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The costs of a college education have been soaring at a faster rate than the costs of healthcare in the past few decades. These rising costs have negatively impacted our national debt and student loan debt currently sits at over 1 trillion dollars. The solution to this growing problem is to make all public higher education free. Student goals of developing their minds and learning for the sake of being educated are being undermined by high costs of tuition. It is important for our nation to be educated, and a compromise is not hard to find to allow as many students as possible to reach their goals of higher education.
In Robert Samuels article, “For Public Colleges, the Best Tuition is No Tuition,” his main goal is clearly stated; public college tuition should be free. In this piece, Samuels offers many attainable solutions to this currently outstanding problem. Samuels states the cost of making all public universities free would be around $97 billion and $33 billion for community college, based on what the federal and state governments already spend on Pell Grants and financial aid. By using current resources in a more effective manner, Samuels explains his ultimate goal. He proves his point that by making public education free, our taxation systems, tax revenue, and national debt will all decrease.
In 1947, it was recommended to then-President Harry Truman that education ought to be both free and universal through all levels of education, as a way to extend affordability to higher education. The commission report stated “It is obvious, that free and universal access to education, in terms of the interest, ability, and need of the student, must be a major goal in American education. The time has come to make education through th...
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...ovement will only present itself if students, parents, and any sensible Americans unite to demand it now.
Works Cited
Block, Gene D. "Public Higher Education: Too Big -- and Far Too Important -- to Fail." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Apr. 2012. Web.
Cauchon, Dennis. "Student Loans Outstanding Will Exceed $1 Trillion This Year." usatoday.com. N.p., 25 Oct. 2011. Web.
Lake, Frank. "Weekly World News." Weekly World News. N.p., 28 Oct. 2012. Web.
Samuels, Robert. "For Public Colleges, the Best Tuition Is No Tuition." The Chronicle of
Higher Education. N.p., 5 Aug. 2013. Web.
"End Student Debt!" The Nation. N.p., 2 May 2012. Web.
"Student Loan Fairness Act." Congresswoman Karen Bass. Bass.house.gov, 21 Mar. 2013.
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"Weekly Address: Calling on Congress to Prevent Student Interest Rates from Doubling."
YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web.
Ellison, Keith. “The Argument for Tuition-Free College.” The American Prospect. The American Prospect. 14 April 2016.Web. 20 March 2018.
Community colleges and vocational tracks are not wrong about the high cost of traditional higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, one year at a public, four-year institution costs upwards of $23,000 on average, while private institutions will cost nearly $10,000 more on average. Coupled with the fact that prices at public institutions rose 42 percent and private institutions rose 31 percent between 2001 and 2011, it’s not a shock that parents and students alike worry about paying for college. However, this won’t always be the case, as this rise in prices simply cannot continue the way it has. Eventually, people will be unable to pay the price that colleges charge. They will either settle for com...
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
According to Trade Schools, Colleges and Universities “Many of America's top-performing high school students never apply to the most challenging colleges and universities even though they have the ability to succeed at them. They often come from minority and low-income households and end up pursuing more affordable, less-selective schools instead.” College can be a burden to many students in a variety of different ways, but the most common reason is due to funds. Making college free for students will help this problem by increasing jobs in the work industry that require degrees, they should be affordable to all people at all cost, as well as the funds should be completely cut off because it would increase jobs and help America's economy grow.
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
Throughout the years, America has always debated whether education is needed- if it helps people succeed or not. The argument in the past was always over high school education, which is now mandatory. That decision has helped the US rise economically and industrially. Today, the US is in the middle of the same debate- this time, over college. Some, like David Leonhardt, a columnist for the business section of The New York Times, think a college education creates success in any job. Others, such as Christopher Beha, an author and assistant editor of Harper’s Magazine, believe that some college “education” (like that of for-profit schools) is a waste of time, and can even be harmful to students. Each stance on this argument has truth to it, and there is no simple answer to this rising issue in an ever changing nation full of unique people. Any final decision would affect the United States in all factions- especially economically and socially. However, despite the many arguments against college, there is overwhelming proof that college is good for all students, academically or not.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
One of the hot topics of debate going on in the U.S. today that presidential candidates are talking about is college tuition. Some have revealed their proposals to American citizens on how they would tackle the issue of tuition. The question is which one of the many proposals will work and limit the amount of people who don’t go to college and give them a reason to go. The tuition issue is not a case by case problem, but a national problem. While there are some who have the opportunity to attend college others are not as fortunate. But everyone can have a part in shaping the future for many generations to come. The objective is to find a way to make what some would call “college free”to everyone. How were we able to find a way to make public
In today’s competitive climate, there is no time to waste. The US as a nation is being left behind by other governments that have focused on funding education. Students in other nations are taking advantage of the educational tools and service...
There is no doubt that college is expensive, price tags for some universities go over a quarter of a million for just a bachelors degree! (That’s if you graduate in four too). The extravagant price for college is no doubt crazy. Trying to better yourself and your future shouldn’t cost $250,000 plus. If public universities were to be free a plethora of problems could be solved instantly. According to Forbes the National student loan debt has surpassed 1.2 trillion dollars (Denhart )! This number is growing exponentially as more students enroll in to college. Why question then whether college should be free? Well, this number is the total amount of student loan debt from all students that have exited college. Some of these students are freshly graduated while some are aged with the wisdom trying to pay their loans back. If public universities were to be free and funded by our federal government, our government would pay this amount within ten years. Relatively a short amount of time considering that the student loan debt is an accumulation debt from students that have graduated more than ten year ago, also this also greatly increase with the following years as well.
After World War II, the nation was focused on the promotion of democracy throughout the world. In 1946, President Harry Truman mandated a commission on higher education. The first federal commission on higher education in US history, submitted a report a year later and argued two fundamentals for higher education: equal opportunity and to educate the citizens. Philo Hutcheson (2011), an Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University, explained the principles as: first, to promote “equal opportunity as a social economic good” (p. 45) and the latter to educate individuals so they can “make wise choices, especially in the face of totalitarian threats” (p. 45) after the war.
For most young Americans, college has always been preached to them as being a vital part to their success in the adult world; but as they reach this educative rite of passage many find they must take out inflated loans, work part time jobs, or even become dissuaded entirely due to the exorbitant costs of higher education. We must forsake this current antiquated system in favor of government subsidized tuition. Therefore, college education must be free because of its benefit to the economy, creation of equal opportunity, and the resolution of the student loan crisis.
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.
Education reform has been an ongoing debate in the United States for many years. The latest argument that many politicians, teachers and even students have debated is whether or not four-year public universities should be free. Even Barack Obama pushed for a plan that would make two-year community college free for everyone. In addition to this, Bernie Sanders has made free higher education one of his main political platforms in his presidential candidacy. According to "How America 's Colleges Could Be Tuition Free," student college debt has passed the one trillion dollar mark (collegerank.net). This number is unreasonably high. With all the hype, most people’s initial reaction would be to agree with free higher education. Knowledge and education
This has sparked the debate as to whether higher education ought to be offered free of charge or not, with many rallying for the former. In order to level the playground for all Americans and offer equal opportunities in life; higher education should be offered free of charge to all. This paper seeks to make a convincing argument regarding the importance and need of having free higher education. At the same time, this essay seeks to cite some of the opinions of those of a contrary opinion, giving them a different viewpoint. In the end, this essay will weigh the benefits of free higher education against the drawbacks and probably, convince everyone that the benefits are enough to guarantee free higher education.