Is Free College Education?

One often overlooked point about “free” college tuition is that it is not ever free. The money does not just appear out of nowhere. What people normally mean by the statement of “free” college, it means free college for students. If the students are not paying than who would have to pay? The only other option would be the federal government. Right now, Americans owe more than $875 billion dollars in student loans. If the cost of tuition continues to grow at the rate it is, that number is only going to grow. If the federal government were to pay this, it would only further the country in debt.

Higher education through colleges and universities has been going on for hundreds of years and can be dated back to ancient Greece. In the United States, it was long the second option for those wanted more knowledge and a better paying job. In recent years it has become increasingly more expensive, and more necessary to make a living wage. This has raised the question of whether or not college should be free. While current system for college payment is flawed in many ways, eliminating its costs would not solve the problem, and instead, create more.

College is a place where most go to further their education. A high school diploma will not get students by in life anymore. While college is said to be considered the “best time of your life”, it has many downfalls, the price. This leads to a high number of student debt and student loans. It is estimated that the average outstanding student loan balance per debtor is $30,000. A college education was not always this expensive however. Loans were originally only offered to Harvard alumni in the 1840’s. It was not until the twentieth century that the problems of student loans arose. In 1944 the GI Bill was introduced which fulfilled the need for more affordable education. It subsidized or completely covered the cost of college education for nearly half of WW2 veterans. By the 1990’s student loan debt began to change, and not for the better. In 1993, the average debt of a bachelor’s degree was approximately $9,000. So, when the question of a free college education is proposed many jump and say yes but looking at it through a rational lens, it would not be the best decision.

The National Public Radio (NPR) author Anya Kamenetz published an article titled Is College Really Free? She begins the piece by addressing the new coming attraction of the words “free college.” The rage began when the presidential campaign took off and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders focused around the topic of universal college in America. The author mentioned that New York Govenor Andrew Cuomo has been proactive and proposed an idea for the city of New York. He created a scholarship plan that would allow families earning under $125,000 a year to receive free tuition for a 2 or four year term at any New York state university. The author commented that the program still must pass through legislature. This plan is extremely beneficial to the state of New York due to the fact

How could it possibly be squeezed into the government’s budget? Do they have a secret fund for things like this, or would taxes increase to cover the costs? Free college is now brought up as a debate whether or not students should receive free college tuition while attending college. Some individuals would like this idea, but I am definite the taxpayers would not like it or support it. If the government cannot afford what they are in debt with now, I am quiet uncertain how adding free college would help the debt go down. I am sure that the government would find some way to get their money back from allowing free tuition, or twice the amount the payed by increasing taxes on everything from taxpayers to sales tax. Although it would be extremely pleasant to have free tuition, the tax increase would most likely hurt the taxpayers worse than paying college tuition. I am very much so against providing free college to everyone that graduates high school. Free college would be setting the government up to continue in recession. My biggest concern about offering free college, is how the students who already have student loans be forgiven for the loan amount and have free tuition and debt free as everyone else would be. While more people would have reliable jobs, college should not be free to society because the government budget could not stretch to allow it, more people would take advantage of college because it is free, and taxes would raise on the population.

`Education is the most crucial part of each and every person’s life. But the higher tuition fee is the serious problem seen in America. Student are not able to go to university after completing their high school due to the monetary problems. They are studying till the high school as the education is free up to that level and after that they are compelled to stop their further education. Rising tuition fees is the today’s burning issue of the United States. Removing tuition hurdle allows everyone to achieve their goal. The escalating cost of higher education is causing many to question the value of continuing education beyond high school. Providing world-class education system for everybody is the prerequisite

To let in some light about the topic; Average debt in the US is at very high rates. “Studies show that there is no better short-term or long-term investment for the rest of society than higher education” (Page). College is expensive, let's make it more affordable. “This topic Deserves an open mind and a balanced exploration of the potential benefits, drawbacks, and alternatives” (“Should”). No matter the topic there is drawbacks. With free tuition there are not many to talk about. “As of the 2013-2014 school year, the countries with tuition-free public higher education included: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, The Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey and Germany. Free college, in Europe especially has proven to be a popular idea” (“Should”). Other major countries are successfully improving with free college tuition. US students want to add America to that list.

In the United States of America, College education should be universal and free for all students. According to the department of education, the statics show that at least $60,000 graduate college student will be in debt after coming out of college, and if these college graduate attended an Ivy League even more will increase up to up ward of $100,000 in more debt even before these students get their first job.

One of the many problems with making college free is that college, in time, needs to be paid for by someone or something. With the government having the idea that college should be free, these same people wouldn’t be taking the hard payment; You would, through government taxes. As Alex Groves says in his article, “Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a free ride. Every program requires a source of funding, and free education is no different.” (para 5). Groves is a college student himself working on his last year

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Strauss). Free college tuition can be education funded through taxation or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. There are other countries with free college such as; Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, and Slovenia; consequently, Norway has a higher graduation rate. The reason America does not have this system is because, they are having the debate on if the United States should have in or not due to the fact that if it is free, where will they get the money from, people do not want their taxes to be higher so someone else can have free schooling. Therefore while the debate continues, Americans are suffering. Even though many are against free higher education; subsequently it can help society by decreasing student debt, increasing education rates, and allowing students to have more freedom to choose their major.

One of the problems for free college nationwide is that taxes will rise exponentially. This is best stated in an article in by Martin Bozeman (The Odyssey) “For four short years, you may enjoy a free education at a university of your choice, but you have to remember what happens after you graduate. You get a job, and more importantly, you pay

Free education is not an issue that just affects today’s society, it is a problem that has transcended American history. Founding Father, John Adams stated, “The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people, and must be willing to bear the expense of it.” Every year many high school graduates find themselves asking themselves, “What next?” For most, the logical answer is to continue their education. That is, if they can afford it. For those more financially-needy students, financial aid is a huge for paying for college; scholarships assist every student, but scholarship money is limited, and even if you do sometimes you just simply do not receive enough. The need for free college tuition is there and there are many ways for it to be carried out. The lack of funds for college can be very disheartening for hopeful college students, and as Carol Christ, Director of Center for Studies in Higher Education, stated, “Education, in today’s world, is the path to the American dream.” This discouragement can be detrimental to a student’s drive for success. Which in turn causes the nation, and the states, to fall behind. Free college tuition would be beneficial to both the student and, although at a gradual pace, society around the student.

The United States is already trillions of dollars in debt. Spending more on higher education would add to an economy that already has too much debt. It would therefore be very irresponsible. Just as someone should not spend more when they are in debt, the country should also not be spending more. In order to reduce the debt, the country would have to cut back on spending. The proposal for free college does just the opposite and is not what the economy needs to take care of its debt.

Obtaining a college education is a beneficial investment, but very costly; many argue that college cannot be free, but the United States needs to model other countries and give citizens free or more affordable education.

The topic of free college education has recently arose with Bernie Sanders attempting to run for president. He wanted to give everyone in the United States a free college education. There were many people that agreed with him because college is very expensive, and if you can not afford it outright, the debt will have you making payments for years. This is not the problem, the people who want free college education do not know that if college is free then everyone's taxes will go through the roof. The money still has to come from somewhere,