Argumentative Essay: Free Community College For All

Great Essays
Free Community College for All Millions looked onward, anticipating what issues the President would address in this year’s State of the Union, would it be ISIS, tax policy, immigration, or maybe healthcare. On January 20, 2015, President Obama at his State of the Union Address, shocked the nation by proposing free community college for all Americans. The proposal for free education is arguably the biggest attempt at economic and social reform we have seen since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Free community college has been enacted by state governments in Tennessee and Oregon, but the President’s plan is a national one that would affect every state. Regardless if the national plan for free community college passes, each, individual American would feel the impact of the President’s proposal. A simplified explanation of President Obama’s proposal is to offer free tuition for every American that maintains above a 2.5 GPA and is making steady progress towards completion of their degree. While there some that argue free community college is best for America, my research suggests otherwise. This paper will explain why free community college is detrimental to the United States. This essay differs from others on the topic because it examines the issue combining education and the economy which have not been considered hand in hand. Secondly, it focuses on the entirety of America addressing more than just the effect it would have on poor Americans. President Obama’s free tuition plan would be harmful to the United States because it contains serious economic flaws that would hurt the nation, and would decrease the quality of education There are some serious economic fallacies regarding the funding for President Obama’s free-tuition community colleges. The President estimates it will cost $60 billion over the course of ten years. This comes out to $6 billion dollars a year for his plan. As for the $60 billion, Obama only expects the federal government to pay for three quarters of that sum and demands the states pay $15 Billion (Jacobs para. 6). Before one can begin examining the issue of funding responsibility, it is important to note the President’s underestimation of the costs involved. Paul Mulshine, a contributor for the Star Ledger wrote “The school system in Newark, which is only a medium-sized city, costs a billion dollars a year to run. Obama is promising to make every county college in the country free - for just six times the cost of running the Newark school system.” (Mulshine para. 32). A small community college system like Newark costs over a billion dollars to run, but the president is claiming to make tuition free for the nation for merely a fraction more. If one school system is a billion dollars to run, the costs would be significantly higher than six billion annually for the entire country. This is a significant economic flaw made by the President. …show more content…
He is conveying to the public an untruthful number in order to garner support for his proposal. Free community college on the national level would rack up massive costs, as government projects are almost guaranteed to run over budget. Therefore, when weighing the benefits and costs of free community college it is important to note that cost of funding would actually be significantly greater than the number the president is proposing. This expensive plan is certainly going to be felt by the taxpayer, and it becomes a question of whether the return on the investments would be justified. In addition to underestimating total costs involved, the President miscalculates the availability of state funding. Thomas Bailey and Judith Scott-Clayton, directors of research …show more content…
There are basic expenses that are required to sustain everyday life. Malcolm Harris from Al Jazeera calculates “$30,000 is what it takes to live like a low-income worker, which is what students are, and you can’t live on tuition alone” Poor students attending community college would forgo a salary as they would be unable to work full-time. Community college would not be feasible for the poor under Obama’s proposal as nothing is done to cover the cost of living. Americans cannot give up food, healthcare, and rent. These are all basic necessities that President forgets to acknowledge in his proposal. If the president’s plan did pass, the poor would not enroll in community college as they would not be able to forgo the costs of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Free College Tuition in the US is Achievable and Necessary. Topic: Why College Should be Free in the USA. INTRODUCTION Attention Getter: Growing up, one thing was for certain in my life; I knew my family couldn’t afford to send me to college.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In this way, the free college policy does not effectively save money for most of the American parents. Some people like Bernie Sanders may suggest that the Wall Street speculators would be another method of supporting the young students for college. However, it is impossible for those speculators to spend their money on profitless projects. Besides, many students are not able to pay the loan back until many years after their graduation so it would be unrealistic to ask Wall Street speculators to support the public education. Thus, the free public college is not absolutely financially…

    • 1508 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Michael Moore’s film, “Where to Invade Next?”, he addresses a main issue of America not offering free college. Moore says that, “Slovenia is one of dozens of countries where it is essentially free to go to a university” and many of these universities will allow, “Any American student to come here and go to a university for free.” Although Moore portrays free college to be something that is easy to convert to, he lacks to inform viewers where all the funding comes from as well as how long this process takes to expand colleges and how class sizes were affected. In the film, Meghan Smith comments, “In the United states, education is a business. They’re corporations making money,” which is how other countries see the American college.…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although this topic might seem relevant to a select group of individuals, it should in fact matter to anyone concerned about the issue of the government causing more money to be taken from taxpayers. “Truth be told, we have myriad educational opportunities available online for an incredibly low cost- and in many cases for "free". With discipline, anyone can learn more on their computer from the comfort of their home” (Roth 1). This statement makes the author’s argument stronger because she is explaining that there are other options other than college that still offers quality education, and fairly cheap. This is strong because she includes it towards the end of the article to provide readers with options after she bashes the idea of free community college.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wang believes the solution is making community college tuition-free for those taking at least six credits and maintaining at least a 2.5 grade point average. His explanation is fair; students who concentrate on work and uphold their grades should have this privilege. He states, “The White House claims if implemented nationwide, the plan could benefit roughly 9 million students per year, saving them an average of $3,800 annually in tuition” (Wang). He also added that “Federal funds will cover three-fourths of the expenses, and states that choose to participate will cover the remaining quarter” (Wang). Knowing that a resolution is attainable keeps me hopeful for the…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College Tuition Costs

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What should the next president of the United States do to fix the economy? To fix the economy the next president should focus on changing the cost of college tuition, fixing the United States trade, and by changing the wage growth when people can get paid more. The reason why the president should focus on college tuition because reason one people don’t have enough money to go to college so that leave them getting lower wage jobs cause if they tried to get better paying job it would be hard since the employer would look more into someone who have a college degree. This can help the economy because less people would be in debt since college students had to use loans to pay the cost for the college.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It starts by introducing the topic followed by a brief background information on free community college discussion. The paper gives a brief description on the reasons why some Americans think community college should be free. Their main reason is that it provides equality and more opportunities for students. It proceeds to issue writer’s opinion as to why community college should not be free with backup from credible references and statistics. Among the reasons explained in this paper are; dropout rates would increase, free community college would be unfair to the poor while the rich would benefit more besides being a burden to the taxpayers.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Community College Should Not Be Free President Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders have been discussing making two years of community college tuition free, one hundred percent free on the student’s part. Is it actually free for the students? Doesn’t the United States already have programs that are supposed to help low-income students afford their tuition? How could it affect the taxpayers or even taxes?…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Sacramento City College student Markese Pierce stated that free tuition is “‘probably the smartest thing we can do because it will keep people in school [.] It makes people want to further their lives and their future’” (Devaney). Graduating from college will impact families because getting a college degree will pass on to the next generation and improve the next…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    It must have been a daunting prospect at the time - paying for the education of so many children for such an extended period of time, transferring a potential workforce away from productivity for an investment like schooling.” If free education for all high schools could be achieved, even if it’s still being ironed out with it’s problems, then why not do the same for college education? College students should be given the chance to make the most of their…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But community colleges, which should be complementary to the people of America, cost $16,325. Colleges should be more convenient and reasonable for the people of America. If a quality education was at least attainable to some, America as a whole would improve tremendously. As of today, only 30% of Americans who pursue college end up graduating, and this showcases a huge waste of time and money (Bridgestock, 2015). If students were not forced to…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    New Republic is opposed to it saying “The main problem with free college is that most students come from disproportionately well-off backgrounds and already enjoy disproportionately well-off futures, which makes them relatively uncompelling targets for public transfers.” Many disagree, saying “College should be free to all students. Just like students have a right to elementary and secondary education, students should have a right to obtain higher education. If a person has a desire to learn more, they should not be forced to stop learning after high school due to a lack of money or connections” (Academic OneFile). Students that have been raised in the middle or lower class may not have the income, work, and time to support them in top well known colleges.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “If higher education at public schools becomes free, it might appear to devalue a college diploma. It might also lead to students cutting more classes or not trying because they don’t have to “get their money’s worth” when they aren’t paying for anything. The current price of college drives students to complete their schooling as quickly as possible so as to reduce debt. Without that financial drive, we might see more laziness and lackadaisical behavior from our students” (College Raptor). College would just be like high school everyone would go through it to be able to at least get a job.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College does indeed cost a lot; however, expensive tuition is not an incentive to make college free. Andrew Kelly, the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at American Enterprise Institute (AES) says that free college would lead to an increase in taxes and because of the increase in enrollments, the cost to implement this policy would increase even more (The New York Times). He also states that “Rather than spread scarce federal money across all students, policymakers should instead target those resources toward those who need it most” (The New York Times). In other words, tuition-free education should only be an option to those who need it, not those who are able to afford…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “A study from 1.8 million high school students graduating in 2013 who took the ACT said 95% wanted to continue education, only 59% immediately enrolled in college” (Take). People need to get a higher education and making college free would help people have a chance to get their degree. Therefore, more people would attend college, if it 00………….was free. Consequently, college should be free for everyone. There are three reasons why college should be free everywhere and for everyone.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays