Why College Should Be Free For Everyone Essay

Great Essays
Why College Should be Free for Everyone
One of the things people think of when they think about college is the cost of attending. Many people I know, peers and parents alike, are going or have gone to college with the intention of using loans to attain the ultimate goal, their degree. If America is so progressive, then why hasn’t the cost of college been lowered instead of going up yearly? College should not force people to go into debt for the majority of their lives to get a degree. This may seem unrealistic to a lot of people. It also may seem unfair to those students who have paid for college, not just through monetary assistance like grants and scholarships, but also their mental energy as they figured how they were going to pay back extra
…show more content…
It allows people to not just learn about the world around them, it also allows them to explore subjects that they may become interested in as they grow up. When kids are young, education is stressed to be their prime concern by their parents and teachers. They are right to do so. Education is a gift that keeps on giving if a person takes advantage of the opportunity. Kenneth Pennington writes in his article, “High school is free in the US College should be too”, “In the mid-1800s, Americans began to transition to publicly funded high school education for the vast majority [of] students. 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 …show more content…
People will sometimes determine that the cost of college is too much and not worth it. Students who do look at college are left to discover on their own with their parents how they are going to afford college if they decide to go. It can seem like universities are holding a person’s freedom to learn hostage unless they pay the fee to attend. College today shouldn’t be considered an alternative to working, but a necessity to further one’s own personal knowledge and also have a better chance at getting a career in a field that’s enjoyable to the student. In the article “College Free for All?” it says, The average male high school dropout might earn $24,000 a year. One with a four-year college degree might make $52,000, while an advanced degree could merit $67,000.” The benefits of higher education are vital to the livelihood of college students entering the workforce. States have tried to help students with the cost of colleges through the use of financial grants, especially merit-based scholarships. There are just not enough funds within these scholarships to make sure that students don’t end up in

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    In our current economic situation almost everyone has to worry about money, whether that is for: groceries, the mortgage, rent, or in our scenario, schooling. With the cost of getting a higher education being so high today will it pay out in the long run? You don’t want to waste four years going to a school that will set you back farther than you want. Possibly even get a degree that will not help you secure yourself a stable financial future. In an article titled, The Rising Cost of Not Going to College by the Pew research center, one of the statistics it shows talks about how most college graduates, who are working full time, earn about $17,500 more per year than other participants who only have a high school diploma.…

    • 2068 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A college education isn’t free, and for those of us who can’t afford it are at a disadvantage. Some would say that if it’s worth pursuing then take the measure to achieve it by taking out loans. What people fail to realize is that, loans only dig people into more debt. Let’s say a man takes out ten thousand for four years each year to attend college. After he graduates, he is already forty thousand dollars in debt.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even though the four-year brick-and-mortar residential college is out of style, Murray states that “the two-year community college and online courses offer more flexible options for tailoring course work to the real needs of a job” (230). Most students going to college now are going for practical and vocational degrees. Degrees that a four-year course, 32 semester long credits, is not practical for. As students graduate high-school, they are now strongly encouraged to go to a university. In response to this push by parents and high-school faculty, Murray states that even though it is true that someone holding a “B.A. makes more” than someone “without a B.A., getting a B.A. is still” the economically incorrect choice “for many high-school graduates” (234).…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior 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
  • Improved Essays

