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Going to college isn't getting any cheaper. In fact, Elon's tuition has gone up more than $10,000 in the past four years.
Graduating senior Destinee Pray is worried about what she's doing after graduation and how she will pay back $45,000 in student loans.
"I've had to take out more not only because price and tuition has gone up, but also because the amount I was receiving from like Pell Grants and federal aid has gone down," Pray said.
Pray currently has a couple of job offers that will allow her to make income-based payments six months after graduation.
Patrick Murphy, director of financial planning at Elon University, says even though the loans are piling up against students, the school can't afford for tuition to cost any less.
"Students think that we just arbitrarily raise the tuition because we can," Murphy said. "It's not because we can; it's because we have to to be able to pay for the faculty salaries, the cost of providing meal plans, the residence halls, education programs."
According to Murphy, if the university didn't raise tuition regularly, the system would collapse. The institution wouldn't be able to provide students with what they require or need.