Why should we be allowed to have the opportunity to have free higher education or decrease the cost of it? Going to college should be our right and cost of tuition should not affect our decision on whether to go or not. The ability to have free higher education with little or no cost can open the door and create many great different paths for us. The more education we have, the more opportunities grow, but that can’t happen to all of us due to tuition costs or even being in debt with loans for not being able to have the money to being with. With tuition being eliminated or decreased, people would attend college more not saying a lot would, but just the fact that more people would consider college. Germany abolished tuition which provides a model for the United …show more content…
No matter what age or where people are in their life, they would be able to go back to school to start or finish their higher education and fulfill what they have always wanted to do. An article “Why Free College is Necessary” Tressie McMillan Cottom presents the need for free college in the U.S. According to Cottom, “Why aren’t more people going to college? One obvious answer would be cost, especially the cost of tuition” (Cottom/115). Cottom states that basically the main reason why many people are not going to college is because of cost, plain and simple. The job opportunities people would be able to acquire would grow immensely for them, instead of being stuck at a certain job making ends meet. I have come across old friends that never considered going to college after high school because they simply could not afford to go college or even pay for a book. Tuition free colleges nationwide would help many people struggling with their jobs, bills etc. and give them motivation to want to do something better in their life by extending their education, creating new career
“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,
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.
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
Everywhere else in the world college is free but the United States. I believe that people would feel more obligated to go to college if it was free. College is the main reason Americans are having to live such a hard lifestyle. My father did not go to college and makes eighteen dollars an hour. On the other hand my aunt did go to college and make twenty-four dollars an hour but is still paying back student loans so after paying all of her stuff back she only makes around fifteen dollars an hour that she gets to bring back and that doesn’t include taxes. That is why I do not think college is a good choice to make in
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
Their claim might be that in having free-tuition colleges and universities the education system will lose its value on students. Whereas, knowing that students are paying for class course they are more focused and determined. They don 't want their money to be a waste. And I agree, however there are other ways to approach this. In Germany one still has to pay for their education, but with a small tuition fee and their own living expenses. In fact, international students at Germany have to pay an annual of approximately $6,300 in tuition and living expenses where 90 percent goes to paying one’s living expenses and the other 10 percent goes into university fees. After all in the U.S, the average annual cost for attending college is about $35,000 where about only 30 percent of that money goes to living expenses; compare that to the 90 percent in Germany. We should consider lowering the prices of tuition where students still feel the need to focus since after all they are still paying for the college classes. The ultimate goal is not to be free-tuition but to lower it just enough that individuals who want to pursue a career will be
While most people want college to be free, the U.S. should not make tuition free for all citizens. There are a number of reasons like taxing families who already have it hard, quality in education, rationing, and if people see that they do not have to pay it may lower the value in which they won 't take school seriously. Tuition free college is impossible because at the end of the day someone will have to pay for all those students attending. For example, “In college I was invested, I was paying,” The former student said, “Once it entails a cost, it’s not easy to just say, Oh, let’s not go to class today. You’re just hurting yourself” (qtd, in Make College Affordable, but Not Free). Student who barely made it
Students should have the ability to attend college tuition free without worrying about debt from student loans. In addition, this will encourage more students to go to college. Don Kusler from Denver Post explains free state colleges, “Tuition-free and
Student then wouldn’t have to stress about working at the same time just to pay tuition fees. Students today over work, using the rest of their money to get energy drinks keep going from doing homework and attending college courses daily. According to the New York Times Article “College for the Masses”, studies have claimed, “Enrolling more students in community colleges may well make economic sense. So, in all likelihood, would create more and better vocational training, for well-paid jobs like medical technician and electrician, which don’t require a bachelor’s degree.” This makes students pushed harder to focus on any college that will be offer 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 for college. Students would be more focused on any subject in school as they strive for their
According to College Board “Between 2011-12 and 2016-17 tuition rose by 11% at public two-year colleges. So each year the tuition cost goes up at all colleges and will get more expense throughout time. According to Foster from “The Huffington Post” student loan debt in the US was estimated to be over $1.3 trillion dollars. Students having all these bills to pay can be super stressful for them and can make life difficult if they don't have the right job that they wanted. With havin free community college students can save a lot of money instead of gambling it with getting a college education. Even if life doesn't go the right path for some students that got the degree they wanted, but have no job won't be stuck with having to pay thousands of dollars for the school loans they would have to pay
Free higher education will help education live up to the reputation of leveling the playing field and providing opportunity to move up in society. It is something that will reward hard working kids with no debt and set them up for the future. It will allow students to focus on their school work and will eliminate the need to have to work to pay for school. This will help their success rate and help people graduate on schedule. Free education will also stop the student loan crisis that has now surpassed credit card debt. Free education is something that is very important for our people individually and as a whole. Our country will end up as a smarter, more powerful society. It is up to us as a country to take responsibility and look out for our country. We need to keep up with the country’s that are passing us in education and build a brighter
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.
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
Looking on the positive side, college students will no longer be thousands of dollars in debt. They will have a higher quality of life by having more money to spend on themselves. This money would also go back into the economy, as their overall spending would increase. While all students would be saving money, free higher education would actually be more beneficial to wealthy families. According to “The Case Against Free College,” there is a positive correlation between the income of parents and the likelihood to attend college. Rich students would be receiving more money than the poor (Bruenig). The families that are sending their students to college can already afford to do so. Meanwhile, the smaller populations of poorer students that decide to attend college already receive enough financial aid and government subsidies to cover the cost. People that obtain a Bachelor’s degree earn more money and therefore are able to pay off their student loans. We don’t need to provide free education to families that can already afford it. Another effect on students is that students will take longer to graduate. Having to pay for your own education is a huge motivator to aim for success in school, as most of us don’t want our money to go to waste. Without that motivation, students’ efforts will significantly decrease. At public universities around 60% of students take
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.