Dear Mr. Romney,

As an 18 year-old student who will be starting college next year, I am extremely concerned about your approach to affordable education and your plans to assist college students across the country. I feel as if you are out of touch with the struggles college students face every day.

This past April, you visited Otterbein Univeristy, a liberal arts college here in my home state of Ohio. When discussing education, you stated, “Get the education . . . borrow money if you have to from your parents.” But the truth is too many families across the country don’t have money to just hand to their children. When you implore students should “get as much education as they can afford,” I can’t help but cringe. Students should receive as much education as they wish for. Money shouldn’t get in the way of a student’s dream of receiving a college diploma.

President Obama has stood up for college students time after time. He doubled Pell Grant funding, giving financial aid to millions more college students across the country. The American Opportunity tax, signed into law by Obama in 2009, gives up to $2,500 a year in tax credits to college students across the nation. Also, until they are 26 years old, American students can also now stay on their parents’ health care plans.

In Paul Ryan’s budget plan, Pell Grant scholarships would be cut for nearly 10 million students, and the budget would let student loan interest rates double. These policies are out of touch with the interests of young Americans. You were lucky enough never to have the high cost of a college education affect you.

On November 6th,  I will cast my vote for President Barack Obama. He’s had our back for four years, and now we will have his.

Written by Matthew Brigstock’13