College is something that most people have dreamed about attending since we were young. For some people however, college is not even an option. Rising tuition and costs of higher education makes it difficult for many to receive a college education. An important factor for most people that cannot afford college is the economic inequality that is experienced in the United States.

In the article “American higher education and income inequality” by Catherine Hill, she states that if the “income inequality is increased, the access to higher education for lower income families is much harder to obtain”. She studied the income inequality from 1970 and after and stated that “if the household income inequality were to remain the same from 1971 to present, the tuition costs and financial aid would be much lower.” To make matters worse, the article “State higher education funding cuts have pushed costs to students, worsened inequality” by the authors Michael Mitchell, Michael Leachman, and Matt Saenz found that “between the years 2008 to 2018, 41 out of the 50 states spent an average of $1,220 less per student than previous years in four year institutions. Simultaneously, the tuition costs had risen an average of $2,708 per student in the exact same institutions.”

Educational inequality starts as young as elementary school and is directly related to the income inequality experienced by these students. Lowering tuition costs and providing more funding to financial aid isn’t productive on its own. We must also raise the minimum wage in the United States to see positive results. Raising minimum wage will help parents have the opportunity to provide their  private academic help, academic programs, and other resources in order to help a child’s academic success. Poor academics gives students who come from a lower economic background less of a chance to receive college education. Research done by Sean Reardon and stated in the article “Rising Inequality in Family Incomes and Children’s Educational Outcomes” by the authors Gred Duncan and Richard Murnane, “test scores in reading of low-income children were significantly lower than those of their heighten income peers in the 160s. Forty years later, the gap was 50 percent higher”.

Signing this petition will help bring raising the minimum wage and supporting lower tuition costs to governmental officials’ attention. I hope by reading this you have learned more about the issue and is willing to support the local students around you.