War is expensive. Although life is always the ultimate cost and many people have perished in these past five years, the Iraq war tab is becoming wildly outrageous.

According to the National Priorities Project, a Massachusetts-based research organization that provides information on how federal tax dollars are spent, the Iraq war, thus far, costs American citizens over $503 billion—and that number is steadily increasing.

That staggering amount includes basic military operations, funds for the reconstruction of Iraq and a myriad of other war-related expenses.

According to the new book, “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” written by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes, the current expense for the war is $12 billion per month, compared to the Congressional Research Service report that shows spending at $8 billion per month.

What can be agreed upon is that this war tab is astronomical, surpassing those of the Vietnam and Korean wars.

It’s unfathomable how much money is being wasted at such a ridiculous pace, especially on a war based on lies. Maybe if the American people were told the truth, we’d be willing to pay—just maybe. Mass panic? Big deal. Let’s hear the truth for once. Because that’s unlikely to happen, let’s focus on what could be provided to U.S. citizens.

On the NPP’s Web site, users can view trade-offs by selecting location and program type. It shows that California taxpayers have paid $66.2 billion for the Iraq war to date. The possible trade-offs include everything from health care and education costs to homes with renewable energy and other services.

Wouldn’t it be nice if that $66.2 billion were used to either provide 27.2 million people with health care, salaries for almost two million new teachers or about 200,000 affordable housing units—just in California?

As a college student, it irks me just knowing that the war has a negative impact on the California State University system.

SF State fell victim to state budget cuts, and it makes me wonder if there would be any cuts at all if America weren’t in this time of war. We’ll never know.

If the careless spending spell continues, the Iraq war will easily be the second-most expensive war in U.S. history. World War II is the first, with a tab of $3.2 trillion—and that includes inflation.

Stiglitz and Bilmes claim that by 2017, the tab could reach up to $5 trillion, which would make this war the most expensive.

Does America really want to earn that distinction? Let’s end the war. Let’s save some money. Most importantly, let’s save some lives.