Synthesis Essay: Should College Education 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.

College tuition, something that everyone worries about and works tirelessly to save their entire lives for. What would happen if college tuition disappeared and college was suddenly free? In this rhetorical analysis, I will be analyzing two different articles on if college should be free. While both of these articles use logos and politics to prove their statements and force their arguments to be stronger, the first argument explains that college should be free for everyone and the other disagrees and discusses why college tuition should stay as is. It also gives more strength and credibility to the author’s and articles.

The debate of whether community college should be free or not has been going on for many years. For the most part, many students have been able to have free education even if the are low income or high income. Most students are able to have equal educational opportunity to be able to learn for around 12 years. If it has been going on for 12 years, then why not make higher education free as well. In the article written by Joanne Jacobs titled, “As He Promotes It, Some Question Obama’s Free Community College Idea” discusses the main arguments on whether Obama’s plan of making community college free plan can be a benefit or a waste of money. Community college offers the ability to be able to finish one’s first 2 years of their general general education plan at a free or reduced price compared to completing general ed a a 4 year institution. Community college should be free because it allows lower income students the ability to have their tuition paid as well as their books and it allows students to be able to earn their bachelor's at a better rate.

Each year, college tuition increases more and more, which makes getting a higher education almost impossible for some people. According to Pay it forward written by Catherine Morris tuitions and fees at public four-year institutions has been increasing an average of 3.4 percent each year between 2005 and 2015.

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

Many students today look towards the future scared and frightened debating their future, all of them asking the same question. Is a college education truly worth the cost and the amount of debt that a student acquires over a four-year period? Many ask what are they doing this for, a piece of paper called a degree. That’s what the articles “Five Reasons Why College is Worth the Cost,” written by Reyna Gobel and “Is College worth the cost? Many recent graduates don’t think so,” written by Jeffrey J. Selingo both address. The articles take different standpoints and views on the topic. Gobel’s article siding with the view that college is worth the cost. While Selingo’s article argues that college is not worth the cost.

The article as a whole provides useful information for the readers and eventually helps low income families and the society overall. Stated within the article, “million students march protesters demand tuition free college and debt cancellation.” The article provides another article that helps substantiate the proposals that Bernie Sanders has proposed. Being the reader we can’t help, but get mad and build resentment towards the college board and begin to question authority.  According the article Donald Trump has said that, "debt should not be an albatross around [students'] necks for the rest of their lives." The article not only provides statements from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders but also provides Statements from our current President. Therefore, giving the article an advantage of credibility because there is also many information given within the article. Such as a link to another article named, “Million of students march protesters demand tuition free college and debt cancellation” as well. Within the article a view was stated, “though critics argue such programs could lood college with people who don't want degrees, don't help the neediest students and could strain institutions resources.” The prejudice within the article gives many especially student readers a sense of discouragement and provides information that the college board would read upon and eventually change their mind on Bernie Sanders proposals. Bernie Sanders as stated, “Every American, regardless of income, must have the right to a higher education.” As a reader begin to make conclusions that support the proposals made by Bernie Sanders to an extent of approval by student who don’t get a chance to go to college. This quote gives the society a sense of opportunity and

The audience understands that these astonishing facts reveal that, at this rate, the average American child is destined for poverty and will attain no successful future. This allows the audience to “take it all in” and get a true understanding of the education system. Barber goes on to suggest that the government regulates its spending barely keeping education in mind. He states “...their government spending up to $35,000 a year to keep a young black behind bars but a fraction of that to keep him in school, they will write off school” (Barber 461). This captivates the audience because they determine that the government that is supposedly ran by the people, is doing everything but help its people. This particular portion helps appeal considerably to the liberal readers because of their strong attitudes on more government spending for public works, such as schools. It may also intrigue those who are strongly patriotic. This may elude them to blame themselves for allowing the government to regulate spending in this way when we, the people, should be deciding as a country; what is important to spend government funding on. They may argue that the only reason that there are so many criminals in the first place is because of dropouts and lowlifes who lacked an education. This would lead the activists to band together in order to demand the government to attack the problem at its source and raise educational funding.

Iris Palmer, the senior policy analyst with the Educational Policy program at New America, notes in her article The False Promise of “Free College” that there is no denying the appeal “free college” offers to students pursuing a college degree. In this article, Palmer discusses several reasons why presidential nominee Hillary Clintons’ plan for free college would not have been beneficial to the United States, or to students hoping to earn a college degree. Although the articles main focus is about the plan created by Clinton, it ultimately can be used to form an argument against the general plans for “free” college tuition as a whole. The article lists several reasons why “free” college tuition would not solve the problem of the lack of students

College should be made free for all students because the American economy would prosper and students would no longer go millions of dollars into debt. In order for the American economy to prosper, everyone must look to education. In the article

Andrew, Kelly. “The high cost of free College.” U.S. News and World Report. 23 February 2016. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2016-02-23/bernie-sanders-and-the-high-cost-of-free-college>. Andrew’s generally claims that bring change in education system is not really easy as Mr. Bernie Sanders thinks. Sanders has truly great idea to free college and universities fees. He uses a selection of appeals to influence the audience as action-oriented. In which Sanders is fully confident about this idea and he believes it will bring better future. Sanders uses political language and references in which the reader can identified the pros and cons of this matter. He uses logos to convince the audience through enrollment and graduation

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.

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.

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.

Instead, citizens should be paid to go to college because they are going there to better themselves as citizens of the United States. Making new experiences for each individual is important. No one will enjoy the experience if they have crushing debts to worry about. Education should be out there to inspire peoples mind and not just filling their head with others perspective. Every individual has the right to learn and be educated, and have the opportunity to view this world in a different perspective and do something on their own. But the cost of education is so unaffordable to some mankinds that it is just ferocious for them to even consider paying those education bills off” (“Should Higher Free Education Should Be Offered to All for Free?” 4). If students were not stressed out over the cost, they could then focus they’re stress on leaning and getting educated. A student should only have to worry about exceling him or herself to their best ability without worrying about the price they have to pay to get their education.