It is difficult to argue with the assertion everyone should be able to attend college. Unfortunately, increasingly high tuition costs may inhibit participation in higher education for many people.

For example, according to its admissions Web site, a year at Vanderbilt University can run a tab of just under $50,000.

While this certainly sounds daunting, it does not affect the first issue facing a prospective Vanderbilt student: admittance. Need-blind admission to Vanderbilt does not consider the ability of an applicant to pay the hefty price, and in fact, officials do not even know the financial details of a particular prospective as they make decisions. For the students that do get in, Vanderbilt meets 100 percent of their demonstrated financial need.

While lower college costs would certainly be a welcome change, there are a number of factors that prevent students from attending college, many of them more pressing than financial cost.

Before students incur the cost of attending a university, for which there are countless loans and grants that can be applied for, they must get into it. This step must be the first concern of our congressional leaders, as universities take it upon themselves to, as Vanderbilt does, meet as much demonstrated student need as possible.

Family income does, indeed, play a large role in the college decision process. However, this role relates primarily to the relationship between income and college preparedness. Martin Kurzweil, a research associate at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, told Black Issues in Education, in 2004, “If there is any disadvantage that low-income students have, it is clearly a result of things that are going on a long time before a student even thinks about going to college. They are not getting involved in the kind of preparation that is necessary for going to college, or even for being competitive as an applicant for going to college.”

In terms of priorities, preparedness must come before affordability.