The Upsides And Downsides Of Free College Tuition
Throughout the years there have been several students that choose to attend college. Many of those students get into debt that they will not be able to pay off during their lifetime. College is meant for students to go and pursue a higher level of education that will help them in the future while also pursuing a career that they would like, yet people mainly know college for crushing students with soaring tuitions and mountains of debt. Access to free college improves our society by ending college debt allowing more people to seek a higher level of education and growing our economy rather than restraining it.
There are many upsides to free college tuition, the main being that free college tuition would help to improve college graduation rates. The graduation rates for students would increase based on the sole fact that college students would not have stress about how they are going to pay their tuition debts. Not having to pay their tuition debts would lead to students completely focusing on their studies instead of worrying about how they are going to pay for their tuition. With the burden of tuition debt gone, colleges would undergo a massive increase in graduation rates while allowing students to graduate on time and not worrying about the debt they have accumulated over their years in college and how it could affect them over time. It would lead to students and parents not having to look for other forms of assistance such as scholarships, financial aid, and others. There are not enough forms of assistance for tuition aid to go around for all the students who choose to attend college.
Free college tuition would eliminate that worry from the students while also eliminating those forms of tuition aid services. Free college tuition would mean that students have no need to drop out due to part-time status or take a break from education for financial reasons. As stated in an article by Ellen Anderson, a recent graduate from the University of Iowa, “Without the weight of student loan debt, more college graduates might buy houses rather than renting apartments, and spend more on healthy food: In essence, they could contribute more to the economy. ” Andersen is implying that with their tuition debt gone, more college graduates can choose to buy a house rather than having to rent an apartment due to their struggles of college tuition debt. She is referring to this as an important fact because most college students are usually stuck having to rent a small apartment that is in a bad neighborhood or they end up having to room with other people in a small apartment so that rent could be distributed among more than one person. Anderson also took into account how most college students that are in college, or have graduated, start off by working in jobs that only pay minimum wage which is hard to live off of. With them having to pay tuition fees, they begin to add up with their living expenses makes it hard for them to find a place to live with a stable source of income. The total amount they would have to pay would make it near impossible for them to be able to live just off of minimum wage a lone. As a result of that college students debts would begin to skyrocket seeing as it near impossible to just live off minimum wage by yourself.
College students would have to go look for loan they know they would be able to just so he could manage a whole month, at the cost that loan will accumulate with their debts. In the 1940s and 1950s, only half of the young adults attending highschool graduated while less choose to go to college; nowadays 88% of high school students graduate, among that 88% percent, about 60% of them choose to go to college and seek a higher form of education. Deborah Kurfiss, a writer for an article that brands and develops her clients’ unique stories, wrote about how “The average student today graduates from college with $37,172 in student loan debt. Our total student loan debt in this country is $1. 48 trillion, which is far more than credit card debt ($1. 023 trillion)”. Kurfiss is specifying how the US has the largest amount of college tuition debt compared to any other country with college tuition debts. The debt in the United States from college tuition by all the students is unmatched by any other country which holds our economic growth from expanding to what it could become. The amount of tuition debt that has accumulated over the years has stopped our country from having an economic system that is prosperous for both the people and the government at the same time.
What free college countries spend in post-secondary tuition is not much more than what the U. S is spending with its own current system. The United States only spends about 1. 36% of its GDP, which stands for Gross Domestic Product, on post-secondary education while other countries such as Finland, which spends 2. 08%, Norway, with 1. 96%, and Germany, with 1. 50% who are spending a larger amount of their GDP on post-secondary education. While it may not be that big of a gap in the GDP spent on post-secondary education, in reality it is a big gap due to the fact that other countries are willing to provide their citizens with more opportunities that can help their economy grow and, at the same time, give the people that are well educated the ability to handle any difficult task or job assigned to them, making them a better-educated work for ready for anything that can boon any economy into a massive growth. Countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Mexico, Germany, and Finland are examples of countries that do not charge for tuition; they even offer free college tuition to international students, something that the US can’t do due to its lack of insufficient funding to their post-secondary education). Countries with free college education such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden view education as an investment in the future of the country rather than a give-away program that will cause them damage and hurt their economy. If you were to take into account how much money college students in the United States spend on just the living expenses compared to European countries such as Sweden, you would be able to see the differences in debts. Sweden has free college tuition and even then, students in the country have managed to accumulate an average of $19,000 in student debt for living costs and other expenses during the year of 2013. When comparing this to the $24,800 in debt US college students had the same year while also paying a college tuition fee leads to the conclusion that college students have to pay more for their overall debt just for choosing to attend college. In a survey on the average college student, students budget just around one-fifth of the average college student's budget accounted for just only $17,930 on an average, tuition accounts for a yearly charge that is usually more than what the average college students budget is.
