Is College Really Free Essay

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.

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.

Reason number one as to why free college is not as wonderful as it sounds involves the whole money ordeal. While it is somewhat impressive that free tuition is available, the chosen school is not only losing money, but the fees are being raised for others. “Students might take their college education less seriously if they don’t have to pay for it. So graduation numbers might drop, or the people who do graduate might not be as well prepared for the workforce” (www.trade-schools.net). This is understandably unfair to the peers who have continually tried their hardest and put in

While researching this topic I came upon a very interesting article; Why tuition free College Makes Sense. The author, Lawrence S. Wittner, explains briefly the

Credibility: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics only about 69.2% of 2015 high school graduates enrolled into college last fall. Imagine how much higher that percentage would be if college tuition was free.

Now, I am not saying that it should be free because I don’t want to pay. I saying that it should be free because not many people can afford the tuition or how much it cost to get into the community college. Some community college costs high and some cost low but the college board explained “...tuition at community colleges averages $3,347 per year, according to the College Board. That’s more than covered by the $5,730 that low-income students can receive per academic year in a Pell Grant, the principal form of federal financial aid.”

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.

The problem is that free college isn’t free at all. It just transfers the financial burden from an individual student to the taxpayers.

College is expensive, that’s an undeniable fact. It is also the main point in why people suggest free college. According to Big Future Organization, “the average in-state student pays about $9,410 every year to attend a 4-year public school” (College Costs). Paying $9,000 a year for four years can hurt you financially. According to DiGangi from USA Today, “68% of 2015 bachelor’s degree recipients graduated with student loan debt. The average was $30,100 per borrower” (DiGangi). People would assume that if

College should not be free all because taxes would go through the roof and would create a vicious cycle of fighting for careers between people. With making college free for everyone, “ … taxes will go up and all property owners - whether they have college-age children or not - will, in fact, pay for the free college” (Norton). There’s no way America could survive with taxes going higher. With taxes going up, once you get out of college and find a job you start paying free college taxes even though you already finished college. Other problem with college being free, there will be people getting the same degree as each other, which would lead to them to fighting for the same career. This can lead to many people being out of a career and create an outspread of people going back to college to study a different major to start a different career path, but this creates a cycle. But with that being said free college provides great opportunities for children to get the education they

If free college tuition was ever an idea in general, many believe this would lead up to a requirement where many would have to play a part and provide for the students who choose to go to college, including those who chose to not attend college. As David H. Feldman and Robert B. Archibald claimed in the Washington Post, “This will require tax increases, or it will force states to move existing resources into higher education and away from other state priorities like health care, prisons, roads and K-12 education”. Along with that article how will we be so sure all of the states would be willing to participate in this? As Andrew P. Kelly said in the New York Times, “First, free college isn’t free, it simply shifts costs from students to taxpayers and caps tuition at zero. That tuition cap limits college spending to whatever the public is willing to invest”. Also why is it okay to take away from other important priorities like health care, and prisons over school education? If college becomes free the money has to come from somewhere, and taking the money away from other important priorities would surely lead to protests and other out brakes

Many people say that college will never really be free because the cost will just raise taxes for other people. The average tuition cost for a college is $10,000, plus room and board, plus school supplies, plus all the expensive books. These kids would have to pay for all of that with no help from other, but with free college they could maybe share the cost with others and it would be much cheaper for everyone. Free college would fix this problem and help more people be able to pay for

Having grown up in the modern society where furthering your education is pushed down our throats since elementary, I am planning to attend college. My sisters and I being the first generation in our family to attend college, everything is a little scarier. Nothing scared me more than seeing the cost of the tuition. My parents dropped out of college after one year because they didn’t put the work in to get scholarships, and tuition was too much. My oldest sister is in her third year of college and is already planning to come out of college with $70,000 debt, because she is in a private school. She has worked very hard to earn scholarships, and to keep up her grades. With the price of tuition increasing every year, many people are starting to ask “Should college be free?” With my experience about college, I have yet been able to consider the reality of actually being a college student. I haven’t been able to work hard because of the cost, or to have it be free and given to me.

College, in our everyday world, is considered to be something that uplifts or elevates a person's opportunity in life and is widely regarded as a huge reward on completion. However, is taking away some of the risk in this achievement, the correct thing to do? Changing an integral part of American society, such as college, could have many life changing and societal negative effects and is overall not worth it. College should not be free the first two years due to a necessity to raise taxes to accommodate the "free college", academic and educational quality being hindered due to more teachers being needed, and apathy among students if college became risk free.