Free Education In The United States
Receiving free education has been a strong controversial topic talked about throughout many parts of the world. In some countries like: Germany, Sewden, Finland, Norway, France and Solvenia, college is actually free anüd paid for. How come it isn’t free in the United States?
According to CNBC, today 70 percent of college students graduate with loans. Over 44 million Americans hold nearly 1. 52 trillion dollars in student debt in the first quarter of 2018. That’s about $620 billion more than the total U. S. credit card debt. All this debt affects the student’s debt-to-income ratio. Students would be creating a higher percentage in the money they owe back and affects the ability to manage monthly payments for mortgages and how they repay their debt eventually affecting the way we live and could potentially become homeless. Education should be free to everyone around the world not just a select amount of countries. Just about everyone agrees that college should be more affordable. High school became a “necessity not a luxury, ” today the same thing is happening to our colleges. If high schools can be free why can’t colleges also be free? College is essential for us one day being successful in our future careers, and also essential for building a career and being a full participant in our democracy. Shouldn't it be free, paid for by public dollars, and treated as a right of all members of our country?
We have made K-12 education free because it is good for the individual and for society. The same is true for higher education. A college degree is a pathway to a more stable life, financially. The average student today graduates from college $37, 172 in student loan debt. For graduate and professional students, the amount is significantly higher. People facing that kind of debt, often do not have a lot of money to contribute to the economy. Some students drop out because they do not have the ability to pay for tuition all four years. Making college tuition free would eliminate this reason for not graduating. This would also serve to improve college’s graduation rates, as fewer students would feel the need to drop to part-time status or take a break from education for financial reasons. Many can't go to college because they can't afford it or won't burden their families with the debt. Most who graduate do so with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Class of 2017 graduates had a debt of $39, 400, up six percent from the previous year. The amount of money in debt that students sit on is depressing especially for families with low income that don’t have the money.
Also, if we were to have free college education the money that we make can be used for other things that are just as important like healthcare. For families who don’t have health insurance and have to pay to receive medical attention out of pocket can use the money they are saving from not having to pay for college and to pay back their debt, for they health. The average cost of health insurance in Florida can range from $3, 420 per year to $5, 112 per year. Imagine having that money at our fingertips and the relief people would feel that they can actually afford health insurance. According to Nea. org, One study shows that new spending on public colleges, which would be sparked by an influx of more students, produces more economic activity than a similar-sized tax cut, or similar spending on roads and bridges. And, over their lives, college graduates smoke less, commit fewer crimes, draw less on social welfare programs, and generate more taxes. What sets America apart from other countries? Why can’t America have free education like Germany?
In an article written by Chris Weller on businessinsider. com titled “5 people from around the world share what it's like to get free college education, ” the students describe how much they “are happy and grateful to not have to think about the huge amounts of debt awaiting us after graduation. ” Many students would love to be in their shoes, I know I would. In a recent survey of consumer finances conducted in 2016 by the Federal Reserve the amount of debt from educational loans doesn’t start to decrease until after the age of 64. The average person lives 79 years and 46 of those years are dedicated to paying back student loans. That is more than half of our lifespan all because college education is not free. If people did not have such massive student loan debt, they could buy houses, buy consumer items and contribute more to the economy. Think about it, not being able to pay back ones loans causes you to not be able to buy a house, in not being able to buy a house where are you going to sleep, cause more and more Americans to become homeless.
According to The Salvation Army, one of the major factors as to why people become homeless is poverty and lack of affordable housing. Little things like making college free could keep people off of the streets. I understand that get free college it’s going to be a process, like it was back in the mid-1800s when the concept of free education for elementary school-age students was starting to gain traction. Then, by the 1950s over half of young adults were graduating from high school. Yes, it took 150 years for the evolution of education to finally flourish but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t start today in moving closer to that future where college becomes free for all. Yes, there are some pretty good reasons why college shouldn’t be free. Those who oppose free public higher education roar that it would be a hardship on campuses, that it would mean more students and less money, that hundreds of faculty and staff would be fired. This is false. Students would probably never leave or finish. Because of the fact that we have to pay for our college education it makes students want to thrive since they would be losing lots of money if they don’t pass their classes but if that’s the case then lower tuition make it affordable but not to the point where kids are taking all their classes for granted. Also, in making college completely free that allows for them to keep changing their major year after year keeping them in college for even a longer amount of time.
Another thing is that it could increase the student to teacher ratio. Since so many students can afford college education all the colleges and universities will get over populated and the classes would have to expand making it harder to get the one on one experience with your teacher since your one out of thousands of students that they have to teach. But all of these things can always be arranged and adjusted to the students. There is no good enough reason why colleges and universities should not be free. I strongly believe that college education should in fact be free. Think about this, in order to become successful in life and make money we have to get a college degree and get a job. In order to get that job a college degree is required. To receive that college degree one must actually attend college. To attend college we have to pay for it first. But how can someone go to college without the right resources like money to actually go to college? Also, how can someone get a job to pay for college, if to get that job one needs a college degree?
Let’s say someone takes out a loan to go to college and they get their degree plus the job after they graduate, they still have to pay that loan back which could take years to do. College needs to be free it’s un fair to have to pay for something that is a necessity to survive financially in this world. I think at least up until a bachelor’s degree should be free then if you want to keep going from that then that’s when money is to be paid. Anything after bachelors being a master’s degree or PhD, those should be paid for. Imagine dreaming about attending an ivy league school like Harvard or Yale and because if the cost its not possible to attend. With free college you can. Of course you still need the grades and the GPA but if money is the only thing stopping us give us what we need to make it there.
Free college! This is very beneficial to people all around the world. Keeps people from drowning in debt that can take up to 30 to 50 years to pay off, helps Americans contribute more to our society, keeps people off the streets from being homeless, and also can provide a better future for our children since the money we wouldn’t be spending on college we would be investing it into our children. Our children are the future, help them thrive and be successful.
