Frustration Level --- UP!

As you know, I recently finished my Associates Degree through the community college I've been attending in IL. I was told by one of the advisors at that community college that if I completed my Associates Degree, my credits would transfer to any 4-year university of my choosing. I made sure to ask, "Any 4-year university in ANY state?" and received the reply of YES - any university. So the next step for me is to figure out which 4-year university I would like to attend. Well, there is one college in particular that I would like to go to - the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. It's not that far away from us and it's got an exceptional reputation....but my frustration is coming in the form of this...WHY is it so dang expensive to go to college? WHY? Not only do they charge you to take classes, they charge you for books and using their facilities (if you have to take a "lab" course), but they also charge you just to APPLY to their college. And it's NON-REFUNDABLE. Can someone explain that to me please? I mean, I understand - they have to pay people to look over my application and transcripts and all that, but in my opinion, if they accept me to the college, then they are going to be making a BOATLOAD of money off me so why do they need to keep my $50 application fee? Speaking of applications -- do I really need to write essays and have letters of recommendation to attend college? Won't my grades & class history & ACT scores be enough? I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I now understand why so many people DON'T attend college anymore. College's have really made themselves unreachable...unattendable....unaffordable. It's sad in my book. You go to school for a few years to get an education and then you end up paying for that education for the next 15 to 20 years or longer depending on how long you go to school for.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm just getting frustrated. I already knew that I had missed the cut off date in order to be accepted in to start this fall, but with the way things are progressing, I may not even be able to get everything pulled together so that I can start in the spring. Sigh. I guess this just means that I can take the next several months to write exceptional essays, find a bunch of people to write recommendations for me and hope that I qualify to be "accepted". And also hope that I can get enough funding lined up to be able to pay for school too. Good Grief, Charlie Brown.