Should College Education be Free? Before 75 years ago education was not important as it is now especially higher education, because people mostly worked in farms and factories to make a living. But in today’s high-tech, fast-paced countries people need education in order to stabilize one’s future. People see education as an opportunity to improve their status and move up the mobility scale because today college is the greatest driver of socioeconomic mobility in America (College Affordability, n.d.). Without education people can’t move up their status or have a successful life. People specifically need a college education to be successful. A high-school diploma won’t get people anywhere. About three-quarters of high-tech fast-growing occupations About 65.9 percent of high-school graduates have enrolled in college in October 2013, while it was down to 66.2 percent in 2014 (Norris, 2014). The rate of people who attend college after high school is declining since 2013. Because of this, people are arguing that college education should be free. If it is free then students from all income levels will be encouraged to attend college since they don’t have to worry about the high costs (Freedman, 2014). It will also encourage students who graduate from high school to enroll in college which would eventually increase the rates of people who go to college after high school. Also high-quality poor students are being left out from a deserved college education because of the cost. If college education is free then it would increase the number of poor high-quality students in college (Freedman, 2014). In other words, college education should be free in order for it to be affordable to everyone. Not only that, if it is free it can also produce more skilled and educated people that would impact the workforce in the Students may stay in school forever and not get a degree in their undergraduate career if college is free (Freedman, 2014). They won’t have a set mindset on what they will do in their undergraduate career and just waste their time in college if it is free. Even when college is not free students don’t earn a degree in 4 years because they don’t value their education as they are supposed to. According to a report done by Complete College America, majority of the students don’t earn a degree in their 4 years (Lewin, 2014). So people are scared that if college is free then students won’t value their free education and they will just slack off in college (Pettinger, 2014). Students will see free college education as an opportunity to not take it seriously since the money is not coming from their own pockets. Finally students will not benefit as much from their education if they are not serious about their free education as the whole idea behind free college is to have a smarter and better educated general population. If the government gives guarantee that students will be successful under a free college education then people will favor free college education, but as for now they are against
“If a college education has value, why give it away?” (Luebke). Most everyone wants to have higher education because it has value in this day and age. It opens up more career options, and lets them have more freedom to pick the career they want. With higher education being tuition-free, students might take their college education less seriously because they don’t have to pay for it (Should College Be Free? Pros, Cons, and Alternatives). Because of this, graduation numbers might drop, or the people who do graduate may not be as well prepared for the workforce. Yes, there are still entry requirements that limit the amount of students allowed into the school, but much of the drive for the students comes from the fact that they are paying a lot of money to be there. Also, giving away college education would almost certainly do the opposite of what people want it to do, which is give more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones. It isn’t that they want to necessarily take money from the richer families, but they want to give poorer families more opportunities to get money. “Without a dramatic overhaul of how we understand student benefits, making college more or entirely free would most likely boost the wealth of college attendees without securing any important egalitarian gains.” (Bruenig). This is because students from well-off families already enjoy a disproportionately successful future than students from poor families,
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
"Parents with incomes below $40,000 were much more likely to say they couldn 't afford college compared to those with higher incomes. The unsettling aspect of this poll is that in all likelihood, these parents ' perceptions mirror reality," says Tamara Draut, author of "Strapped”. She talks about how most middle class families can 't afford to put their children into college. The highest education they can get is a high school diploma, which we all know in this modern world it cant get you a lucrative job to maintain your whole life. Most American don 't get the chance to develop their full capabilities through higher schooling due to lack of resources like funds to enable them see their full potential. People will say that education is meant for people who can afford to go. And already the government has made schooling from pre-k to high school free for all public school, so making community colleges free will cost the state about 60 billion dollars as said by the white house spokesman Eric Schultz . Education must not be limited to only privilege people,it should be universal for anybody willing to educate themselves to make their life better and help grow Americas economy reducing
These kinds of people usually settle for a full time job and work their way up typically struggling to make ends meet. If college was free this problem could easily be erased, opening new doors that can one day make them financially stable and start a career rather than hanging on to a job that benefits them very little. Also with free college it can make people be more ambitious and take advantage of the opportunity while they can. In addition, another thing to think about is there are very intelligent people in the world that cannot continue higher education and if education was free they could learn and interpret something that could change a part of the world like the cure for
A high school education is no longer sufficient to succeed in America’s increasingly complex economy. However, because of the high price point of a college education, far too many Americans are unable to afford education beyond high school. As shown in the graph below, the higher level of education received greatly increases the chances for employment and also dramatically increases the average salary potential of an individual.
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
Over the past years of getting a college degree was the pathway to get a settle career. College has been a reason for people to carry on after high school. Now that tuition has been raised, getting a degree seems to drain students with more loans and could be in debt. College has been raised to the point where people rather start working at a minimum wage than continuing with school. Working on a part time job would be an easier choice rather than pursuing towards their degree. As people attend college, fees build up and students loaning money and possibly be in debt. Not only that, some may say college isn’t worth it, but it is. Getting a degree pays off at the end going towards your career path, making twice as much as you would work at a regular job. Students who have received a degree are slowly declining. To make adjustment, College should be free for
While the idea of free college is often seen as beneficial only to the wealthy, college should be free for everyone because going to college could once again be seen as a choice instead of a financial problem for many households, people could also better understand others that come from different backgrounds, and there are more
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.
Many Americans today still debate whether or not out government and country should fully implement free college. Those who are opposed to this idea are concerned with quality and accountability of education for all. For those in favor of the expansion of education, free college represents one of the great hopes for a better world. Even in the poorest nations, people believe and support in the funding of the expansion of universities and other higher learning opportunities are wise investments. Being a college student, I disagree with the idea that the U.S. should implement free college for all U.S. citizens. Free college in the United States is an unrealistic dream that cannot and should not
Free higher education has been seen successfully in places such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany to name a few. Most see this as a positive example to show if they can do it, than why can’t we. Germany is seemingly proof that free higher education can be accomplished easily by means of protest and by participation in politics (Wiener). This is definitely not the case here in America. The reason why that education system would work is because these countries are all vastly different from the U.S. According to the article “Free College in Europe isn’t Really Free,” the U.S. has an enrollment rate of 94% while Germany and other European countries are at about 62% enrollment (Jackson). With a much smaller country than us, they also have a significantly smaller amount of people attending college. Our country is simply much too large and populated to be able to achieve that. These countries also pay much more in taxes than we do. Therefore, free higher education is an unrealistic expectation for such a vast country as
Independent.Leadership.Equality. All of these are three characteristics as to what free university education can provide to citizens.Higher education should be free of charge for the citizens of the United States.In the US the average cost for colleges per year is $8,893. Many middle class and under class people cannot afford such costs. It is true that the government will give you grants but most of the time students never get funding from them (Emmons 3). Most people of today can hardly afford a car let alone the fees and tuition of college. Also, it could provide equality to all people. Allowing everyone an equal opportunity to go to college and make something of themselves. It provides a way for poorer families to break free from their social strata that they have been put into (“This House Believes University Education Should Be Free” 4). This is why it is important to make university education free.In the end citizens of the US would benefit from university free education.
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.