In the past decade, the high school dropout rate has significantly decreased. You would think that this would imply that young adults are moving more towards higher education, and this is true. College enrollment rates have risen 41 percent over the last 10 years. Regrettably, the enrollment doesn’t always turn out in everybody’s favor.The college dropout rate has spiraled down to an unfortunate 45 percent over the past five years, this means that approximately 4 percent of that higher college enrollment rate is actually graduating.

This can be attributed to an array of reasons. Firstly, not everybody is cut out for college, and sometimes people realize that whilst in the middle of their college careers. There is nothing wrong with this. Secondly, the average college tuition in America is $21,902.67. This is a pretty hefty number for young adults attempting to better themselves by getting an education, but that's a separate issue.

Between my personal experience as a college student, and the statistics provided by collegedata.com, it seems that the biggest non-tuition expenses for college students are food, textbooks and, believe it or not, caffeine. The average college student spends nearly $850 on coffee in a college semester.

Starbucks, although their products are yummy, is painfully overpriced. An average grande (medium) sized beverage is nearly $5. Starbucks has successfully capitalized on college students’ need for coffee due to their piles of papers, homework and exams, as well as the sleepless nights. There are Starbucks cafes currently on 300 college campuses nationwide.

Realistically speaking, Starbucks needs little financial help from the collegiate community. Students already have to pay for textbooks on top of what they’ve already spent on tuition and then they spend on average $20 a day on caffeinated products.

So here is my proposition as a humble, yet struggling college student. If college institutions are bent on bleeding the pockets of their students dry, which they obviously are, then why can’t they give us the luxury of — drum roll please — free coffee. If the word free is too intimidating for the money suckers of college students, perhaps a collegiate discount on our oh so precious caffeine?

Are those $20 a day so imperative to the operation of college institutions? I think not. People graduate college, and instead of being happy that they are free of the confines of school, they're hit with a wave of anxiety and depression. Student loans are quite literally dilapidating the quality of life for so many graduates. So why can’t just a touch of the pressure be alleviated by something as simple as free coffee?

Personally, on an average school day, I drink two cups of Starbucks coffee. That averages out to about $10 a day. If I saved those $10 every day, that would equate to half the money it would take to fill up my gas tank to get me to and from school every week. The additional charges impressed upon college students throughout their college career is borderline sadistic. Coffee is a necessity to the hardworking college student and is an amenity that can absolutely be distributed at a lower cost for the sake of the students.

So, for all the college professors and adults that just love to lecture millennials on our laziness and lack of ambition, let’s present the mathematics to them shall we? Life is no longer the way that it was when our parents and grandparents were in school. Something as minimal as free coffee can relieve a small corner of the stress that constructs so much of the mind of the average college student.