On an average scale of US college students compared to European college students is too great to not notice because of the sole fact that college students in Europe have been shown to have more than 50% less of a debt in college than the college students in the US. It has been stated by CBS News that tuition only makes up 20 percent of the cost of attending a two-year public college and living off-campus. 'One appeal of free college may be that middle-income families deeply concerned about the cost of college can receive tuition assistance. At the same time, it may be challenging given limited state resources for free college to both cover tuition for all and more than tuition for low-income students. ' As stated by CBS News is about an average college student and their family show that middle-income families and low lower-class families have the greatest form of debt compared to any kind of family class. They are implying that for middle to lower class students to be able to attend college they have to look for many forms of assistance to help pay for their college tuition debt. Students that choose to attend college know that they have only a small chance that they can receive a scholarship to college, a full ride to the college of their choice they want to attend, leading them to not having to pay that much, while trying to receive a scholarship in which they would not have to pay but a scholarship like that is rare so some students choose to attend without a scholarship to help them with their debts for college.
The biggest upside of college tuition being free would be the offset in which student cost of living is the only debt they will have to worry about. Being able to give students more flexibility to choose their own study location based on their interest rather than for their financial reasons. They would no longer need to worry about choosing a hi brandon location because of how cheaper. Housing and living expenses make the overall debt of college gigantic since they would have to find a place to live close to their class. If they choose to dorming at a college is not cheap when the student also has to pay for their college tuition. Free college tuition would be able to “eliminates up to US $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with a household income of less than US $100,000, and cancelling a smaller amount for borrowers with a household income between US $100,000 and US $250,000. ” which allows more low-income students to attend college without the worry of getting into a gigantic mountain of debt.
Eliminating $50,000 in student loan for the low-income students would open the doors for people to gain more knowledge that would make them better suited for their jobs in the future while also improving the economy of the country. It would improve the economy of the country by the main fact that the students graduating college for free means. They would not be in debt leading to them gaining higher-paying jobs that would help make the country's economy expand. There will be more money for the country to spend on for essentials rather than it having barely any more due to all the loan debts students would have with the governments and colleges. With the help of the government college tuition there “Would wipe out the US $1. 6 trillion student debt owed by some of the 45 million Americans, in addition to making public colleges and universities tuition-free. ” This would help the people of their country’s economy prosper. The more highly prepared college graduates help the economy by how they would be more prepared than any of the other workers having completed the education for their job requirements. Meaning that they would be prepared and ready for anything that that job could throw at them. The more students that choose to attend college the higher chance that they will graduate and have a more successful career in what they choose to major in. Increasing the graduation rates of college students because they can start to focus on school rather than have to focus on how or when they are going to get money to pay for their debts. While increasing graduation rates would occur if college tuition was free society would become more prepared and highly educated. Compared to what society is today with people dropping out of college for not being able to pay for it and not getting the education that they deserve.
If the debt from college students graduating would be exterminated, students would be able to purchase houses and not be a mountain of debt that doesn't allow them to be able to buy a car, house, and living expenses things that are essential to everybody's everyday life. If the college students were to not have college debt they would be contributing to society by how the economy would expand since a majority of students graduating would not be in debt. Allowing them to spend their money on things that would help them benefit in the future and the government. If college tuition was to be completely eliminated, the cost of attendance would be dramatically lower. Apart from increasing the attendance of college, the elimination of college tuition would also help students to only focus on their education. If they had to pay for their college tuition they would be more focused on their debt rather than focusing on their education, which is the reason they choose to attend college in the first place. Meaning they would not have to look for any part-time jobs to pay any tuition debts but rather for their living expenses. Opening up time for them to be able to participate in any extracurricular activities they would be interested in. Rather than being stuck working, trying to pay for a gigantic debt that will slow them down in the long haul of their lives.
