Should A College Education Be Free?
Aerick Russell
Prof. Melissa Parker
English 111-12
November 15, 2017
College should not be free, but it also shouldn’t cost a person $40,000 just to get an education. Anything of value is worth paying for, and your education is one of the most valuable things you can own. Why? Because no one can ever take away your knowledge. Once you know something, you can’t simply unknow it. Education is an investment, an asset, and secures futures for millions of people across the world. If education was free, I feel that people wouldn’t put forth their best efforts. I also don’t feel that it should cost a person an unreasonable amount of money to be educated. I know some families that struggle between paying their bills and being educated. It should never be an “either, or” choice, and for many people it is. I know personally the struggles of affording a college education. If my mom and I didn’t value my education, she would not be making the investment into my future. However, having a college education can provide added value to your life such as better career choices, job security, job advancement, and the ability to have great earning potential. Therefore, in my opinion, college should not be free. It’s an investment being made to secure your future.
For some, free education would be the ideal situation. If students only had to worry about passing their classes and not repaying student loans after they graduate, there would be a greater focus on grades and less stress on where they will get the finances to repay loans. If education was free, more people would have the opportunity to attend college and graduate, therefore more people would be better equipped to find employment which will ultimately lead to the unemployment rate decreasing and many people would be able to attain the “American Dream.” A free college education would make for a better economy with happier people because they are not faced with thousands of dollars in debt. No one wants to graduate from college knowing they are already in debt because they chose to better themselves by getting an education. So far, three states are already taking a stand against the insurmountable debt that is being acquired every year by the countless number of students trying to further their education and that’s New York, Tennessee, and Oregon. New York is the first state to provide its residents with the opportunity to obtain a free education through its Excelsior Scholarship. The scholarship is available for middle-class New York residents who plan to attend a 2 or 4-year degree program, enroll in 30 or more units each semester, and who also plan to live and work in New York following graduation. Since it’s inception, more than 20,000 residents have applied to college in New York. Although this program only covers tuition and not room and board, to some its more than enough.
In lieu of a free education, public colleges and universities should have a cap on how much they can charge a student for tuition. I don’t think tuition should be based on a person’s ability to pay because there are far more people who cannot afford to pay for college then there are people who can afford to pay. Tuition should simply be a basic fee that is universally affordable and acceptable to all. I can’t put a dollar amount on what the tuition should be, because like I said before, anything of value is worth paying for. So rather it be $5.00 or $5,000, the amount should be capped for all students, across the board regardless of a person’s financial status. Dr. Colleen Hanycz, president of LaSalle University, stated that “In this country, tuition is broken. College education is becoming less affordable than it was 20 years ago.” When my mom attended college in 1995, the tuition was half the cost of what it is now, and although my mother did receive a few scholarships to help offset her tuition cost, she still had to make a financial contribution towards her education.
Yes, college is expensive and yes it should be affordable for all. However, it shouldn’t be free. College students should have a stake in their education. When you are paying for something, you want to get the best return for your investment. If no investment is made, you tend to not care as much about the return. We all know that when something is free, we as a whole, tend to throw caution to the wind and just carelessly and recklessly take advantage of “free.” If a college education is free, the rate of completion will drastically decrease. Students will become less passionate about their studies and run the risk of not completing their degrees because they have now developed the mindset of “it doesn’t matter, I’m not paying for it anyway.” With careless attitudes like that, you will see an increase in the number of students enrolling in college, but a decrease in the number of students completing their degree programs. Therefore, capping tuition at public colleges and universities will make college more accessible, affordable, and attainable for all without having the extra worry of being thousands of dollars in debt and not being able to find employment opportunities because of a lack of education.
I understand both sides to the argument of should college be free, but I also hold fast to my argument that college should not be free. Creating a system where higher education is free would mean higher taxes being imposed on tax payers. Someone would have to bear the burden of a free higher learning educational system and that burden would fall to the tax payers. I personally don’t want my mom paying for the education of all others that will have no benefit to or for her. She should not bear that burden nor should any other tax payer. Also, if everyone goes to college for free it will decrease the value of the degree you received. There are many reasons why a person chooses to go to college. One of the main reasons is to be able to work in the career field of your choice and to be competitive amongst other candidates. Can you imagine thousands upon thousands of people competing for the same job as you? Where do you stand out as a candidate? In what other ways can you make yourself more competitive? If everyone has the same degree as you, I feel that the value of your degree deceases and makes it nothing more than a high school diploma. If a person wants a free education, then they should do like most other people and explore their options of joining the Military and earning a free education. Military Vets are the only individuals that should receive a free education. Other than that, everyone should hold a stake in their education and pay a fair and reasonable tuition amount that will allow everyone the opportunity to obtain a higher learning education without the fear of not being able to go to college simply because they couldn’t afford it.
References
Morris, Catherine. "Institutions Tackle Rising Tuition Costs." Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, vol. 34, no. 16, 07 Sept. 2017, pp. 6-7. EBSCOhost, mendel.csuniv.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=124950278&site=eds-live&scope=site.
"Video: Tuition Free College in New York." Local Broadcast Video Content, 2017, CriticalMention, Inc. EBSCOhost, mendel.csuniv.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgin&AN=edsgcl.489302274&site=eds-live&scope=site.