    Boen Wang, a sophomore majoring in engineering science at Penn State who was featured on The Daily Collegian’s Wednesday column, wrote an article called Reasons to make community college free. He insists that making community college free is possible and could potentially reshape higher education. He pinpoints one of the effects of high tuition and presents, “Lack of financial resources is one of the major reasons for such low graduation rates” (Wang). This should worry the college’s staff simply because one of the school 's purposes is to get everyone to graduate. With these low rates, students wanting to apply for the school will not feel confident and are going to assume the institution cannot deliver academic support.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    While I do not believe that college tuition should be free, I say students should be able to pay for their entire year of college if they had a full-time job throughout the summer. This would require students to be committed to their education year around, but would allow for students to graduate with minimal or no debt. If a student could pay for an entire year’s tuition with a summer job, that would eliminate the need for almost all student loans. Some loans may be needed occasionally to cover in the case of unexpected costs or graduate tuition. I also believe that all college loans should be appointed by the government and unsubsidized until five years after graduation.…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first issue that Matthews presents is the fact that over the past four decades, the ordinary high school graduate along with the lowest twenty-five percent generally have similar salaries when working the same jobs. This fact could disappoint a teenager looking forward to pursuing a college degree in order to earn a higher salary and make them question their choices. However, the value of a college degree has increased for everyone, including the bottom twenty five percent of earners, as a result of the liquidation of “high-paying blue collar jobs.” (Matthews). This increase in value still does not take away the fact that someone with a degree does not make more money than someone without one.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The more an individual has to compensate to attend a school, then the lower the net benefit will be of attending. The Hamilton Project calculates a four-year degree to cost approximately $54,000. In addition, other recent studies Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has exemplified that repaying college tuition can last up to ten years or more. “After attempting to account for in-state vs. out-of-state tuition, financial aid, graduation rates, years taken to graduate, wage inflation, and selection, nearly to hundred schools on the 2012 list have negative ROIs” (Owen and Sawhill 214). With the rising cost of tuition and indefinite job market, individual’s should consider whether obtaining a bachelor’s degree is essential in today’s…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Purpose: To persuade the audience to find ways to promote free college education. Importance to Audience: College education has become a necessity that’s hindering the future of growing generations. Thesis Statement: College Education should be free. Preview of Main Points: I will elaborate on the following three topics: the increasing rate in student debt, how other countries are benefitting from providing free college, and how we can achieve free college tuition in the U.S. (Transition:…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Importance Of Free College Education

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 10 Works Cited

    For students to understand the investment of an education shows a maturity that they developed by taking out loans. It is required for students to undergo a seminar about loans and how it should be monitored. This helps students understand the real life aspect of adult hood and money management ("Huffington Post" ). If college were to be free, yes students would not have to take out any loans whatsoever but many would not develop the maturity needed for life after college. It is understandable for students to disagree with the argument and refute that college is something that should be free to anyone.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 10 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    President Obama stated in an article he wants to bring down the cost of community college, and one day possibly make obtaining your associates degree a free ride. If a free ride actually means an expenditure of more than sixty billion dollars over the next ten years it is not such a beautiful idea. Many people believe that if the availability of college was increased in turn the number of well-educated people, and quality education would also. They feel that community colleges that become free will be what students need to get a jump start on their career. Unfortunately, not taken into consideration was that each college must rely on the federal government for seventy-five percent of its income.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If there was a such thing of free college lower income students might reach graduation. Some students drop out because they do not have the ability to pay for tuition all four years. Amelia Josephson said, “Making college tuition free would eliminate this reason for not graduating.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As The Washington Post states that, “That didn 't happen by presidential decree. It took populist pressure from the progressive movement, beginning in the 1890s, to make widespread access to free public schools a reality.” So why is the price for getting a college education any different? One of the big questions when applying to colleges is, what does the tuition that is required actually go towards. At any public school tuition not only goes towards the student 's education, but it supports many factors that go along with it such as housing, financial aid, student services, faculty compensation etc..…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    School is a necessary system worldwide to invest in a society 's future. The primary argument as to why educational institutions should be free in the U.S. is not to give everyone the equal opportunity to education as stated by Lawrence (a professor of History emeritus at SUNY Albany) although it is one of the reasons, the primary reason is to increase the number of educated workers to hopefully improve our economy. It is stated that an “educated work force has become an essential component of economic growth and competitiveness (Student Aid Alliance). However, college tuition filters out those who are not willing to pay for their education and also funds universities so that they are able to function and upgrade their facilities. College should not be free because it would lead to tax raises, the value of a degree would decline, and the overall quality of the educational environment would decrease.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Free College Essay

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Even for the ones that are able to attend college, it is hard on them to afford this. Wittner states: “The tuition squeeze on young Americans results largely from severe reductions in state and local funding for public colleges and universities, usually initiated by conservative, budget-cutting governments. Since 2008 alone, state funding for public universities has dropped 16 percent.” ("Why Tuition-Free College Makes Sense." P. 6).…

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays