Should College Education Be Free
As we have seen before, there are several pros and cons related to free college education.
In the end, it depends on the preferences of the general public whether college should be free or not.
However, an interesting alternative to free college education would be to lower interest rates and to extend the time for repayment for those loans so that they will not have a too high financial burden once they graduated from college.
Through this measure, the ones who profit the most from their degree would still bear the costs of this education, while they would be more flexible regarding the repayment of their loans at the same time.
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College Students Should Pay For Their Studies Not The Taxpayer
Another disadvantage of free college education is that the money for this kind of education has to come from somewhere.
In the end, if college students will no longer pay for their education, the taxpayer will pay the piper.
Hence, it might not be considered fair to burden the costs of college education on taxpayers since they do not profit too much from the education of strangers.
Therefore, it is rather questionable whether it is fair to impose the high costs for college on taxpayers instead of on college students who directly profit from their degree.
Why College Should Be Free
A whole range of goods should be publicly provided, financed by taxes, and free of charge to all regardless of whether its the affluent or the poor who use them most. College is one of those goods.
Painting of Medical Hall and College Hall at the University of Pennsylvania in 1842, Philadelphia, PA.John Caspar Wild / World Digital Library
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In the United States, as in many countries, local governments often provide fire protection. In general there are exceptions, but theyre still rare enough to make news this is a free service, available to everyone who lives in whatever jurisdiction provides it. No one has to sign up or pay for coverage. To most people, I suppose, this is a normal and reasonable thing to do.
One effect of fire protection is to stop peoples homes from burning down. As it happens, rich people are more likely to own homes than poor people. And when people with lower incomes do own houses, they are generally less expensive. So, the distributional effect of preventing houses from burning is clearly regressive.
Why should everyone have to pay to keep millionaires mansions from burning? Modern apartment buildings probably arent even at that great risk of fire, what with sprinkler systems and so on. Its the big houses up in the hills that are in the greatest danger.
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Lack Of Preparation For The Job Market
Since students are basically free to try and choose different subjects in university since there are no extra tuition fees associated with them, they would also be more likely to study subjects that they might like but which do not provide good job opportunities at all.
Thus, even though the time on campus may be quite pleasant, there might be an unpleasant surprise for those students later on in their life when they will have a quite hard time finding a job.
Why College Tuition Should Be Free
There are so many reasons why college should be free for everyone. First there would be fewer people that would need to have government assistance. Also with free college education there would be smarter people making better decisions that could help solve our most difficult challenges. Students wont graduate without a job and $ 30,000
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Student Debt Will No Longer Crush The Younger Generations
If an American college student is able to graduate with less than $10,000 in student loan debt, they are considered lucky . However, students from other countries that dont have tuition already have that luxury most of their loans come from living expenses and books. Without the weight of student loan debt, more college graduates might buy houses rather than renting apartments. They might buy cars, spend more on healthy food, travel more: In essence, they could contribute more to the economy.
Better Average Education Levels
Through free college education, also the average education levels of the general public would likely improve significantly.
Such an improvement in education would benefit people in many different ways.
For instance, if people have a better financial education, they are more likely to make better investment decisions, which in turn results in higher levels of wealth in the long run.
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Free College Will Hike Costs For Taxpayers And Make The System More Opaque
Free, free, free is the Democratic presidential front runners proposed solution to many kitchen-table issues, including the high and rising price of college. Joe Biden indicated his support for 16 years of free public education in a 2015 statement. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have made free college, as well as total or significant student debt forgiveness, part of their campaigns. However, prices give students and the public essential information, and we need to let the price system work with minimal distortions to help students tailor their best educational path.
Past federal attempts to increase higher education affordability third-party payments of guaranteed private loans and direct federal loans and grants contributed to non-transparent pricing and fueled rising prices. Free college would make things worse, while simultaneously transferring the entire burden to taxpayers. What American colleges need is more price transparency, not less.
Its virtually impossible to know what four or more college years will cost at the time of admission. Prospective students and their families must face the daunting task of combining colleges listed price, possible institutional scholarships, government grants, loans, work study, and more to determine the true price. Now add the confusion of third-party payment, out-of-pocket vs. future student-debt payments, and various loan forgiveness programs, and the true price becomes even more obscured.
Pro : Free College Would Expand Access To Education
Okay, this one is a little obvious, but offering free college tuition would make it possible for more people to pursue higher education. The bright young people who currently skip college because they cant afford it would have the opportunity to get a degree and get better jobs. The high cost of a degree would no longer be an obstacle. For many proponents of free college, its a question of fairness. They say that access to a bachelors degree should be accessible to everyone, especially because a B.A. or B.S. is increasingly necessary to get a good job.
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Free College Is A Natural Extension Of Free Elementary School And High School
The idea of free college is really no more radical than free kindergarten through grade 12. At one time, few people went to high school and few elementary schools or high schools were free. There were some free common schools in the United States as early as the 1700s, but the concept of free education for elementary school-age children did not start to really gain traction until the mid-1800s, partly due to the efforts of Horace Mann, the Secretary of Education in Massachusetts. He also advocated compulsory schooling. By the 1880s, there were many free high schools in the North. By 1900, only 34 states had compulsory schooling laws, but by 1918, all children in the United States were required to complete elementary school. By the 1940s and 1950s, over of half young adults graduated from high school. Today, 88% of students graduate high school. Free education in this country has been a process of evolution. Free college is the next step.
Is College Worth The Cost
College is not worth the cost considering there are jobs for people that do not go to college, Time could be used at a job, and Students end up in major debt. Instead of students going to college, they could go straight into the workforce. Going to college helps obtain you better jobs. The effort students put into receiving a degree is not the same as ten years ago . For the price you have to pay, you should be receiving more out of it.
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Why Are Colleges Worth The Price Of Admission
I agree with this article. For-profit colleges help people in their education in a lot of different ways. However, many people earn a degree to get a job. If the debt that they procure while doing so is more money than that which the degree can help pay off, that degree will have lost its meaning. Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus support this argument in their article Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?
Should College Be Free Essay
Todays society more and more jobs are requiring specific technical requirements or a college degree. Free college would expand higher educational benefits such as jobs and higher pay as opposed to those with little to no college background. Recovery magazine believes By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require post-secondary education and training beyond high school. free college tuition will give so many students an equal opportunity to achieve their goals no matter if its just an associates degree or a doctoral degree. Achieving a college degree can not only be a life long achievement but can better their future and open doors to better job opportunities.
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Rich Kids Should Have To Pay For College
Critics of free public college, including Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, argue that its a wasteful, even regressive, idea, since students from families wealthy enough to afford tuition would disproportionately reap the benefits. Thats because kids from higher-income families are more likely to attend college and lower-income students on average pay less in net tuition.
Sandy Baum and Alexandra Tilsley at the Urban Institute estimate that more than a third of the total subsidies required for universal free public college would flow to students from families earning $120,000 or more, who already tend to enjoy better K-12 educations.
Ms. Baum and Ms. Tilsley write in The Washington Post:
A national free-tuition plan would provide disproportionate benefits to the relatively affluent while leaving many low- and moderate-income students struggling to complete the college degrees that many jobs now demand. Ironically, free-tuition programs would exacerbate inequality even as they promise to level the playing field. A progressive educational policy should offer much more narrowly targeted help for students.
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Should College Be Free Pros Cons And Alternatives
It’s a question that might be more relevant today than ever before: Should college be free in America? Many people have very passionate opinions on the matter. Maybe you’re one of them. But this question deserves a lot more than a simple yes or no answer. It deserves an open mind and a balanced exploration of the potential benefits, drawbacks, and alternatives.
After all, America’s future is at stake. And nearly everyone agrees that education is one of the biggest factors that will determine the nation’s fate going forward. So we have to get it right. Although some people might feel that the current system of higher education and vocational training is working well, many other people believe that it needs at least a little bit of improvement in one way or another.
