Bernie Sanders Free College Policy

701 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of high college tuition costs

One of the more interesting candidates in the current presidential race is democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders. The majority of his supporters are attracted to his free college policy. Students in high school and college see Bernie as the obvious choice because of tuition they will be exempt of. People who are voting in his favor based on this policy, however, fail to realize the possible repercussions from such radical changes to our economic system.
The lower economic class is already offered free college through federal and state grants. The California Student Aid Commission gives everyone an opportunity to receive a grant; students simply have to sign up for free and list their tax information. After the student's’ financial information …show more content…

According to Business Insider, the largest business news site on the web, Germany offers free college to all of its citizens but their income tax lies at fifty percent. That is twenty-three percent more than American income tax! Taxpayers are not ready for that change. What about the taxpayers who didn't go to college? Why burden them with higher taxes? My parents did not go to college, but they make enough to be taxed to pay for the students who do attend college. Would it be fair to tax them? Approximately sixty-nine percent of students after high school plan on attending college, according to Wade K. Jarrell, an observer of the free college debate. That leaves thirty percent of the population being taxed unfairly. Another issue that students opting for free college do not realize is that they will have to pay taxes, too. So, if the free college policy passes like it did in Germany these students would pay an extra twenty percent income tax the rest of their lives. Someone that makes sixty thousand dollars on paper would only be receiving thirty thousand because of the taxes free college would inflict. Bernie Sanders is promising equality with free college, but is proposing unfair taxes on the …show more content…

Most students will attack colleges as being too greedy, but the colleges may have a method to their madness. With the growing tuition comes the almost simultaneous growing average GPA for college students. Gradeinflation.com has logged the average GPA of college students of over one-hundred colleges, including well known universities such as Stanford and Duke, from 1920 to 2010. The data shows an increased GPA of one point since 1960. That is a whole letter grade in fifty years. With growing intellect comes growing responsibility for the college to provide a prestigious education for its students. This growing tuition arises from a need for higher level instructors and not for greater profit. In the University of North Carolina system, about seventy-five percent of a student's tuition goes to professors and instruction, and the remainder is distributed among school facilities. Tuition is reasonable, it is distributed to support a student's academic life in every aspect. Why should a taxpayer pay for the quality of a student's education?
Although many students are angry with rising college costs and are in favor of some kind of change, imposing a federal mandate requiring free public college will not solve the core of the issue. Everyone can apply for federal grants to support their education as well; it is a fair process, unlike the taxes free college would put on the citizens.

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis Of Bernie Sanders's Free Tuition Program

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bernie Sanders, current candidate for the President of the United States, Democratic party affiliation, believes that all students deserve the opportunity to receive an affordable, quality education from the earliest stages of schooling to high-level degrees. He has sponsored bills to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, as well as to drastically reduce interest rates on student loan debt.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: What Does Free College Really Mean?

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ellison, Keith. “The Argument for Tuition-Free College.” The American Prospect. The American Prospect. 14 April 2016.Web. 20 March 2018.

    Read More

  • The Cost of Equal Opportunity: An in Depth Look at the College Tuition Cost Epidemic

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    The idea of freedom and equal opportunity that America was built on has sadly been lost and replaced with a system of quality education only being accessible by the wealthy. In-state college tuition should be free for all students meeting admission requirements, allowing students from the full spectrum of economic backgrounds to have the same opportunity to receive the same education. The incidence of poverty in the U.S. is directly linked to educational level. When a college degree is earned, income levels rise (College Board). The best use of federal government anti-poverty funds is not another welfare or assistance program; it is to make college education affordable for everyone.

    Read More

  • GPA Should Be Able To Get Free College Tuition

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine you worked your whole life to get into a good college but the only thing things stopping you was that you’re homeless. The number of homeless is growing number, there is a way to help. Students with temporary living situations and a 3.0 GPA should earn free college tuition. Children with temporary living situations should be able to earn free college tuition because they work hard for their GPA, education is very important, and because the parents are not financially stable.

