by. Maleah Bingham Crawford
Going to college can cost a lot. It takes a lot of time, money, and commitment, but is having a well-paying job and a nice home worth giving all that up? I mean, these days it seems like higher education is necessary to find a job that pays minimum wage. It's not fair that something that seems so imperative is so inaccessible to low-income students. Well, one thing you can do to try to lower the cost is to apply for scholarships. I was visited by the admission counselor, Briana Navarrete, of Western Oregon University. Upon the visit, I learned that your freshman year of college costs about $10,000 more than your sophomore, junior, or senior year. This may not be true for all colleges. But at Western Oregon University, you are required to live on campus for freshman year, which makes up fees. Regular in-state tuition is about $10,000 alone plus the $10,000 campus fee. You're looking at around $50,000 for 4 years, not including other fees such as textbooks, or meals. Some of the scholarships offered at Western Oregon are…
The Presidential: This is a scholarship for freshmen who had excellent grades in high school. The level you qualify for will be noted during the admission process. This means the amount of money you will receive will be determined by your GPA.
Diversity Commitment: This scholarship is available to all students. To qualify, all you need to do is write a short paper answering the questions given. They will read it and determine if you qualify for this $6,000 scholarship.
Jump Start scholarship: The Jump Start scholarship is awarded to students who applied for and received the Oregon Promise grant for attendance at a community college and have decided to attend WOU. These students will be granted $1,500.
These scholarships are available for WOU students and may not be available at other schools. Even with these scholarships, attending college may be really expensive. Now on
the flip side, with a 4-year degree/Bachelors's (or associate's) degree, you can build a higher-paying career. The average person coming out of a four-year college makes around $50-59,000 a year according to Work Chrons 2017 study but it depends heavily upon what field you go into. Other careers can range from $135-294,000. Again this all comes from your chosen profession, ranging from a teacher to a doctor. With only a GED/HS diploma, the average person makes about $40,000 a year. Now that you know this, what will you do with it?