Tuition-Free College

10/22/2018

The affordability of college education has been a highly debated subject. Around two dozen countries offer tuition-free or nearly free college. In 2017 the student debt rates rose 6%, so free college sounds great right? Unfortunately, just like with everything else, there are pros and cons to having a free or nearly free college education.

Right off the bat drop-out rates would lower, thus raising graduation rates. Many students drop out due to how expensive college so more lower-income students would have the chance to finish their schooling. This also means that student debt would be basically nonexistent. Of course the money would have to be generated elsewhere: taxes. Many people do not think they should be paying for someone else's college through their taxes, and this potential raising of taxes is one of the most controversial cons of tuition free college. Other arguments are the amount of people going to college and the importance of this higher education.

Due to more people having the ability to attend, it means our work force would grow and the economy would be boosted. But this also means paying more money through taxes because of the increase of attending students. Many also believe that making tuition free would devalue the college diploma resulting people not caring as much about earning it. When students are paying for their degrees they will be sure to attend classes and do well because they are getting they money's worth. But without this monetary motivation it is believed that students would become lazy and less caring.

Do you believe free tuition would be a good thing for our future? Do you think students would become lazier or more willing to earn their degree? What are some other pros and cons that may change someone's argument?

40 Comments

Katarina

10/25/2018 11:16:03 am

I don't think tuition should be completely free but I do think it would be a benefit if it was cheaper. If the rate was cheaper I don't believe people would become lazier. If it was completely free than I could see how people make take advantage. If college was cheaper and more affordable people who are smart but can't afford it may have that opportunity.

Katherine

10/28/2018 01:08:45 pm

I think that it would benefit if it was cheaper, but not free. With it being free, people wouldn't take it seriously. If students are paying for it themselves and don't get a lot of scholarships, then having cheaper college would make it easier to attend.

Saylor

10/28/2018 06:13:28 pm

I agree, it should not be free but it would be nice if it was cheaper. I do believe that the most expensive colleges are only for people who deserve to be there, if they are willing to work hard enough they will find a way (including scholarships and such).

Jazz

10/28/2018 07:06:09 pm

I agree, people might take it as more of a joke if tuition were completely free. Students might take many courses that are paid for by taxes and then just decide to drop them when they get too hard. Do you think that there are other areas that colleges could decrease their high prices that might work out better?

Kenna

10/28/2018 07:22:21 pm

I agree, cheaper college would be best. Completely free college though, might definitely be taken advantage of.

Kelsey

10/27/2018 04:01:27 pm

I think that taxes should be raised and college tuition should be free, however I propose a complication to free tuition; the student only gets free tuition in the classes he or she receives an A or B in. Consequently, this will retain the value of a degree, and it will discourage students from abusing this privilege. As one of the leading countries in the world, the US should hold education as a priority. It is unfair that citizens have unequal education rights. We should not be basing who gets a degree on wealthiness. This philosophy results in the vicious cycle of "the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer" (and, currently, the middle class is growing poorer too). This begs the question; shouldn't financially disadvantaged kids have an equal opportunity? Or, in other words, a chance to contribute to society? Furthermore, from an economic standpoint, free post-secondary education is a beneficial and sustainable option because it helps reduce societal inequality as well as increase the money flow. The more educated or skilled personnel, the more occupational holes are filled. Also, when people make money (due to having an education), there is an increase in spending which directly effects the wealth of our country. In addition, wages have not rose, yet tuition prices have. As a result, student debt has increased and salaries remain stagnant -- this will fail to sustain in the long run.

Katarina

10/27/2018 07:46:30 pm

That's a good idea to give free tuition in classes people receive an A or B in.

Katherine

10/28/2018 01:10:34 pm

I agree that students should have to get an A or B in order to get it free. It will keep students from abusing the privilege to attend college. I agree that the US should hold education as a priority, I don't think that as a country we take it serious enough.

Jesse B.

10/28/2018 06:55:16 pm

I like where your mind is at. Making students earn a free (or significantly lowered) tuition by having to get an A or B grade in their classes would promote the idea of hard work. Plus, this would also breed competition and when there is competition, there is innovation.

Sariah

10/28/2018 07:23:20 pm

I really really like this idea. Because this way students would have to “work” still in a sense by receiving As and Bs to “pay” for their college. This I think would motivate kids to get good grade in college and stay in classes because if they get good grade then they won’t have to pay for it. But if they don’t they do.

Katherine

10/28/2018 01:05:58 pm

I don't think that college should be completely free. Like Kelsey said earlier, if the student gets an A or B, then they could have free tuition. If college was free, there wouldn't be as much motivation to work hard. If you fail a class, you could just retake it and really have nothing to lose. By paying for college, you realize that you have to get something out of it in order to make it worth it. By lowering prices or making it free, more people would attend and the dropout rate would lessen. By doing this, it could boost the economy, but it would also make getting a job more competitive. I think that if prices were lowered a little, college would be more accessible.

Conrad

10/28/2018 05:16:12 pm

One interesting thought comes up, if college was made much more accessible, then the value would be reduced for those who do get it. Wouldn't this offset the amount that is paid for? Just some speculation.

Katarina

10/28/2018 06:32:08 pm

I agree it might make it more competitive but like you said it would help the economy.

Jazz

10/28/2018 07:12:33 pm

Using free or reduced tuition as a motivator to succeed in classes is an excellent idea. If more people actually graduated and went into the work force would there be enough jobs suitable for them or do you think that those same graduates would find themselves at the same job as someone that may not even have their high school diploma? Say the latter case occurred, would college students still have the motivation to continue with college if their at the same place they would be if they hadn't put all that work in?