College affordability is often among the top concerns. When the cost of attending college, university, or trade school is too high, a lot of students simply choose not to pursue a higher education. And that leaves many of them ill-equipped to find good employment, let alone attain the American dream. But high costs also leave some college graduates with levels of debt that hamper their abilities to attain at least a middle-class lifestyle.
So, should college be free? Is that even possible? Keep reading, and decide for yourself.
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The Future Of Free College In The Us
The promise of free college has struck a chord with young people, but don’t bust open that college-savings piggy bank just yet. Although Biden supports free community college and free four-year college , only the former has been reintroduced since his election. Like large-scale student debt forgiveness, free college awaits approval from Congress.
Like large-scale student debt forgiveness, free college awaits approval from Congress.
The free-college proposals most likely to make it into a bill include an income cap, meaning families earning above a certain threshold would still have to pay tuition. Such plans would also only apply to public colleges, with private universities continuing to charge a premium.
Lifetime earnings data indicate that college pays off. The return on investment of a college degree is substantial enough to outpace even the growing cost of tuition. Still, the high dropout and student debt default rates reveal a darker side. Making college, and college’s many benefits, more equitable necessitates that tuition rates go down.
More than a dozen U.S. higher education institutions already charge students nothing for tuition. Colleges with free tuition, such as Berea College, typically offer work-study programs or rely on private donations.
Students in search of free or cheap education should also consider massive open online courses, online programs, vocational schools, and employer-paid programs.
Students May Not Focus On One Major
Even though free college education gives students the opportunity to try many different subjects, it also implies the risk that college students do not focus their efforts on one major.
This may result in problems since if those students take part in too many different majors and classes, chances are that the grades will significantly suffer in each course and many students may leave college without a degree due to that.
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Pro : Its An Important Basic Need
If we view higher education as a fundamental right, some college options would have to be free of charge and funded by the taxpayers.
- True: Higher education has become more important due to rapid industrialization and technological innovations. More jobs in the near future will require college-educated workers.
- True: Free-tuition colleges nationwide can help students who most need financial help, as well as states that need to have a skilled workforce.
- False: Other basic needs must be met before students can learn effectively, such as nutrition, exercise, transportation, and neighborhood environments.
- False: A steady source of income is more important than free college tuition.
Takeaway: Free college tuition is not the most important of all basic human needs.
Support For Free College Tuition Programs Remains Strong
The Campaign for Free College Tuition’s latest survey, conducted in July, finds Americans in all demographic and political groups support making public colleges tuition-free. We tested three different proposals for free college tuition and all of them received at least 73 percent overall support, which is statistically identical to our January/February 2021 poll.
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Why College Should Be Free Essay
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Topic: Should a college or university education be tuition free essay
College tuition fees have been on the rise in the last couple of years. Now many jobs require a college degree which makes it hard for those without higher education. The higher somebody goes in their education the easier it is to get almost any job they want. College education has become a necessity in todays society and rising tuition fees are putting a college education out of reach for some students. The first two years of college should be provided and funded by the U.S. government because it will encourage students to achieve their college education without looking at college as such a financial obstacle.
Cons Of Free Education
While there are plenty of benefits associated with free education, it isnt all great. There are also some downsides when it comes to offering free education to all.
1. Someone Has To Pay For It.
Free college is free for the student, but the money to cover the cost must come from somewhere. As mentioned earlier, this money could come from the defense budget, which is fine until there is a war, and the U.S. needs this money. It would also come from taxes, which means that Americans would be forced to pay more so that college can be free.
2. Financial Irresponsibility.
When students carry debt, they learn a lot about financial responsibility. A student loan is a graduates first significant financial transaction, and making the payments gives them a lesson about paying off debt for the future. Also, when a student pays off their debt, it helps them to establish credit. If college were free, these lessons wouldnt be learned, and it would be harder for graduates to establish good credit.
3. It Could Devalue the Worth Of a Degree.
Many students graduate from college and then pursue a graduate degree. Free college would devalue the worth of a four-year education, forcing students to pay for grad school if they want to earn a good living.
4. More People Would Go To College.
5. School Wont Try To Save Money.
6. Free Wouldnt Be Free.
7. It Could Reduce Other Essential State Programs.
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