Graduation Speech: Should College Tuition Be Free?

Since free tuition would lead to overcrowding in schools, more schools would have to be built to compensate-a blessing in disguise. Here, in our lovely state of California, more prisons have been built within the last couple of decades than universities. Thus, the state would become pressured into finally making up for lost time and start chipping away at the deficit our state has accrued. In an article by US News & World Report regarding Obama’s free community college idea, it was stated , “If more middle class students choose community college, “it could create an environment where states step up on funding.” Moreover, the article continued to state the following: “With a more diverse group of students, community colleges could gain political capital and funding that goes with it.” Subsequently, education (that is financially feasible for this at or below the poverty line) is essentially a ticket out of poverty, a chance to move forward and embody the American dream. Ergo, (using California as part of this hypothetical scenario) by opening free community colleges, more students are encouraged to attend, therefore more schools need to be built, and lastly, once the schools are built more people will strive for a better life-one devoid of being uneducated and at a higher risk for criminality. The

Two quick questions: How many of you in this class like free stuff? How many of you in this class wish college was free? That’s what thought almost all of you think that way, I thought that way myself until I realized that doesn’t make sense. Growing up my mother always told me the story of her graduation and I can’t quite remember the year she graduated, but she graduated from Troy State University in Montgomery, Alabama. She always told me about the feeling of receiving that diploma as for her being the first one of her family to have a college diploma. With tears in her eyes she told me “Brock I can’t wait for the day you have that feeling”. So when I think about college tuition becoming free two question pose in my head: 1. Could this be even possible for our government to pay off every 4 year institution? and 2. Why would any high school graduate find going to college appealing if it was free.

Imagine a world where college was completely free. Tuition is completely paid for, no book fees, housing fees, everything is one-hundred percent paid for by the government. Unfortunately, the only downfall to that is that the people fund the government. Taxpayers, which should be almost all of America, are the ones who give the government the money to do every day necessities. The government will not be able to afford to pay for every student to have free college on their own, all of that money will have to come from us, the people. This means that college really isn't free. The government should not pay for everyone's college because it is unfair to those who can easily afford it, taxes will go through the roof, and will inhibit a lesser education if it is free for everyone.

Since 1974, tuition has been on the rise and has reached new heights. One reason why tuition is increasing is because of “the state governments’ unwillingness or inability to raise per-student financing” (Davidson). The government is spending less on college and moving those funds into other categories, such as the military. Furthermore, colleges are spending less on each student than they did during pre-recession (Fox). Even after the recession, the government is continuously cutting more and more from education funds. As the government cuts more from education funds, tuition cost will steadily increase to compensate the loss. Tuition increased from 1994 to 2015 is depicted in the graph on the next page. Drawing a conclusion from the graph, it is possible that if this trend continues, public colleges will approximately reach the same price as private colleges one day. The amount of financial aid given is unable to meet the needs of lower income students,

One of the largest reasons many people oppose that college in America should become free for its first two years is the cost. “By White House estimates, the total expenditure would be about $60 billion over a 10-year period.” (Free Community College) Two factors are at question with this kind of money. First, why not use this money in other areas of our nation? 60 billion dollars could be put towards our public high schools to increase education at a younger level. It could also be put towards creating new jobs. Even if America has become more educated doesn’t mean that an abundance of

In the 2016 presidential campaign free college tuition was highly debated. President Obama briefly talked about it as well. Tuition is one of the most expensive pieces of obtaining a higher education. US citizens deserve higher education. The people of America are ready for a change. College tuition should be free, so that more Americans can attend higher education and make something of themselves.

By making college tuition free, a public college degree would become devalued. College is a tough place to get to and an even tougher place to be and to obtain a degree. Being a college is a highly demanding job that calls for substantial time and effort. The idea of making college free sounds like a great idea because it will allow people to increase their productivity and promote economic growth. Allowing free college in the United State would later cause issues with just receiving a college degree in the long run. Over time, the value of a college education would decrease. In America, public high schools are free from tuition and you can see the issues within them already. The state gives public schools a certain revenue from the state and so they do not compete to get the best students and are not motivated to upgrade. In contrast, private schools seem to be more critical and picky with the education quality and tuition price. This is

Financial barriers for higher education has climbed over the last ten years. Today, over 40 million Americans have student loans. Of these 40 million, most individuals are struggling to maintain payments on the loans (Hillary for America, 2016). Since 2004, the tuition for in-state colleges and universities has risen by about 42 percent and with the recent Great Recession, states have continued to decrease spending on higher education at a rapid rate (Hillary for America, 2016). It is estimated that states are only contributing around $1,805 per student, which is estimated to be 20 percent less than what was contributed only seven years’ prior. The federal government in

State colleges in the United States should be tuition-free for everybody. Everyone deserves a chance to have a higher education than high school. Many other countries in the world already use this method. Germany and Norway both have tuition-free public colleges and it’s working fine for them. Even some states in America use the free community college program. Giving people a chance to go to college tuition-free will help everyone in our country.

