It is always better to give than to receive. However, students already give more than enough to NC State. NC State’s giving day is coming up soon. For those who may not know, Day of Giving encourages students and alumni to donate to various programs at NC State.

While there is nothing wrong with NC State starting a fundraiser, they should not be asking students for money. Due to the rising cost of college education, many students are not in a financially stable position to give more money to NC State, and should not be expected to donate to NC State during its Day of Giving.

College is incredibly expensive. On average, NC State undergraduate students that live on campus spend an average of 24,258 dollars per year. If most students stay at NC State for 4 years, they will be spending around 97,140 dollars. Students are already giving plenty of money to NC State and should not be expected to give more.

In addition, because of the high cost of college, many students are struggling to pay for higher education. With the average cost for a student to attend at 24,258 dollars, and the average median income of an average North Carolina family being 52,752 dollars, most families at NC State are struggling to pay for college when the cost of higher education is almost half of their yearly income.

This fact is further solidified when there are a number of students already facing financial problems. Last year NC State reported that almost a tenth of students had experienced homelessness within a year and of those, a quarter experienced food insecurity within a month. Clearly, there are many students that are struggling to pay for college, much less basic necessities; they should not be expected to give even more money to NC State.

But most importantly, many students are going to be in debt after they graduate from college. As stated before, most of a student’s income will go towards college. Because families have to put food on the table and have bills to pay, students must apply for student loans.

Student loans only provide another financial burden on college undergraduates. As evident with the student loan crisis, many undergraduates and graduates are struggling to pay their debt. It is clear that many students are already having trouble paying for college and should not be expected to donate more money to NC State.

NC State Day of Giving is not an entirely awful concept, but NC State should not expect students to donate more money to their institution. College is already expensive, and many students are struggling to pay for higher education, so they risk going into debt by applying for student loans.

For their giving day, NC State should either divert their attention to alumni or find some other way for students to give back to NC State besides donating money. If NC State wants its students to participate in its Day of Giving, they should offer activities to give back to the NC State community, such as helping out with a food pantry or other non-profit organizations. There are other ways to give back to the community besides donating money, and hopefully NC State will realize that soon.