2353 W Perkins Ave

Stillwater, OK 74075
(580) 487-9999

Donald J. Trump
US President
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

November 18, 2017

President Trump:

A major problem many college students, including myself, are facing is the
outrageously increasing price for college tuition. I would like to propose the idea
of regulating and reducing the price to attend college at public universities. People
have no way to afford the price of going to college. Thus, we have to accept that
further education is simply not feasible, and resolve ourselves to missing the
opportunity to better our lives and communities.

My family was below the poverty line throughout my childhood. My mother

worked a full time job as a waitress and was an extremely hard worker my whole
life, yet we unavoidably lived paycheck to paycheck. I knew that I did not want to
live a life where I struggled to keep my head above water as my mother had. To
strive for a life of prosperity, I knew that I would have to get an education.
However, I did not want to attend college and become saddled with major debt
before my career even started. I had a major hurdle that I would have to overcome
if I wanted to go to school. Faced with few options, I joined the United States Air
Force in hopes that I would be able to use the Post 9/11 GI Bill to go to college.
This was my only option that I had other than to accrue a substantial amount of
debt.

However, there are many people in my position who are unable to serve in the
military and do not have that option. There are a myriad of reasons that the military
can disqualify someone from joining. Had I had any major medical issues or even
the slightest hint of a criminal record from when I was younger, I would have been
immediately disqualified from joining. This would have effectively prevented me
from pursuing an education. After dedicating six years of my life to the Air Force
so that I could qualify for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, I still face four years of education
before I receive a degree and am able to begin my career. On top of that delay, I
President Trump
November 18, 2017
Page 2

faced the possibility of being deployed to combat zones I may not have returned
from. It is not reasonable to expect people who cannot afford a higher education,
join the military.

Moreover, if I am not able to complete my schooling within the allotted time that
the Post 9/11 GI Bill covers, I will end up either accumulating major debt or I will
not be able to continue going to school. According to The Institute for College
Access & Success, a non-profit organization which is working to make college
more affordable, states that Seven in 10 seniors (69%) who graduated from public
and nonprofit colleges in 2014 had student loan debt, with an average of $28,950
per borrower. This dollar amount is absolutely overwhelming. When considering
the time to pay off student debt, taking out the loans to cover tuition becomes even
more daunting. The Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) recently wrote
an article on the topic of student loan repayment. CNBC found that graduates who
acquired a bachelors degree will on average take 19.7 years to pay off their loans.
The fact that it takes a graduated college student essentially two decades to pay off
their student loans is absurd; that is the amount of time it takes to pay off and own
a home.

Furthermore, the amount of debt students accrue keeps increasing due to the rising
price of college tuition. CNBC states that roughly 70 percent of college graduates
with debt account for a total of $1.4 trillion dollars in student loan debt alone! This
debt is not only affecting the individual; student debt is projected to impact
retirement finances and the housing industry according to CNBC. A chart that
collegeborad created tracks the current and historical data for college tuition which
accounts for inflation in 2017 dollars. According to this chart the average price for
college tuition from 1987-88 for a public four-year university was $3,190.
Currently in the 2017-18 school year the average price of tuition is $9,970. That is
a 312 percent increase in the price of tuition over the last three decades. This
dramatic price increase needs to be put in check, which is why I am asking you,
President Trump, for the regulation of the price of college tuition to make going to
school more manageable.

President Trump, if ever you would like to discuss this matter of student debt with
me, I would be more than enthused. I hope that this letter managed to make it to
your person and that you may understand the concern that I and many others share
in regards to the ever-increasing price of college tuition. Perhaps we can find a way
to make a dent in the 1.4 trillion dollars of debt that students carry by means of
President Trump
November 18, 2017
Page 3

regulating and lowering the price of college tuition. If there is a solution that seems
more accessible to you, I welcome the conversation. President Trump, I would like
to thank you for your time wholeheartedly. I hope that this letter managed to
convey to you how vital the issue of student debt is currently and how significant
the problem is going to be in the future given the growing prices of college.

Sincerely,

Kyle J. Cyr
President Trump
November 18, 2017
Page 4

Works Cited

Hess, Abigail. This is the age most Americans pay off their student loans.
CNBC, CNBC, 3 July 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/07/03/this-is-the-age-
most-americans-pay-off-their-student-loans.html.

Project on Student Debt. The Institute For College Access and Success,
Peterson's,a Nelnet company, 2015, ticas.org/posd/state-state-data-2015.

Tuition and Fees and Room and Board Over Time. Trends in Higher Education -
The College Board, CollegeBoard, 2017, trends.collegeboard.org/college-
pricing/figures-tables/tuition-fees-room-and-board-over-time.