Since 1999, student debt has increased 511 percent, and each year it rises by $100 billion. ISU students themselves have seen a 119 percent increase in college.

From fees, tuition and living expenses, college is getting harder to pay for. Collectively, student debt of the nation now stands at a stark $930 billion, soon to break the trillion dollar mark, and individually you’ll probably graduate $30,000 in the red. For students, the question is why we’re paying so much more and what we can do about it.

Iowa State is a public school and funded by the state of Iowa. Depending on the Legislature and the allocations, we’re likely to pay more or less. Recently, the state of Iowa has begun to fund less, forcing us to pay more. As students are forced to pay more and the government cuts its college funding, students continue to collect loans from private sources. Eighty-three percent of students are now forced to indebt themselves through loans. However, unlike public loans, private loans are less forgiving on interest rates, increasing the concerns of new graduates.

One solution often stated is to find a job and “work your way through college.” However, fewer and fewer jobs are available to those in the working class, let alone students trying to find part-time work. Within the dwindling positions available, students frustratingly struggle to find work, and if they’re successful find themselves in a particular dilemma.

There is also the delicate dialectic between an education and survival. When the demands of classes increase, where does the divide between homework, extracurricular activities, class, volunteering and work form? Students’ primary concern should not be finances while they’re in school.

Parents often are another solution to the rising prices, but parents cannot afford college either. Where it was once enough to teach a few guitar lessons to pay for class, now our bills exceed thousands of dollars. Double it if you’re out of state. Besides, there is a virtue in paying for your own education, in taking the reins of your life, and proudly assuming the responsibility of your education. Unfortunately, that responsibility caries more than a few zeros behind it.

If we want to keep more students going to school, we need more state funding. Iowa needs to reconcile its budget and protect higher education, or it may lose its educated residence to more affordable states. As students, we need to keep searching for work. When it’s found, find the balance between work, study and play.

Expenses are going to get worse before they get better, and a little bit of debt is not a bad thing, but when it mandates our lives it becomes an issue. Like all things, student debt is going to require compromise by all parties.