Read the passage from "Making College More Affordable: What Needs Discussing Is the Total Cost of a Degree.” Sixty-two percent of these students work an average of 22 hours a week, usually at minimum wage jobs, so they can't take a full credit load. It is impossible to graduate in four years. They drop classes more frequently than other students and tend to have lower grades because of their work load. Sadly, they also don't have time to participate in advantageous activities, such as research or internships. They get discouraged. They either give up or end up attending a fifth or sixth year at a significant cost. If they graduate, they have paid more and gotten less from the experience than other students.

Our universities need a laser-like focus on mitigating all factors that slow the time to the completion of a degree. Every student should have access to financial literacy advisers and tools that help students take the most cost-efficient way to achieve a degree. We need "completion" programs to be a priority and not allow students to slip away because of finances or other hardships.

We can serve our mission of upward mobility and save students millions in costs and debt if we help every student, regardless of financial capability, to graduate, and graduate on time.

What is the author’s most likely reason for writing the commentary in this passage?

a. to encourage universities to lighten the classwork required to graduate
b. to suggest that a college degree should not take four years to complete
c. to highlight the challenges that students face beyond the cost of tuition
d. to promote the idea of a free college education for students who work hard