The biggest factor that free college tuition would bring would be an increase in college students graduating also implies college students graduating without debts over the years. College students would have a much easier time paying for college since they would only need to pay for their books and living expenses if tuition was waved. Allowing college students to major in more than one subject to see if they are suited for that career or if they should change plans since there would not be any extra charges added for changing their decisions. As opposed to changing majors while paying for college tuition just to start over again knowing that your debt would only expand, while you change to a different major all because they regretted their decisions in major and chose to change it knowing the debt they would get into for doing that. When interviewing a college student, she stated the struggles she faced financially and how free college tuition has multiple upsides for college students but can also have downsides to it for the government. When I asked her why she thinks that college should be free she said “College should be free because it helps individuals who don’t have the economical sources to be able to afford college. ” This is a problem many college students face since most students do not have the resources to completely pay for their tuition while in college. After college on an average scale college graduates with a bachelor's degree takes just over 21 years to finish paying off his or her loan debts. She then went on to bring up a very interesting point in which she said, “There are a large number of individuals who want to pursue a career but it's difficult to be a full-time student working at the same time to pay for classes; consequently, many students abandon college before achieving a degree. ” The point she brought up was important because college students tend to drop out because of three reasons; excessive stress from class and work, not having enough money to pay for their classes. Having to find the perfect balance between work, sleep, and school to be able to pay for the tuition debts that they have accumulated. It is due to those three reasons stated that most college students choose to drop out of college because they have to pay for their tuition. If college tuition were to be waived the only debt college students would face would be there dorming expenses making life during and after college much simpler for every college student and soon to be graduates.
The elimination of college tuition would allow students striving to achieve a degree to have an easier life, keeping their main focus on their education that benefits them in the career they choose for their future. Rather than having a potential mental breakdown because of all the stress they have accumulated; from trying to manage doing work for their classes, finding a job to pay for their tuition, manage their work and school work so that they can focus on both, and finding the resources to help pay for college tuition. How they are going to pay for their tuition if they are not able to find a resource that will help them, knowing that they will finish their college years with a gigantic mountain of debt that will take them forever to pay off. The college student interviewed believed to an extent on how free college is a benefit for both college students and the government. While mainly speaking about the benefits free college tuition would have on college students she also said that it could negatively affect colleges and the government. Silvia went on to say “Colleges should not be free because there are some individuals who will take advantage of the system and these individuals will not get any degree, and take the opportunity of attending college for other people who desire to pursue a higher education and career. ” bring up key points that explain how there will be college students that go to college to not take advantage of one of the best opportunities you can have in free college to pursue a career you would have liked or dreamt of. If you were to go more into depth of what she had said you would notice that the government would be the one suffering the most from having every single student going to college. Just for students that are going to college to attend just because they want to, making the government spend money from the taxpayers for nothing. This would be considered as the college students that do not go to college to achieve a degree or further their studies for their chosen career. But they only choose to go to college because they are bored, they have nothing better to do, and they are being forced to most likely go to college, so they choose not to do anything while in class. If there were to be a case such as that it would make it understandable for students to still have to pay for their college tuition. But still there would still be more college students that would want to learn more and succeed in their career path chosen. There would be a controversy between if students want college free or they would still have to pay for postsecondary education because some may take advantage of the free college tuition for nothing making the government spend money on unnecessary payments. She then brought to my attention how too many college students would choose to attend college, making it more difficult for professors. By saying “If college was to be free a large number of people would enroll for classes and there will be too many students in a classroom; as a result, Professors will not be able to teach properly to all students. ” This would make getting a degree much more difficult with the lack of help you would receive from the professor. While making it harder for students to learn in a bigger classroom, it would also make the overall worth of a college degree dwindle.
Apart from making the worth of a college degree dwindle the harder it will be for students to actually learn. During class there could be a possibility of 100 students per class, making it harder for the professor to ask if there are people who are stuck and do not understand what is going on in the lesson. The overall worth of a college degree would lessen in worth since there would be more people choosing to attend college if there were to be free college tuition. Which would allow there to be more competition between people that chose a specific career and trying to find a job that would correlate to that specific career. There would be more unemployment rates than ever before, if there were to be a staggering number of students that attend college then go off trying to find a job from what they majored in; making it difficult for newly graduated students to find the same job since there will be more people working in that specific category than ever before. The value for specific people with specific degrees would make finding jobs harder for college students wanting to go into a career were there would be more than enough people working in.
