As the school year comes to an end, many seniors will be going off to college, while the juniors prepare to apply to colleges. There seems to be an overall restless mood settling upon both graduating classes, but more so over the rising senior class. Attending school and understanding the importance of college, there seems to be a tradition of applying to schools that are hundreds of miles away. At the age of seven, while living in my home state of Utah, I came up with the idea of attending Penn State. Surely enough, I ended up moving to Pennsylvania — now, I’m closer to the school and will be able to have in-state tuition. But looking back, I had originally chosen Penn State based on the idea of attending schools that were on the other side of the country.

While talking to other students, I learned that many also had a similar idea in their heads. It’s this thought process which continues to dictate our lives as we make a decision on what school we want to attend. However, this tradition seems to be starting to dissipate. The reason for this dissipation is because of the rise of student debt. Student debt has risen dramatically in the past thirty or so years, and the current total of U.S. debt for all students combined is 1.4 trillion dollars, according to debt.org. And, it only continues to rise.

As students, it is undoubted that many of us don’t want to deal with student debt, especially when the majority will probably have to apply for financial aid.  Some may point out scholarships that don’t have to be paid back, but the reality is that there isn’t just one student applying — it’s hundreds of students all going for that same exact scholarship.

Though the choice of wanting to go to a school across state lines is understandable, the chances of having to deal with student debt often hinder us from wanting to succeed based on the fear of money. As students, money should be the last thing on our minds, but instead, it has become everything. This fear has even been brought up in politics, and some presidential candidates have even pushed free college for all students. However, as a student myself, it isn’t the tuition that I am worried about, but rather it’s the unfair interest that escalates rapidly, causing student debt to rise higher and faster than people are able to make money.

To the question of far-off colleges, I say students should apply if it is within their means — at the same time, if students wish to study locally, they also should. But, instead of worrying about the tuition, as most politicians wish to make it all about, the focus should rather be on the added interest on the loan that prevents kids from choosing colleges based on how much they will have to deal with.