For the 1975-76 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees at a four-year, public university was $2,387. Since 1975, the cost of college tuition has increased by roughly 394%, with tuition costing $9,410 during the 2015-16 school year (College Board, 2016). As college costs continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for students, and their families, to bear the costs of getting an education. According to a survey by Edward Jones, financial advisor, “83% of Americans say they cannot afford the expense of a college education for themselves or a family member” (Levaux, 2015). Because of this, the United States should implement a policy that allows all U.S. citizens to obtain a post-secondary education at public institutions, up to a Bachelor’s Degree, free of charge. The above-proposed policy is completely nondiscriminatory. This means that under the policy, all U.S. citizens – regardless of socioeconomic status, race, age, etc. – will be eligible for a free post-secondary education. In addition to free tuition, post-secondary students will also receive a financial allotment, based on the number of course hours taken, for textbooks and other school-related supplies. Some of these supplies could include, but are not limited to; calculators, laptop and parking pass. For example, a student taking fifteen credit hours may be given between $1,000 and $1,500 for their school-related expenses. To receive the benefits of a free education, student’s must meet certain guidelines each college semester. Students will be expected to maintain a 2.0 GPA throughout their entire college career. If a student’s GPA falls below a 2.0, they will be put on academic probation. Also, students will be expected to attend class regul... ... middle of paper ... ...ing in a lower percentage of individuals living in poverty and decreased crime rates. As with any governmental policy, there are both pros and cons to this proposed free post-secondary education policy. With a higher percentage of individuals obtaining a Bachelor’s degree, both poverty and the income gap will be lessened for all races. In turn, criminal activity will be at an all-time low. However, the amount of tax increases needed to fund free college may be a great deal, and therefore, not all individuals may have the financial means required to pay these increased taxes. Many people would argue that higher education is a human right, hence it should not be so financially difficult for one to achieve a post-secondary degree. Therefore, this policy would be perfect for ensuring that every United States individual has equal opportunity to receiving higher education.
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...
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.
This makes students pushed harder to focus on any college that will be offered free. Thus, it wouldn’t take them longer than the average 4 years, due to them working full time as well as schooling. With fees out the way, parents don’t have to worry about not making enough savings for their child to be able to attend college. Students will be more focused on any subject in school as they strive for their degrees.
... We want to give tax deductions to post high school students, where the first two years of college are free at any State or City University. This will result in a stronger economy and nation because as a whole society, we are strengthening the knowledge of our youth. A substantial amount of Americans are without health insurance.
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
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
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.
Higher education, for low-income high school graduates can become a burden to their families and futures. For many high placed jobs it is ensured that their employees have some kind of postsecondary education; but most students will not go anything beyond a high school diploma. Different reasons range as to why students are not exceeding in their education and one of them is college is simply unaffordable. This is why students should be provided with at least two years of free college education if they show to be progressing in their high school classrooms. President Barack Obama has already created a proposal in his State of The Union Address speech that can make this a reality for all American students.
Jon Marcus, an editor for the Hechinger Report, examines how long it will take for a college student to graduate and how it affects the cost of getting a college degree, “The Reason College Cost More than You Think”. Marcus was an online writer for Time in 2014, and he mostly writes about higher education, mostly it is about college. College cost more than a person thinks because of the length that a student will graduate college; courses that a college student takes time and expenses that need to be paid
Pell grants. And much of that money would provide a free education to students whose families can already afford it.” It doesn 't make sense to give students that can afford college free college, if the government wants to help low income students increasing the amount of financial aid that is given out each year would be the best thing to do “At age nineteen, only around 20 percent of children from the poorest 2 percent of families in the country attend college. For the richest 2 percent of families, the same number is around 90 percent”(Bruenig). With Free college low income students would have a bigger disadvantage because At public colleges, students from the poorest fourth of the population currently pay no net tuition at either two-year
... 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.
Rep. Dick Zimmer predicts that at the current rate of rising college costs, by the year 2000 the average price tag for attending a four-year public university will be over $50,000 and the average four-year cost at a private university will exceed $104,000. (College costs continue to climb, 14) During the years between 1970 and 1994, the consumer price index increased just under four times, but the average cost of tuition, room, and board at four-year public colleges went up nearly five times, and private college costs rose almost seven times, from just under $3,000 to over $20,000. According to the U.S. News Cost of College Index, the average middle-class worker must now labor 95 days to pay for a year at an average private college. Two decades ago, it took slightly more than half as long to pay for the same education. (Elfin, 90) By 1994, the average four-year cost at a private college was over three times the typical family's annual income. (Reiland, 59) However, The College Board recently announced that US college tuition and fees for 1996-97 increased at nearly the same rate as they had in the previous year, adding that the more than $50...
Having the college experience is everyone’s dream, especially High School students who are ready to get out into the world and explore. College is very important for furthering someone’s career, but no one thinks about all the costs and the stress that comes along with college. Tuition fees and costs are increasing more and more each year. Now days it feels like you have to be a millionaire just to attend a good college and get a good degree in what you were attending for. There are some students that do not have a lot of money and live on very little things with their parents, but indeed are very smart and have a 4.0 GPA. Those students are the ones that are unable to attend college if they cannot afford it. College tuition is too expensive,
Public college tuition fees need to increase and not have a ceiling set on them because over time instructional costs increase due to rising wages, salaries and inflation. If there were a ceiling government taxes would increase, and last many amenities would have to be subtracted.
Clearly, the merits of having free higher education outweigh the drawbacks in immeasurable ways, benefiting the individual learners, states, and the nation at large. Having education in higher education free to all would ensure that every citizen get an equal opportunity in life regardless of their social status, it would allow people to concentrate on nation-building rather than loan payment after school, it would make the nation skill-sufficient and all citizens be more productive. Most importantly, education is a basic right that everyone deserves and money should not be a hindrance, thus, education should be free for all.