Should College Tuition Be Free?

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.

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.

Should college be free? In “The Problem is That Free College Isn't Free,” Andrew P. Kelly argues that free college would cost more for the American taxpayer. On the other hand, in “Tennessee Is Showing How Free Tuition Community College Works,” Celeste Carruthers states having free college will give more incentive for students to go to college. It will also encourage them to try community college first. Although free college sounds great at first, it would be more practical to have programs for people who cannot simply afford it. College tuition shouldn’t be the American taxpayers’ responsibility.

Research indicates a steep upward trend in the cost of higher education throughout the 20th century. In recent decades, America has witnessed a widening gap between inflation and tuition. An incoming freshman at a typical college incurs charges for tuition, university fees, books, room and board,

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.

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

With the upcoming elections, third-party candidate Bernie Sanders has been one of the most talked about candidates because of his belief that tuition and cost of living at public colleges and universities should be free. Free college has become one of the most talked about policy proposals on the campaign trail, but questions surround the policy, such as how it would work, how much it would cost and how it would affect students (Rhatican).

“College Prices Soar Again!” “Budget Cuts Cause Even Higher Tuition!” “Higher Education Now Even Less Affordable” These are all statements that have been seen all over the media: newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. (3 SV: SV) Rising college tuition in America has been a problem for years. Many students drop out after a single year due to the pricey costs of tuition. The rapid rise can be attributed to many aspects of the economy, not just a single source. There have also been some propositions of how costs could be lowered, but these have yet to be seen. The United States has gone into a tuition crisis.

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

As many young millennials rally behind Bernie Sanders and his outlandish claims of free public college for all, others sigh and shake their heads in disapproval. Are these college students really entitled to free higher education? Is it every American’s unalienable right to have a college education? Despite the recent push for free college in the United States, the economic burden and drop in personal responsibility it would create proves that colleges should maintain their current tuitions.

My immediate response is yes, of course I want community college tuition to be free but then I realized I am already in my second year this will not apply to me. As I further ponder over it I can not help but to think on what terms would this be under. Will you have to have a certain GPA? Will it only be available to us citizens? Will there be a age stipulation? There is a number of factors that can be put on this “Free Tuition”. It sounds like an amazing offer be is it really?

A. National data shows that the United States is on track to reach a high-school graduation rate of 90 percent by 2020, which is more than ever before. (Wong, 2015). Despite these high graduation numbers, students still decide not to attend college. So why should the public strive to provide free tuition if students do not go? More negatives than positives will come about from free tuition in public colleges and universities.

Despite the fact that students from across all social classes are attending college at increasing rates, college has only gotten more expensive across the board in past years, even when adjusting for inflation. According to data published by the National Center for Education Statistics, between 2013 and 2014 tuition costs for undergraduate students at 4-year universities rose by 34% at public institutions and by 25% at private, nonprofit institutions (“What are the trends in the cost of college education?” 2016). These numbers represent increases after inflation rates have been accounted for, indicating that the price of going to college is currently increasing by roughly 25% per year. Still, the problems related to the higher-cost of education are also manifested in a table from the same article by the NCES, showing the inflation-adjusted tuition costs for university between 1983 and 2013. According to the table, yearly tuition at a 4-year university in 1983 cost $10,959 compared with $24,706 in 2013 representing an almost 250% increase (“What are the trends in the cost of college education?” 2016). Having examined the data, this begs the question as to why a college education has gotten more expensive overall in recent years. Digging into exactly why tuition costs have skyrocketed so much in recent years, analysis

Since the beginning of the 20th Century, college education has been available for everyone and anyone who is willing to develop their knowledge regarding a specific professional field. Currently in the United States, the percentage of high school graduates going to college has increased considerably: 68 percent in 2011 compared to 49 percent in 1940 (Menand, 2) and the record high set in 2009 with 70 percent of total high school graduates enrolled in college ("Bureau of Labor Statistics"). Notwithstanding, it has come to the attention of many that the college tuition and fees have been increasing at an accelerated rate. According to The New York Times, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 (Lewin, 1). This

It's a controversy that might be more relative now than before: Should college be free everywhere? Many argue the importance of education and its cost. Truly, this is an issue that students face in the process of acquiring their lifelong career of choice. Americans all over the world aspire to receive not only a bachelor's degree but a master's as well. The millennials are a large portion of the ones referred to above. They have such high hope for a better tomorrow and will stop at nothing to pursue a high paying endeavor. Indeed, everyone should be able to receive a quality education. Unfortunately, the opportunities to succeed create factors such as having the right financial resources and being in the right programs throughout high school.