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Community College

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    Going to college and getting a degree is a very important factor in succeeding in the 21st century competitive world. Nonetheless, many people do not go to college because of how expensive col-lege has become and the fear of being in debt. Sometimes college does not work out for every-one. President Barack Obama has proposed a plan to make the first two years of community col-lege free to encourage people to go to college, get a degree, and make the United States the most educated country or at least catch up to the rest of the countries like Russia and Canada. Howev-er, Obama 's action of reducing the costs of community college will not significantly increase the number of students who will graduate with degrees. Instead of making college

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Free College Free

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    As Bernie Sanders, a presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential elections, claims he can make college free, the subject of tuition for secondary schooling has become a “hot” topic. The New York Times, on January 20th, released a “Room for Debate” titled “Should College be Free?” where many journalists such as Andrew P. Kelly and Sara Goldrick-Rab voiced their opinions on college tuition. “Just one-third of students from the bottom income quartile, who started at a community college in 2003 finished with a degree or certificate by 2009,” wrote Kelly, showing that the poorer find it hard to finish college with a degree. He believed that indigent students would likely not graduate with a degree due to college cost and because they are not motivated enough to get through six years of college. Although it is unpractical to create an educational system where college is absolutely free, creating organizations dedicated to encouraging the needy to get through

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Free Community College

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    When hearing the words “free” and “college” in the same sentence, that is exciting to anyone who is interested in not paying those thousands of dollars for their pursued education. However, when it comes to Obama’s free community college idea, for the first two years, many people skip over the many factors that go into this issue. Some may agree with President Obama’s plan fighting for a fair chance for all student to get a degree and not go into debt receiving an education, and others argue that community college already being inexpensive will only make the system difficult to work with. While making community college free for everyone is considerate, the students with low incomes already get the aid they need without this program and the

    Read More

  • Summary Of Are Too Many People Going To College

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Calling a college education “free” is a contradiction because nothing in life is truly free. Someone will be responsible for paying for this education, even if it is not the person receiving it. To support this flood of hopeful college students, the American Government will have to heavily tax the working and upper classes. Taxes will have to be inflated to compensate for the price of college, and in some cases, may become outrageously high. If the upper class becomes constantly taxed, what keeps them from dropping down a class? What keeps the middle class from becoming the lower class? In an extreme situation, if the middle and upper classes were constantly taxed, there risks a problem of creating a bigger class divide. Maybe the plan to pay for college education starts out with only the rich being taxed. In America, there are roughly 324 million people. This number increases every eight seconds, so there is a constant increase of citizens. Imagine if half of that number decides to go to college. College education is free for them, but their tuition is paid for by the upper class. Now, average college tuition runs for about $9,410 for State Universities, and around $32,405 for out of state students. This amount of money, per student, is paid for by the upper class’s taxes. Taxes are raised higher and higher to pay for all these students until they cannot be raised any further. The upper

    Read More

  • Why College Should be Cheaper

    1910 Words  | 4 Pages

    College is one of the most fundamental institutions in our modern world. It is a place where most of our future politicians, doctors, scientists, and leaders are made. Though, it seems that the price tag that comes with a college education is something that is too hefty for some students. Countless debates go on about whether the price of college should be abolished or whether the cost still is on the students to pay for.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Should College Be Free

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Free college tuition, or even a completely free college education, might sound great, but on whose shoulders does the burden fall? A lot of people want free college tuition because of the constantly rising costs of going to a university, junior college, or community college. A lot of the argument advocates use is that the student debt in this country amounts to $1.2 trillion. While that is a lot of money owed, it is the price you have to pay for an invaluable privilege in the U.S. College tuition shouldn’t be free because taxpayers will need to pay more, students will take their classes less seriously, and states will need to pull money from other departments in order to make up for the lost money. The first reason for being against this “If a college education has value, why give it away?”

