Instead of allowing dropouts to rely on government assistance, high schools should implement volunteer programs to keep students in school. Teens dropping out of high school affect every single person in America. However, most people don't understand why they should personally care for one of the most stereotyped subsets of the U.S. population. An unrecognized fact about dropouts is that, over their lifetime, they will cost the U.S. government $72,000, while high school graduates will benefit the government $315,000 (Emery). This affects every person in America. Taxpayers and their families are forced to pay for the services needed by high school dropouts. Such services include food stamps, welfare, incarceration costs, and even healthcare. Since high school dropouts are expected to earn drastically less money than their graduating classmates, they will have to rely on the above services at some point in their lives; some high school dropouts rely on government assistance their entire lives. Additionally, high school dropouts are 63 times more likely to end up in prison than college graduates (Breslow). This also puts a strain on taxpayers and their families, as the costs of running prisons increase every year. To counteract this massive loss of profit and potential, the reasons for churn need to be addressed. One of the main reasons why teenagers are forced to drop out of high school is to combat family costs. Household costs include regular bills such as mortgages, rent, car insurance, car payments, gas, grocery bills and utilities. Family costs also include unplanned expenses such as medical bills, school trips and holiday celebrations. Teens need to save half the paper by more students graduating from high school to counteract these costs. Works Cited Barnet, Sylvan and Hugo Bedau. “Current Issues and Lingering Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argumentation, with Readings.” 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. Print.Breslow, Jason M. “By the Numbers: Dropping Out of High School.” pbs.org. PBS, September 21, 2012. Network. May 7, 2014. Emery, C.E. “Assessing the Cost to Society of High School Dropouts.” The Providence Journal, January 16, 2011. ProQuest. Network. May 7, 2014."Quick Facts: Dropout Rates." National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Educational Sciences, 2013. Web. May 7, 2014.Guzman-Lopez, Adolfo. “California’s high school graduation rate climbs to 78%.” Southern California Public Radio. KPCC, April 9, 2013. Web. May 7, 2014. Levine, Peter. “The case of service”. Barnet and Bedau 636-640. Press.