Persuasive Essay : Should College Tuition Be Free?

Should colleges be free in America? It is a question that is more relevant today than ever before. As education is one key factor that determines the nation’s fate going forward, this question is worth debating. Making free college education may sound good theoretically but requires herculean efforts to make it practically possible. The main question is whether such program be effective in the long run or not? If, yes how long will the government able to support these costs and from where? Are tuition costs only the concern that discourages students from attending colleges? There may arise several skepticisms that can withhold the idea of free colleges. As both colleges and students won’t be benefitted by such plans the college education should not be free.

Many students don’t get the chance to further their academic career after high school. Some aren’t able because child care is too expensive or they have to work to support themselves. Everyone should get money for school if they need it. Some parents can’t afford to help the students pay for college, while others can. Money should be given for need rather than want. But I believe there should be stipulations to getting the free schooling. College should be free to those who want to get a degree and need the funding.

Should college be free? A current universal problem poses this question. In today’s world, full of public education standards that hold students maybe too high and in a generation bogged down by student debt, this issue qualifies as a problem more than many are maybe even willing to admit. While the prospect of free college proposes excellent ideals such as a stronger and smarter generation, no student loan problems, and a higher educated society, the truth may actually lie in the reality that making college free would do more hindrance than good and is not the answer to these problems. Free college would increase economic problems, according to Andrew P. Kelly, who says it would only shifts the cost to someone else. As well, it would also hinder our education system. Michael J. Petrilli writes that making college free would “probably shift billions of dollars a year from programs that help talented poor kids access higher education and improve our schools”. Although the concept of free higher education is becoming appealing to the general population, it ultimately would create more problems than it solved and do virtually nothing of huge significance to increase the level of intelligence in modern society.

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.

American students owe a total of 1.3 trillion dollars in student loans, and about 44.2 million students are in debt. Colleges all over the United States require a tuition for students to attend, which is detrimental to families with low incomes. As a result, students from low income families opt to not attend college. A solution for this problem would be to institute tuition free colleges. Advocates for free colleges state that it would enable students to achieve their dreams, regardless of their monetary situation. Proponents against free colleges say that the public would have to be taxed too much to cover the expenses. College should be free because it would help the country economically, allow students to be more focussed, and it would let students to pursue any career that they would like.

During one of his campaign programs, Presidential-candidate Bernie Sanders stood before a thousand applauding and cheering people. This man just announced, as hopeful future President of the United States, that he planned to make college free for every US citizen. Many young adults favor Bernie Sanders, and other political leaders, idea of free tuition because they believe that it will open more doors for them and allow them to not worry about the burden of student loans. However, there are many reasons that regulating free college education could hurt our society and economy that people don’t often realize. College education should not be free because it would raise taxes, it would devalue the worth of a college degree, and it would pave the way for more welfare dependency.

Free college tuition is crucial for the millions of students across the country that either cannot afford an education or are struggling with enormous debts. Statistics show that the amount of

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

To have a hope for the future, we first have to start now. Education is vital to success. However, some Americans cannot afford the education they deserve. Some are not even given the opportunity to express their individual rights. The United States as an overall country has great potential, and we should use that to help ourselves as well as other countries.

It becomes a major controversy when the idea of something being “free” is brought up in this economy. Money is what operates the economical system and it’s the factor that leads colleges in providing resources for their students. President Obama’s idea of having community college be free leaves many skeptical on whether it can be beneficial, or in some ways hurtful. However, there are upsides to allowing community college to be free. Community College should be free because it will cause a diversity of students to attend, allow students to save money, and offer an opportunity for those who aspire to continue their education.

Free tuition for colleges is a topic that has come up a lot lately in the United States. Especially in the beginning of this year, when the democratic race was in place, Bernie Sanders started making tuition-free colleges one of his campaign points. While there are some that seem to neglect the idea of free tuition, the majority will agree that if not free at least it should be affordable. This topic is a very interesting one because it provides fascinating facts on both sides of the spectrum. One thing people argue against free tuition is that the United States has around 300 million people in population and it could not possibly keep up with the increase in college attendance and cost. On the other hand free tuition in colleges is relative common in almost every first world country around the world and even second and third world countries. Which leaves us to determine that it is not only possible for government to be responsible for education but it seems to be the norm around the world except in the United States. I think that colleges should be tuition free. Community colleges should be funded by the government and the government should not only be responsible in providing free tuition to its citizens but take pride that its citizens have access to free education, making its society an educated one.

Should college be free or is it good the way it is? This is one of the most debatable questions of this generation. Like every other thing it would also have its pros and cons. Many say that it would greatly help a country while others say that nothing is truly free and someone must pay for it. However the growth of a country’s economy over the long run is miles more than the loose in the short term. So in my opinion College should be free for everyone.

If you had the chance to go to college for free and pursue your dream would you take that opportunity? This should be offered to kids who really want to pursue a degree and are serious about college, there will be guidelines to ensure that student will be responsible with this opportunity. This could change the life of someone who cannot financially afford to go off and pursue their dream, this could give them hope of getting their dream job; College can be very stressful emotionally and economically for some people, but with free college they can be relieved of their stress. The idea is that everyone should be allowed the opportunity to receive a higher education, it would relieve them from the financial situation when they graduate, and more jobs can be taken with people that have a degree and knowledge of the field.

It is important to consider who truly benefits from free college tuition, as it is not low-income students. In fact, free college tuition creates a larger rift between the dollar values low-income students have in comparison to high-income students. According to a study from NPSAS (Chingos, 2012), a government-funded, student-study organization, rich students will receive 24% more in dollar value if the establishment of free college tuition. This is interpreted as a tradeoff; free college tuition will eliminate tuition, but out-of-pocket costs for low-income families will increase to $17.8 billion dollars annually which grants cannot cover. Rich students would be able to pay off these costs because of that increase in dollar value. Therefore, it is impossible to ignore that low-income students truly would not benefit from free college tuition, as they do not have the same privileges as rich students do.

Education plays a huge role in today’s society. The only downfall about education is not being able to afford it. Education eats your bank account and costing people to lose thousands so they are able to do something they love or just get a degree. People always question one another asking why people do not go to college. Why are people not taking advantage of something that will pay well after it is completed? Most of the answers for that is that they cannot afford to pay for schooling or they have to work to provide for their family and school is not a number one priority right now. If education was tuition free students would only be able to focus on studying and passing college then looking for money to pay for their schooling and that would help them perform better at school if they do not have to worry about finding a way to pay for it. Education should be free because it would help lower the homeless population, dropout rates, and stop student debt after they graduate college.