Argumentative Essay: Should Community Colleges Be Free?

If college was free students would have to want to continue their education and get a degree. While free would make college affordable, those receiving the benefit would need to have stipulations for the free classes they are attending. Michael J. Petrilli is the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Petrilli states, “… just 40 percent of 12th graders are college-ready, even though nearly 70 percent already head straight into college.” He is correct that many high school graduates are not prepared to transition to college. Many don’t have the attention span to sit in longer classes. Students are used not study over a time period, but rather cram the night before the due assignment. Some stipulations would be; you have to finish and get a degree, you have to keep your GPA up, and if you drop out without a good reason you have to pay back the money you used.

In today’s work place having a degree is an expectation set by most professional jobs, there seems to be a negative stigma towards those workers without a degree. Nowadays students feel like they are being forced to go to college if they ever plan on having a “real job”, and colleges capitalize on it with unreasonably high tuition rates, overpriced living expenses, and trying to provide a “College experience” rather than a college education. I strongly feel that if college should be free of charge because universities would be more selective about the education standards required to enter their school. In turn this would produce a more prestigious college degree and keep the young adults of America debt free when entering the work field with

Community college should be free for all students who want to attend school. There should be a set of rules applied to those that would take advantage of this privilege. In the United States, there are not very many programs that offer the opportunity for students to attend free colleges like other countries have. Some examples of the countries are Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany and France. The U.S. does have some programs that offer free tuition. For example Tennessee offers free tuition to students. The Tennessee Promise is a scholarship program that pays for your community college so you can go there tuition free. Another program is the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) in New York at the City University of New York. Community colleges should be free because it would not only attract more students, but would help students to focus more on school rather than thinking about how they are going to pay for their education. However, we need guidelines for applicants to attend such as maintaining a high GPA, giving back through community services hours, and other rules and guidelines to attract students that would continue to excel in their education and not waste the opportunity given to them to work towards a good career and give back.

One of the main reasons why college should not be free is because of the common conception of free things: free things are not good quality. Nothing that is given out for free is ever good quality, they are usually simple things such as a pen or sunglasses covered in a company's logo—never anything with great use. Many are afraid that if college becomes free the quality of the education will suffer tremendously. If colleges weren't being paid money by the students they will cut professors pay and other education boosting factors that will result in a lesser education. This point is further explained and supported by the website "idebate" stating that nothing is good or worthwhile if it is free, just

Community college which is usually paid off by the government through grant and fee waivers for for low-income students is a way of continuing your growth after high school, although these institutions aren’t the very best type of education you can get it is a start. The type of students that usually go to community colleges are either low income and can't afford to pay for any other schools(without help from financial aid) or people who simply didn’t get the best grades in high school but still chose to continue their path of education. In the article “As He Promotes It, Some Question Obama’s Free Community College Idea.” Joanne Jacobs explains to us some of the pros and cons about having free community college. With the cons weighing out the pros, in my opinion, community college should not be free because it would take away the significance of going to college. I highly doubt that college students would want to slack off in classes that they are paying for. It works sort of as like an incentive since money isn't easily earned, so by allowing students to attend college for free would make community college more of a continuation of high school.

The second reason why community colleges should not give out free tuition is because this could actually lower the rates of students becoming successful. According to Andrew P. Kelly from the article “Should Community College be Free”, he said in an interview that “Free community college could actually lower rates of student success; the literature suggests that is less selective than they are academically qualified to attend reduces students’ chances of graduating” (Kelly) (2). Furthermore, this article also shows student’s performances are weaker in free colleges than normal colleges. This means that by giving out free tuition to students will also make them more laid back and not focus on studying as much as they should be. This is a little

Making community college free will be able to support lower income students ability to have their tuition paid and in most cases their books as well. Most people know than most of the time, money can be a very big barrier in being able to continue one’s path of higher education. For dedicated students who want to be able to continue their education but yet can not afford the tuition of a 4 year institution or sometimes a 2 year

