Analysis: The Argument For Tuition Free College

“An ignorant population is the blind instrument of its own destruction” -Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan liberator of Spanish rule. Educating ourselves will improve the life quality in our population through increasing equality among the people. Therefore, it will develop a stronger country.

College education is considered one of the most important factors for the nation’s economic growth, therefore free college education is a necessity.

I owe $40,000, I owe $60,000, I owe $100,000. Isn’t that a lot of money for one person to owe? Graduates have been faced with a serious problem brought about by the constant borrowing of money to gain a reputable education. The debt of loans varies from person to person but the extreme amounts that individuals owe is something the media finds worth gossiping about. Little does the public know, in reality, all the commotion and conversation about these debts are not accountable for the majority of college borrowers. According to A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely by Robin Wilson, she intrigues her targeted college audience by giving examples and providing

As shown, there are strong arguments for and against free college. Thompson, Golden and Katz provided strong evidence that free college would be beneficial. However, the case against free college is more convincing. As shown earlier, free college for all will not proportionally help poorer students. That is wealthy students who do not need assistance will gain the same advantage. Not all students want to go to college or would benefit from it. Yet, these same people will be required to pay for free college through their taxes. There is little evidence that free college will increase graduation rates as more unqualified students enter the college system. Finally, and maybe most important, the resources are not available to ensure students receive

After reading about the historic court case of Robert Murphy, an unemployed 65-year-old man fighting to have over $200,000 in student loan debt dismissed through bankruptcy, I began to think “Have I been lied to about my investment in a college education”? Well, the answer is yes; we have all been lied to! Student loan debt is an invisible phantom that follows millions of Americans through their lives. We are told, however, that this invaluable investment is well worth the risk of living in financial destitution for the rest our lives. The truth is it creates even more hardships on Americans in the form of debt. I and millions of others are tired of the lies! If college is going to continuously be America’s golden standard for economic advancement, our next leader needs to fix the affordability of the higher education system and the debt that burdens Americans once and for all.

“The United States has created a new generation of people that have more student loan debt than at any other time in our history” (Murphey). A vast majority of students are graduating with debt. On average, students are carrying loan amounts big enough to buy a nice car or cover the down payment on a house, but instead of making those investments, or starting a family or a business, they’re struggling to keep up with student loan payments (O’Malley). Student loan debt is a major problem. Student loan debt exceeded credit card debt in 2010, auto loans in 2011, and it passed the $1 trillion mark in 2012.

An estimated 20 million Americans attend college each year, and 60% of those students borrow annually to pay for it (qtd. in asa.org, “Student Loan Debt Statistics”). Moreover, citizens continuing to pay off debt after schooling brings the overall number of student-loan-borrowers to about 40 million- with a collective 1 trillion dollars in debt (McCarthy, “10 Fun Facts About the Student Debt Crisis); a fourth of these borrowers owe over $28,000, a tenth owe over $54,000, 3.1% owe more than $100,000, “and 0.45 percent of borrowers, or 167,000 people, owe more than $200,000” (Haughwout, “Grading Student Loans”). While some view this predicament as the result of laziness or carelessness, the bulk of this substantial group are not at fault.

With the 2016 presidential election looming in the near future, the subject of student loan debt has become a major issue on the campaign trail. The national amount of student loan debt is 1.08 trillion dollars, with 11.5% of that amount in default or in 90+ day delinquent. To put that in perspective, total consumer debt at the end of 2013 was 11.52 trillion .(Forbes, 2014) According to an in class poll, only 7 students out of 169 students were completely confident in their knowledge of student loans. However, if we had lower tuition and expenses students wouldn’t have to take a loan out in the first place.

It’s no secret in America that many college graduates are struggling to pay off their student loans. While looking at the statistics for how much is owed and how many college graduates are affected, it is clear that student debt is an issue and the need for a solution couldn’t be more urgent. The latest data show that across the country there are over “40 million borrowers” who share in “$1.2 trillion dollars” of student loans (Life Delayed). According to those numbers, that means that the average borrower has $30,000 dollars to pay off. With college tuition ever increasing, it is not hard to see how borrowing more money has becoming inevitable. According to Alan Greenblatt, a staff writer for NPR and CQ Researcher who focuses on

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.

According to CNN, “Almost 19% of student loan borrowers owe more than $50,000.Only 6% of borrowers had that much in 2001.” (Gillispe, 1). Why has student loan debt increased so much? Student Loan debt has become a national problem with no solution. Many students are borrowing more money to keep up with the rising cost of tuition in universities, leaving themselves with thousands of debt after graduation. Students after gaining this debt, have to find jobs to support it which can come at a challenge after the financial crisis of 2008. So there stands a problem between students having massive amounts of loan debt and getting jobs to pay this debt off. Advocates or liberals think forgiving this debt is a good idea, while opponents or conservatives think it is not even an option. This essay will focus on the controversial topic of forgiving student loan debt and why something should be done about the massive debts graduates have. It is important to first look at the history of student loans and how the student loan crisis came about in order to understand the controversy.

In the article “Free college? We can afford it”, author Katrina Vanden Heuvel believes that higher education should be free because the cost has risen and many students are no longer able to attend. Students cannot afford a college education. Low paying jobs are some of the reasons why people have a hard time finding a 2-4 year college degree institute. Why increase the amount of tuition for students? The author also mentioned that decreasing student funding restrains them from attendance. Katrina’s statements are agreeable because free education will expand opportunities for the youth.

In the United States today, the number of students graduating college with student loan debt is quite astonishing. In the article titled, “How the $1.2 Trillion College Debt Crisis Is Crippling Students, Parents And The Economy”, we will examine and break down the student loan debt crisis by the numbers. Today, almost two-third’s of students graduating college are graduating with an average of $26,000 in debt. For most students, $26,000 is a lot of money when the average annual income for a first year graduate is only in the mid $40,000 a year range. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student loan debt has reached a new milestone, crossing the $1.2 trillion mark (Denhart, 2013, Introduction, par. 2). With student loan debt levels

Free college is a commonly accepted idea, as a crucial part of society's advancement. Education is the foundation for building a strong country, as knowledge is what allows for productivity in all areas of life. However, the cost and accessibility to standard higher education limits many people's availability to a quality schooling. Some may argue that public colleges should continue to charge tuition, as the federal government can not afford the cost nor will creating higher taxes to enable the program solve the crisis. However, ultimately, higher education should be free as it would stimulate economic growth, remove the primary deterrent for not attending college and decrease dependence on government aid.

Over the years, college fees have gradually risen for high school graduates. It’s been said that most jobs with a college degree earn almost double of what a high school graduate would earn. Many people all over the country have been unable to go to college because of these high fees for education. Some people think that your future shouldn’t be controlled by the amount of money you pay. If these fees continue to increase, then no one will be able to attend college. Higher education for free will increase productivity within students because they can get a good job, college is now a prerequisite, and college worthy jobs have great salaries.