My mother and father always taught my brother and I the importance of going to college to complete our education. My parents themselves never went to college, but worked hard to be upper-middle class and always wondered “what if” they had gotten a college degree. When my brother applied to college, it turned out to be much harder than he expected to get the money to help him, and now that I'm planning to finish college at a near future, I face the same difficulties. In some cases, I have an even harder time getting the money I need for college than my brother. The sad thing is that in a country that preaches the importance of getting a higher education, many students can't afford it, making a once-bright possibility a fading light at the end of a long tunnel. Universities brag about having the money for kids to attend college, but that money is often only given to those on merit-based scholarships, those from needy families , as well as those who have donated money to colleges and are therefore admitted to college. Although many colleges say they try to work with students on the scholarships mentioned above, many qualified students still cannot attend college. In Zoe Mendelson's essay "Paying for College," she describes a friend who experiences similar difficulties. Her friends' father describes their family as being "in the lower region," where his household income is "too high to qualify for substantial financial assistance, but not enough to pay that amount" (Mendelson, 131). This is often one of the main problems facing middle-class families. For families like mine, who earn a good living on paper, things are not quite what they seem. My... middle of paper ...maybe the child is just good at memorizing. Colleges deserve to have their own admission requirements as well as their own financial aid requirements. However, if the goal of a college is to provide education to students who want it and want to make the university proud, then these universities must provide a multi-dimensional way of considering a student and whether or not they should be admitted in his school and whether or not he needs the money. WORKS CITED Peter Schmidt “At the Elite Colleges-Dim White Kids.” Rpt in Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 128-30. Print.Zoe Mendelson “Paying for College.” Rpt in Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 131-133. Print.