym require a lot of energy as well. However, I’m probably in need of a 2500-calorie diet, when I’m realistically getting about 1500.

I did find, while looking on the site of the controller’s office, the list of fees for tuition. One of these interesting fees was the athletics fee, which comes to $13.75 per credit hour! For someone like me who’s taking 16 credits, this comes to $220. I just love paying for our new football team, of which I really don’t care about! Especially when I’d rather be spending the money on something more important. Like food. Or a book. Yes, a book would be wonderful to have for school. Instead, my fellow students and I are spending ridiculous amounts of money on a losing football team. Go Owls!