According to the US Census Bureau, there are 59 million people 25 years or older who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Business continues to be the most popular major with 12 million grads, while Education was the second most popular, with 8 million.

The median income for high school grads who never went to college is $28,659; for those with some college but no degree, it is $32,036; those with a college degree $49,648; and those with professional degrees $87,356. This translates to lifetime earnings of $3.3 million for a masters degree, $2.3 million for a college degree and $1.3 million for a high school diploma.

These facts obviously translate that it is fortuitous for someone to attain a college degree.

According to College Data, the average yearly budget to attend an in-state public university is $22,261. The average at a private college is $43,289. College Data also reports that the average college student in the class of 2013 faces $35,200 in debt. Putting that into perspective, the average household is America will accumulate the following debt:

The numbers tell us we all owe $15,263 in credit card debt, $147,591 in mortgage debt and $31,646 in student loan debt. In total, American consumers owe $11.15 trillion in debt of which $994 billion is in student loans, a 4 percent increase from 2012.

Upon further research of an article in The Huffington Post this summer, they predicted that student loan debt will exceed the median annual income for college grads by 2023.

For those of you that didnt understand that, let me explain: As debt continues to rise, it will eventually meet your annual income when you graduate. Eventually, it will rise to a point where your debt entirely consumes your earnings and you will be in more debt than what you will actually be earning.

This is on top of the wages of college graduates actually dropping 5.4 percent over the last decade.

In the end, only 54 percent of these kids actually graduate within six years of starting college. So we have all these students with high hopes and dreams going in, but only about half graduate and join society with crazy student loan debt.

According to USA Today in an article published on January 28, 2014, “[s]ome of the lowest tuition and best financial aid for prospective college students are offered by some of the most academically demanding institutions, The Princeton Review says in annual rankings released today. In its annual list of the 150 Best Value Colleges, the company’s message to parents is simple: Tell your kids to study hard, because a strong academic record — not a family’s take-home pay — should drive a student’s decision about where to apply.”

It is advised that prospective incoming freshmen should look very deep into the colleges that offer the best financial aid packages. Minimizing your overall debt and reducing the amount of years you have to pay it off will taken a tremendous burden off the back of millions of colleges students.

Walking around the halls of HHS you’ll find very similar opinions among the vast majority of students.

“The price of college is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that it feels like I’m paying for a house just upsets me,” said senior Mary Grace Arena.

The looming bills can cause stress.

“It’s definitely something I’m not looking forward to about next year about picking a college. All those numbers weigh on me,” said junior Steve Cahill.

According to senior Alex Padovani, despite the price, it is still worth the investment.

“The price of college is awful, but you have to work towards your talents to try and lower the cost,” he said.

Padovani has committed to Villanova University on a full ride and will play football for them in the fall.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Daniel MacDuff has accepted the reality of college tuition, saying, “It is what it is. There’s nothing we can do about it, so we should just keep our heads in the books and attain a world class education.”

America is the land of dreams and opportunity. Anyone who is passionate enough to want a college education should be afforded the opportunity to at least try. It would be just great if we could make a college education free just like we do a high school education, but each of us in our right mind knows this is a dream. So the $35K in student debt will turn into $45K for the next generation and so on. A college degree is worth a million dollars more than a high school degree over your lifetime. Being well educated is priceless. I guess the risk of adding to your debt may be worth the reward of being a strong contributor to our economic future.

I just wish it did not hurt so much.