One of the biggest issues in America today is the issue of college being too expensive. Many teenagers struggle with paying for college. The cost of college is every teen and families number one decision maker in picking a college. When it comes to the topic of free college, most of us would agree that college is far too expensive and very hard to pay off. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if college should be made completely free. Whereas some are convinced that college being free would cost citizens an unreasonable amount of money, others maintain that simple things can be done by the government that would not make free college terrible for tax payers. Although some people believe that free college in the United States would hurt the economy, I believe that free college would cause much more out of high school teens to go to college and get jobs making our country so much stronger.
The first reason why college should be free is because it will help the American economy by creating more jobs with more people working. More specifically, there are so many smart people who cannot afford college and do not want to be in debt for many years. These people who do not go to college, do not end up contributing to society as well as they could have. “Many of America's top-performing high school students never apply to the most challenging colleges and universities even though they have the ability to succeed at them.” (Tradeschools.net). This is almost always because of the extremely high price of the school. This steers many bright teenagers from getting the best education possible and contributing so much talent to our society. “When people cannot afford education, we all suffer, as they are far less likely to be employed, paying taxes, sending their children to school and contributing to our communities in other ways.” (The Wall Street Journal). Having college cost so much money is only enabling America from being as great as it could be, by stopping very smart people from being able to contribute to our society. Many American’s are worried that their own money will be going to waste paying taxes for people they do not know to get an education, but the outcome will make the United States a much better place. “One study shows that new spending on public colleges produces more economic activity and, college graduates smoke less, commit fewer crimes, draw less on social welfare programs, and generate more taxes.” (Max Page and Dan Clawson). The system we have now sets young people up for failure by forcing them to either not go to college and most likely not have a high paying job doing what they want to do, or forcing them to go to college and get student loans to do so causing them to be in debt for decades after they graduate. The debt also can have a huge impact on what job a college graduate ends up picking because they are frantically trying to find a job that will pay off their debt as fast as possible.
The people who do not agree with free college believe that it will cost tax payers a ridiculous amount of money and that it just is not their responsibility to pay for every student’s college. More specifically, they argue that not being able to stop students from taking out loans will hurt the tax payers when those students do not even end up getting their degree. “They will pay for the free tuition while soon-to-be college dropouts use student loans. when the students attending default on their student loan, the taxpayer will shoulder the burden.”(Vince Norton). They believe that free college will not help but hurt the economy because free college will create an outlook of college being as high of an honor or standard as it is when it needs to be paid for. These people think that students will not college as serious as they would if they were to be paying thousands of dollars for each class. “When faced with challenging and rigorous classes, some students will realize they are in danger of failing will withdraw from the class.” (Vince Norton). He also makes a point in saying that, “A withdraw grade may not factor into the grade point average calculation. Once tuition becomes free, I predict increased abuse of withdrawing from classes. The financial incentive to finish what you start has been removed.” (Vince Norton). People like him believe that once college in America is deemed free, that all American’s will have to pay a ridiculous amount of money on taxes. I do not agree with this. There are several ways that the government can lighten the tax load through certain budget cuts that will not ruin America or really effect it at all. One way the federal government could help is by, “Closing corporate tax loopholes that allow companies to legally avoid paying their full share of taxes.” (TradeSchools.net). Another way is to “Increase the tax rates for America’s wealthiest millionaires and billionaires.” (TradeSchools.net). One other way is to “Implementing new taxes on speculative Wall Street transactions.” (TradeSchools.net). Another solution is “Diverting most of the public money currently spent on student financial aid toward making all public colleges and universities tuition-free.” (TradeSchools.net). One way is to “Decrease the military budget, and to cut down on wasteful government spending.” (TradeSchools.net). All of these solutions would not ruin the United States and would lessen the tax load on citizens to pay for free college.
Although free college seems to only concern students going into college, it really affects all the people of the United States. The United States would prosper if every bright young mind coming out of high school could go right into the college that they deserve to be in. If students got accepted to college based on their grades, extracurricular activities, and their character, many more students would work so much harder in school knowing that was their ticket in. Many students who never try in school because they know they cannot afford college, would be able to focus on making themselves better in school and every other way, in order to give themselves a future they never thought they would be able to have. America’s homeless population will go down. These people who used to be homeless or would have been will be contributing to our economy with the jobs they get from their free college degrees. This is just one of the many results of our economy and society as a whole, prospering because of free college. Although some people believe that free college in the United States would hurt its economy, I believe that free college would cause much more out of high school teens to go to college and get jobs making our country so much stronger. I stand by this belief because of all the ways I said that the government can help tax payers make this dream a reality. I know that the amount of smart well accomplished American’s making our society better every day would be well worth it.