Biggest Political Issue Facing Virginia

I believe that financial aid for college is a giant issue that all college-bound students are about to face, especially here in Virginia.

Now, before our economy pretty much went down the drain, financial aid was quite plentiful. Actually, in the 2005-2006 school year, the Federal Student Aid granted $78 billion in new aid to millions of Americans. The year after, 2007, $750 million was spent to meet the spending target in the federal budget. After that, financial aid quietly sunk into the background.

Every year the cost to pursue post-secondary education increases dramatically whereas the amount of actual financial aid decreases. I understand it's extremely hard to award grants and aid packages in such an unstable economy but college is becoming more of a luxury rather than a privilege. Think about it, as costs continue to rise, the lower-income students become discouraged and may not even bother applying to any colleges or universities. It's like the olden days when only the wealthy would receive the best education.

Virginia has some highly reputable schools such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the College of William and Mary which leaves us with an advantage and disadvantage. The good news is that most of us qualify for in-state tuition if we lived in Virginia for at least two years. The sucky part is that many out-of-state students will be eying these schools as well and since the out-of-staters pay more, they may be given some priority over the in-staters.

I am somewhat content that awards, scholarships, and grants are still being offered so that every one is given an equal chance to furthering their education to the highest potential, however the competition for these limited packages are becoming more and more intense. Hopefully all this will regulate out in time, but as for right now, college is a pretty costly situation.