College Rant

Today I was asked to find a scholarship I qualify for as an assignment and it made me think, why should I need to do this? Why should I to go into so much debt for education? What is wrong with our society that education is for a select few in relativity to the masses of the uneducated? In much of Europe the equivalent of college is free for those with the grades, no matter your income. I could avoid the thousands of dollars in debt by not going to college and not advancing my education. Doesn't that seem like the better option? Why should I put myself into debt when there isn't any guarantee of employment either way? Trying to get to college has become an extraordinarily stressful feat. Colleges focus on so much more than grades. It's already extremely difficult to maintain my over 4.0 GPA, and now if I want to go to a good school, I need to play a sport, be in clubs, have a ton of volunteer hours, and present myself in less than 1,000 words to someone I've never met, and convince them to admit me. Also, colleges are looking at things that are out of my control including race, sex and my parents income. Why should someone of Mexican ancestry or African American ancestry with the exact same qualities as me be admitted and I'm white and I'm declined. I understand that colleges are trying to make their campuses more diverse, but by trying to "not be racist," they are being racist. Why should the fact that I'm male influence whether I'm admitted or not? Why does the fact that my parents make more money than someone else influence the admission officer? Because I am a white male from an upper middle class family I am not going to get any favors from the admissions officer. To get admitted I have to be the best of the best instead of just the best. It may just seem like I'm some spoiled privileged brat who doesn't realize what he has, but my parents make to much money to qualify for financial aid and not enough to pay for college easily, and because I'm a white male from the upper middle class, if i get admitted, I'm not going to get much money from the school. While my family may be better off than others, the fact that these "less well off" families get  tons of financial aid is really an equalizer because I will graduate with debt.  How is this an equal opportunity? The American Dream is to take whatever circumstances you begin with and improve them, not backtrack because of debt from trying to better yourself through education.