Let’s not base our education system in this country on whether the parents can or can’t afford to send their child. Let’s make it for everyone. Let’s not make our college tuition a means to make money for the college. Let’s follow Germany and make higher education free.

Sixty-two percent of students are unable to afford college in the U.S. today, according to a Huffington Post poll. An annual 8 percent increase in tuition costs makes matters worse, meaning college education costs double every nine years.

“For a baby born today, this means that college costs will be more than three times current rates when the child matriculates in college,” according to the Smart Student Guide to Financial Aid, a website that helps students with financial aid information.

“Tuition fees are unjust. They discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study,” Stapelfeldt said. “It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany.”

“We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents,” said Gabrielle Heinen-Kjajic, the minister for the science and culture in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Germany is the most recent nation to hop on the free tuition bandwagon, others include Malta, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Cyprus and Norway. Many countries have out-of-country tuition for foreign exchange students as well, lowering hopes of free foreign exchange for American students. Germany announced on Oct. 9 it would extend free tuition to American students. American exchange students only need to pay their home tuition.

America does not care for its students as it should, and students are instead treated as cash cows.

America treats colleges as an institution to make money instead of institution for higher education. They charge outlandish prices for tuition and for books that they get very cheaply. If America were to treat their students and colleges like the European nations treat theirs, we would have a higher rate of educated population and, as a result, a lower rate of poverty and crime.

So when will America follow this free tuition trend? Likely answer:  “Never.”