history, marine biology, or thousands of other topics… or pizza at four o’clock in the morning.

歷史、海洋生物，或者數千種不同主題，或者是半夜四點想點披薩來吃

But why has college gotten so expensive?

但為什麼現在大學學費這麼貴?

In 1980, a year of college cost $3,400.

1980年代，大學一年學費約3,400美元

Today, the average cost is more than $23,000.

今天，平均一年學費超過23,000美元

What’s going on?

怎麼回事?

A great deal of blame lies with the government.

一堆責難的箭頭都指向政府

You see, government tries to help students by providing loans and financial aid.

來看一下，政府試圖透過提供貸款和財務援助來幫助學生

That is a great intention but when government helps pay for things, people tend to forget

這種意圖很棒，然而一旦政府想要協助付費，人們往往就會忘記

how much these things cost in the first place…

一開始，這些東西的費用是多少錢

things like college tuition.

這些東西指的像是大學學費

Whether it’s from the students or the government, colleges get their money.

而無論是從學生還是政府，大學都收得到他們的錢

And when the schools know that students have more money to spend (even if it’s the government’s

當學校知道學生有更多的錢可以花（即便是來自於政府的

money), they can raise the cost of admission.

錢)，學校就調漲學費

Think about that college town pizza place.

再想想大學城的披薩店

If the government provided subsidies to buy $5 pizzas, we would all cheer right?

如果政府提供5美元補貼你購買披薩，我們都會歡呼，對吧？

And we’d want to buy more pizza for a short time, yes.

短時間內，我們也會購買更多的披薩

But before long, the higher demand fueled by these artificially low prices would encourage

但是，要不了多久，因為人為造成的低價，推高了需求，連帶也鼓勵

the pizza place owner to charge more for pizza… knowing that many people were getting

披薩店老板想要收取更多的披薩費用...因為他知道很多人都拿到

government pizza assistance.

政府對披蕯的補助款

And this says nothing of the taxpayers stuck paying for the pizza subsidies.

而這樣，並沒有說明納稅人會堅持支付披薩補貼費用

So the next time people complain about the high cost of college… explain how government

因此，下一次聽到人們抱怨大學的高學費時...請解釋一下政府的政策

policy that tries to “help” students afford college now actually hurts

如何幫助學生付出學費時，其實也是

future students down the road.

在傷害學生未來的出路