Although I believe the first two years of community college should be free to all; many people would disagree. One of the biggest controversies surrounding the issue of free community college is the enormous cost it comes with and how it will be funded. According to Emily Deruy, the author of the article The Debate over Free Community College, “The chances of community colleges nationwide becoming free are slim. The White House has said it would cost the federal

If community college is free than more people will attend causing people to be added to a waiting list. “Savvier middle- and upper-middle class students could be competing for spots with low income students” Siqueiros said. “One population ends up pushing out another.” This demonstrates the negative effect of free community college, because middle class students will be competing with low income students, causing low income students to lose their spot at school and not being accepted. Another reason would be that for low income students receive pell grants which covers most of their tuition. For some students with low income don’t have to pay for much tuition because they already receive the that they need. Those students who can afford to pay should have to pay for

Community colleges should be tuition free to help students achieve the goals and get the degree they want. President Obama proposed for tuition-free community colleges earlier this year. Community colleges being free would help persuade people to pursue a degree. There would be less students in debt, because they would not have to take out a loan to attend community college. If community colleges were free, it would help people get a leg up on their college degree, there would be less debt for college students, and deleting community college tuition would help students achieve success in their educational careers.

One of the most highly debated proposals from President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address is a new government program that would cover the cost of community college. The “American College Promise” would provide free tuition to students who enroll in a community college for at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 Grade Point Average (GPA), make steady progress towards completing an associate’s degree and cannot have an adjusted gross income of above two hundred thousand dollars. Obama has stated that the new proposal will benefit roughly nine million students each year by earning them an associate’s degree at no cost. Although the new proposal can be seen as a panacea for all incoming college students, the opposition is true due to the fact that community college is affordable, exclusive, and will hurt the economy by causing the current United States debt to increase.

In 2016, the average cost of community college was $46 a unit for in state residents. To be considered a full time student, one must take 12 units a semester. That totals out to be $552 a semester (or $2,200 for a full two years) in just tuition alone (icanaffordcollege.com). If you factor in just the cost of books, which run about $200 a book per class, it will cost a student about $800 a semester assuming that they are taking four 3 unit classes. In books alone, a two year program will cost a college student roughly $3,200. That's already $5,400 and we haven't even factored in travel costs, other school supplies, housing, and basic living expenses. The cost of getting an education adds up fast! These types of numbers can scare off any potential student. After all, why spend that amount of money when you can earn the same amount by working? This is the thought process of many people when they are deciding whether or not to attend school. However, if the cost of attending community college is free, the immense fees will be greatly reduced, allowing more people the ability to attend

“Free” a word that will catch anyone's attention no matter what. In the article “ As He Promotes It, Some Questions Obama’s Free Community College Idea” by Joanne Jacobs they explain President Barack Obama’s idea of making community colleges basically into higher level of high school by making them free to everyone. Without even thinking about it most student would be excited about this new idea but when you take a deeper look at things, separating the pros and cons you begin to realize that it may not be such a great idea after all. Free is not always good as it seems as it can become a downfall of dominoes one thing after another just starts falling apart which I think will happen if this idea is implemented.

From the article, “Democratic Contenders Aim At Wall Street “by Bob Davis, Davis takes a survey of why former students disagree with having free community college. One of the former students that Davis surveyed said “In college I was invested, I was paying… “Once it entails a cost, it’s not easy to just say, ‘Oh, let’s not go to class today.’ You’re just hurting yourself”, signifying that ditching class is only hurting the student’s education (Davis). If students were to pay for education independently, it would give them motivation to do better in their classes; this way, they will place more value their

“Schools and wallets” As the nation's debt would rise so would the percentage of students achieving their bachelor's degrees. In a recent proposal by President Barack Obama, he advocates for making community college free for all students. Although some might jump at the idea of free college, we have to take it with a grain of salt because nothing is truly free. College is always seen as a third echelon of learning that takes both time and money in order to achieve a receipt with your name on it that when traded lands you a comfy job (sometimes but more on that later). However some critics say that college is just too expensive, but this is where community college tuition comes in at half the price of a CSU or a UC, and this is why the idea of free community college is almost unnecessary.