    Read More

  • College Education Should Not Be Free

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Or we could also look at “Implementing new taxes on speculative Wall Street transactions” (Redd) as famously advocated by Senator Bernie Sanders and lastly “Cracking down on wasteful government spending” (Redd). All the mentioned solutions could bring about free higher education at no cost to the American taxpayer. Ultimately, the United States should bring forth a free, government-subsidized, higher education, because of its benefits to the economy, creation of equal opportunity, and the resolution of the student loan crisis. Even though it will require funding, there are certainly innocuous alternatives that could provide this, rather than putting the extra stress on average American taxpayers.

    Read More

  • tuition

    2314 Words  | 5 Pages

    To begin to understand this issue, we have to first examine the history and the context from which it arose. The rise of tuition is mainly due in part because the colleges need more money to upgrade and stay on top of the technology era. There are also many other reasons why tuition is on the rise though. One writer states that, “As almost every state reels from the effects of recession and tax cuts, legislatures slash funding for higher education, the largest discretionary item in most state budgets.” (Reed Jr., p.25). Another writer states, “A need to improve facilities, state budgets that are declining and inflation are all contributing to the rising cost of higher education, and there appears to be no end in sight.” (Gallagher, The Augusta Chronicle). This same writer gives another reason, “Universities, private and public, have to raise tuition to cover the costs of new construction, renovations and technological advancements and to keep qualified professors.” (The Augusta Chronicle). All of these statements show that there are many reasons why college tuition is on the rise, but they don’t seem to make sense to me. There should be other ways that colleges are able to pay for these advances in technology and inflation besides just hiking up the tuition cost. The tuition cost is so high that they have plenty of money to pay for all of the technological advances that they want and still have money left over for others things that the school has to be able to pay for from the tuition from students.

    Read More

  • The Funding for College Education

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    As colleges’ funds dry up, colleges must turn to the public to further support higher education. By raising state taxes, colleges can collect funds to help improve the school’s budgets. The state provides funds from the taxes for colleges to receive a certain amount for each student currently enrolled. All community and traditional four year colleges collect these funds in order to maintain the school’s budget. As reporter, Eric Kelderman states, “less than a third of colleges’ budget is based from state taxes”. The school’s budget is how colleges are able to provide academic support programs, an affordable intuition, and hire more counselors. Colleges must now depend on state taxes more than ever for public colleges. Without collecting more funds from state taxes, as author, Scott Carlson explains how Mr. Poshard explains to senators “our public universities are moving quickly toward becoming private universities…affordable only to those who have the economic wherewithal to them” (qtd. in.) Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes.

    Read More

  • High Tuition

    2062 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the first steps toward college reform is to begin adjusting our tuition rates accordingly. Many college institutions have steadily raised the cost of tuition resulting in many students to have difficulties paying for college across the United States. Tuition rates have been a huge barrier for college undergraduates: "Over the past three decades, tuition at four-year colleges has more than doubled, even after adjusting for inflation" (Fact Sheet). Tuition is steadily increasing, causing college to become more expensive than in previous decades. Instead of helping Americans who have a desire to attend an educational institution, the government is slowly making it harder to attend and pay for college. High Tuition is preventing college undergraduates from obtaining a degree, causing many to be in a financial crisis when taking into account student loans and paying for tuition. Having high inflation rates in the economy is only making it worse and more difficult to get a higher education. The government would undoubtedly want to see improvements in employment rates within the United States, yet when Americans are trying desperately to obtain a degree, they have to deal with the overwhelming, costly tuition rates that have caused many to slow graduation and make college students pile up more debt than necessary. Thus, students often worry about debt

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Importance Of College Education

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    A college education is necessary today in society. Students can focus on their academics and try to get a high score. The cost of education for each student has become more difficult to afford. Thus, many students and teachers wonder if free college tuition must be granted. Free education must be responsible and funded by the U.S. government because it will help students focus on their studies, and encourage them to work harder in school. Even thought many people think that education must be free, it is very important for many reasons such as the economy, quality of education, and value of a college degree.

    Read More

More about Bernie Sanders Free College Policy

Open Document