Today, I’m going to talk to you all about something that your parents probably have never not brought up with you before—college. Obviously I’m kidding. For a student in high school, not a day goes by where college is not mentioned. With college comes this monster of debt and unless you are some star athlete who has already committed to UCLA by 7th grade or the next Einstein who has cured all forms of cancer by the age of thirteen, you probably won’t be getting an 100% full ride to the dream college of your choice. And so this means that you and/or your parents will be paying for you to earn a degree to achieve a successful future. I believe that college should be free because every student should have the right and ability to attend college and it should be a tool to help set up students for their lives ahead of them.

Free colleges make the economy worse. We have to pay more in are taxes (9), and they are already high. Another thing about this is we would have to pay for a Harvard kid and a kid at a poor college. It's not fair to those kids to have to pay more for Harvard kid $60,659 (3) when they're at a $20,000 college. More and more kids will go to college since its

In 1958, the National Defense Education Act provided college students up to one thousand dollars a year in loans, but the average annual loan was actually only five hundred dollars or less because students could afford the rest of tuition on their own. Interest began at three percent a year after graduation and could usually be paid off in ten years. (Good 590-591) These statistics are a far cry from today’s, with student loan debt surpassing one trillion dollars and many graduates paying off loans well into middle age. As a result of the government shelling out billions of dollars in loans and inflation, colleges have had to increase their tuitions thus creating a college “bubble”. In the past year or so many political leaders have proposed plans to pay for two years of community college, such as President Obama, or for a full four years, such as Bernie Sanders, a frontrunner for the democratic candidacy. Even states like Tennessee,

Higher education costs have been increasing at a rapid pace, faster than inflation for the economy as a whole, for the past fifty years. It started in the 1960’s when the federal government passed the Higher Education Act to increase the amount of people able to afford and attend college. Regardless of the Unites States Government efforts to increase the affordability of college, federal aid programs have not risen to expectations due to the ever-increasing college prices. To lower the price of college, the government needs to cut back on student financial spending to go only to the lowest income families and create tax incentives for families to start saving up on their own.

Over the past 10 years the cost of private college has increased more than 60%, almost three times as much as incomes over the same period, and will cost $42,000 a year on average. The cost at public colleges has increased even more, nearly doubling to $21,000 for in-state students. By 2020 you 're looking at a four-year bill that 's likely to top $240,000 for private schools and $155,000 at public universities. Sure there 's financial aid, but scholarships aren 't keeping up with tuition inflation (Clark, & Wang, 2011). Even the President is concerned about the escalating cost of higher education in America. In his State of the Union address last January, President Obama warned, "Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can 't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down." (Foster, 2013). In contrast to the president request, governors and state lawmakers across many states with limited state tax revenue are cutting funding toward higher education. Governors in nearly a half-dozen states cut state spending on colleges and universities to help with budget shortfalls, which often sparked heated opposition among state lawmakers of both parties. On the state level higher education spending usually where they cut the budget because state lawmakers believe schools can make up the difference in lost state revenue by making colleges raising tuition for students.

For my introductory reason, free college education would help poor students get educated. Indeed, some people are very poor. There are so many parents in the world that are poor, so that makes children unable to get education easily. According to my pro article, “They see it as both a private and public benefit. “ This quote means that it will benefit private and public schools. Poor children usually have to move to public schools, considering that they are free. If college is free, poor children would be able to get a job they want, because they can be educated on the job that they want to take part in. Some parents do not have any money, and they don't have jobs. They would not be able to earn enough money for their child to get educated. Free college will help solve this issue if they are old enough for college. It can make some parents thrilled, that their child is finally getting an education. Additionally, to quote trade-schools.net, it says “A better-educated population could result in smarter decision-making at every level of society, which could lead to faster progress in solving our most difficult,