Access / Equity / Financial Aid

In today’s world, whether or not higher education should be free to the public has definitely become something of a debate. Should every citizen have an equal opportunity to achieve high in college? Some believe college should be absolutely free to everyone and anyone,

College tuition has been an increasingly intense topic of discussion over the years. The costs of higher education have been debated by many people, and it has been discussed as to whether costs are becoming too high for students to afford. College has become more and more popular, and now as many as 20 million students attend universities reported by The National Center for Education Statistics (1). The value of a college degree is immense, but college tuition is becoming too expensive for students to afford, and furthering the problem are students’ lack of knowledge on how to pay and earn money towards their college degree.

College tuition has skyrocketed over the past decades making the pathway to college less accessible to low-income families. According to the

Can you imagine how would society be impacted if tuition be free. The world be equal because the playing field would be neutral territory. Everyone would be granted the same opportunity to earn money at a higher pay rate and looked upon with great gratitude just for receiving a degree. Colleges would be extremely too crowded, resources would be extremely scarce as far as paper, textbooks, etc. referring to Bruenig (2015) “Given these class-based differences in attendance levels, institutional selection, and current student benefit levels, making college free for everyone would almost certainly mean giving far more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones”. This statement is totally correct.

Universities used to be a privilege for most academic students to attend and it was very affordable, but currently the price per year to attend college has drastically increased. For instance, in the “1970’s the average cost was 10,000 dollars a year and today the average cost is 30,000 dollars a year” (CQ Researcher). This is a triple increase in the price per year to attend college. Allowing this increase on college tuition has impacted the student’s attendance rate. This is a significant financial burden for college students and their family. Some believe that college shouldn’t be free because we are risking the value of college education, while others think it should be free because we are trying to avoid having our upcoming generation

There is no escaping the fact that the cost of college tuition continues to rise in the United States each year. To make it worse, having a college degree is no longer an option, but a requirement in today’s society. According to data gathered by the College Board, total costs at public four-year institutions rose more rapidly between 2003-04 and 2013-14 than they did during either of the two preceding decades (Collegeboard.com). Students are pressured to continue into higher education but yet, the increasing costs of books and tuition make us think about twice. Sometimes, some of these students have to leave with their education partially finished, leaving them with crushing debts. It is important to find the means to prevent these

There are rich people too and making college education free for everyone would almost certainly mean giving far more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones.” If we want to make college education accessible and affordable to low and moderate income families then stronger need based financial policies and well-structured borrowing are a far better strategy” (Hill). Education might be made less expensive but can never be made free. “I’m lucky that I’m receiving such an amazing education and at a state-level cost. But if we stop paying tuition, who picks up the burden? It is not possible to rely on donations, so will the state of Virginia then foot the bill? Or will the federal government pay? Neither the federal nor state government is in any financial shape to add the debt of abolishing just one school’s tuition, never mind all of the public institutions. To do so would only hurt us, the young students, in the long run because we would be seeing the effects of this debt later in life when our taxes raised exponentially as we try and pay off loans, start families, and buy cars and houses”.(

A major problem for today’s high school graduates is the rising price in college education. Attending college can add up really fast; it can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year (Barkan 1). No wonder, in Steven Barkan’s book of social problems, issues and problems in higher education take up a full chapter. In this chapter, Barkan states that only 44% of all students who attend a four-year institution is lucky enough to have annual tuitions and fees amount to less than $9,000 per year. The aggravating question is, “why does college cost so much?” Not only is tuition part of the cost of college but also fees housing and meals, books, school supplies, and accessories (“What’s the Price Tag” 1). All tuition covers is the money for academic instruction. Fees are charges for specific services such as, internet access, and then the cost of books and school supplies add up. Additionally, one is not paying just for textbooks but also

According to Lewis and Zaidane, “The cost of college prevents many low-income Americans from even seeking a higher education. Forty-eight percent of adults aged eighteen to thirty-four without degrees told the wall street journal that they can’t afford to go to college” (588). This evidence shows that people are struggling to pay for college and some people are afraid of enrolling in to a college because of the cost. Nonetheless, Allan and Thompson discuss that most of the students who go to Harvard do not end up paying full price, and most students take advantages of taking grants and scholarships (581). However, their information is not true because they only talked about Harvard University, and they did not mention how many students get scholarships or take grants.

Alternatively, some may argue that universities offer scholarships that allow theses increasing tuition rates to be affordable to all classes of the economy. However, everyone is not fortunate enough to be granted a scholarship, so many students are left without help. Many people do not possess the needed skills, grades, or social standards that these scholarships require. Everyone is not born with the talent to score touch downs or earn a high ACT score. Correspondingly, there are only a certain amount of scholarships that can be granted, and there are millions of people that are applying for that same

In the 1950’ and 1960’s, graduating high school students were able to earn a decent-paying job with benefits almost immediately. However, as time went on, the educational requirements to earn a stable job rose. Along with educational requirements rising, so did the cost of getting that education. Rising costs for education have made it almost impossible for many students to earn an education they want and need. The most promising solution to this problem seems to be making college free for everyone.

It is difficult to comprehend how third world countries have tuition-free colleges and America does not. How can economically underdeveloped countries offer free colleges with little problem, but America struggles? While politicians such as Bernie Sanders, President Obama, and Kate Brown talk about making colleges and community colleges tuition-free and eventually free altogether, they fail to see the bigger problem of economic disparity. Implementing a tuition-free program where everyone is eligible is not sustainable nor fair. If a student comes from a household that makes less than the average annual salary of $56,516, tuition should be completely free. College must be tuition-free because most first world countries already have free college, it is an investment that will benefit current and future generations, and people’s inability to repay back their student loans is negatively affecting the United State’s economy.

In the article “As He Promotes It, Some Question Obama’s Free Community College Idea” by Joanne Jacobs, there are many students that have expressed their pro and cons ideas about President Barack Obama’s free college plan. According to Latino students in Deborah Santiago of Excelencia in Education, they believe that free-tuition for colleges will have “a powerful impact” which can be seen eye to eye when exploring the idea of free-tuition college. There will be a powerful impact in schools and homes everywhere when college tuition becomes free for those that meet the requirements. Before college-tuition become free college campuses need to be expanded, there must be room for all students to attend, and it must be a fair entrance.

Tuition prices are rising exponentially and the current student loan system claims to make college more accessible, yet it is often at the cost of subjecting one's self to crippling debt for the rest of one's life. The unrealistic price of tuition is quickly becoming a moral issue that is poised to destroy the lives of an entire generation. College is, once again, becoming a right reserved only for the wealthy, which will inevitably perpetuate the ever growing chasm between the rich and poor. Poverty exists in the united states on a level that is nearly unparalleled when compared to other first world countries. In terms of both wealth and income distribution we have far more in common with Russia than we do with European nations. The affordability and accessibility of a decent college education plays a pivotal role in attempting to reduce American poverty and various other human rights issues. It will also allow us to remain more competitive in the global market as robotic technologies take over unskilled labor positions. No one should be disqualified from receiving an education and humane existence solely because their parents are not

The various ethnicities that comprise the student body across the country has influenced education in today’s society. At any time one can look up the breakdown of the different ethnic groups in schools, and I see the greatest effect of this statistic translating into money being given to further education particularly at the college level. With senior year in progress, college is right around the corner, and much more inevitable for a successful future than ever before in the world we live in. But in order to receive an education at the collegiate level, we must be able to afford it, which is a pivotal factor regarding choices in individuals’ lives. While everyone is different, the scholarships that a certain person is presented with are much