Brooke

10/28/2018 02:20:30 pm

Here me out: what if, hypothetically speaking, one's overall grade average determined the tuition they would pay. For example; one student has an overall 87% on their total average grades. That means they would only have to pay 13% of the tuition for that school. Now, say a student has an overall 55%. They would need to pay 45% of the tuition. This method would encourage a higher motivation to achieve higher grades and would not decrease the value of a degree. Some may argue that this method would benefit the privileged and hinder those who simply so not do well getting grades for whichever reasoning. Well, ultimately, every student would win. They would not have to pay the full tuition, only a percentage, unlike the current method which has everyone pay the full cost regardless of grades. Now, this plan obviously has flaws, such as that the colleges would not receive overall as much money, so taxes would most likely have to be raised in order to meet qualifications, or some other solution would need to be thought up. What do you think? Could this potentially work, or do the cons outweigh the pros?

Conrad D.

10/28/2018 05:13:51 pm

Sound like a very good idea but I think that your idea is a bit generous. I think that if a percentage equal to half of their average grades would be paid, that would be fair given other available money.

Brooke

10/28/2018 05:39:56 pm

That seems fair.

Sadie

10/28/2018 06:27:17 pm

I think that the scholarships you earn from high school are enough. Certain college degrees are going to be much harder than others and not all professors grade the same. This does not allow a fair chance for all. No one would want to become a doctor or something if they absolutely knew they weren't going to get a decent grade.

Kelsey

10/28/2018 08:16:43 pm

I like this idea, I know that if this was real, it would definitely motivate me as a student. I feel this would be a fair solution. Tuition should be free anyways because it is unfair how much it costs -- this would be a step in the right direction.

Conrad D.

10/28/2018 05:11:45 pm

Paying for a college education out of pocket has become a tall order in our society today. Some argue that the cost (and possibly the debt accumulated) is more than paid for by the degree and how it benefits you in the long run. Others argue that degrees are so common they are not worth the cost, and they need to be paid for or greatly reduced cost. This then brings up the question of where does the money come from? Do taxpayers have to receive a huge tax increase? That's the only place where it is generated, and it is not fair to those people to be paying for something that doesn't directly benefit them in any way.
I do think that college costs should be reduced - but by no more than 20 to 25 percent. There is a ton of scholarships and other means of money available for college bound students. Many previous bloggers have mentioned that good grades should reduce cost to keep motivation. This is already done to a degree, there are scholastic scholarships available at every college for grades which are renewable each year. Besides being reduced a small amount, college cost should remain the same because there is more than enough ways to offset the cost, higher starting salaries, scholarships, Federal Money to name a few.

Sadie

10/28/2018 06:32:32 pm

Yes, most people who earn a scholarship have worked for it and deserve it. Anyone who doesn't get those scholarships have already shown that they probably weren't worthy of anything more.

Saylor

10/28/2018 06:10:33 pm

Colleges should not be free. There are benefits for people who can't afford it, there are scholarships and community colleges that allow people to afford college. It is a privilege not a right. If people really want to go, they need to be able to work for it. If college is free anybody can go including the people that don't deserve to be there. Certain colleges are more expensive than others because they are for people work hard enough to be there.

Jesse B.

10/28/2018 06:47:27 pm

I really like that you point out that going to college is an earned privilege and not a right. People got to work hard to get what they want. Do you think that anything else should be done to the major expense known as tuition or is it good place? Should it be lowered or made easier to pay off?

Kenna

10/28/2018 07:24:31 pm

I like that you say that college is a privilege not a right. However, I do think that they should be a little cheaper.

Brooke

10/28/2018 07:34:49 pm

I see your points, but I also believe that some people simply cannot afford their desired college, regardless of how hard they work. Also, if college was free, I don't think those who think college is unnecessary would even go. I agree on how you said people need to work hard to get into a college of their choice, but money should not be a determining factor of acceptance. The focus should be on ethics and personal growth, not their wallets.

Sadie

10/28/2018 06:22:13 pm

I do not think that having free tuition in the US is a good idea. Students already get it easier in high school and that lack of motivation would only continue if we weren't paying for it. Maybe raise the taxes slightly, but not too much. People who work hard earn scholarships and that is their reward. Not everyone deserves to have their education just handed to them. We need to work for our degree or else it will be less valuable than it already is.

Sariah

10/28/2018 07:20:27 pm

I like that you compared highschool and college but I believe the comparisons is not something that can be compared. This is because in highschool kids are forced to go to highschool. Those kids that have lack of commitment in highschool I almost garuentee are not desiring to attend college no matter the cost. They could care less. So I do not believe that would ever be a problem.

Challis

10/28/2018 07:36:11 pm

That could be true that the value would diminish. A cheaper college would be nice. Financial aid could help with this.

Saylor

10/28/2018 08:25:31 pm

I agree, students would lose motivation and would stop trying. The fact that the prices are so high means that people need to work for what they want. Also I agree that if people don't have to work for their degrees many jobs would not be as valuable as they are today.

Jesse B.

10/28/2018 06:41:08 pm

Since we are all seniors, graduation is right around the corner and for many of us, college is the next step. One of the main concerns for upcoming, current, and past college students is how they will pay for their schooling. Going to university and earning a degree is obviously too expensive, so what should be done about it? One option is to make all education past high school free for everyone. The state our country is in now makes this proposition almost impossible. To make all 4-year public universities free would cost over 75 billion dollars to the taxpayers and it would eliminate a major source of revenue for the US government since in 2014, they received 58 billion dollars from college tuition. Another possibility would be to make student loans easier to pay back by lowering the interest rate. The government would regulate the rates based on grades and allow for people to take longer to pay back the debt. By doing this, student debt would not be as expensive, but colleges are still getting paid. Personally, I would go with the second option.

Sources: https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/07/28/487794394/hillary-s-free-tuition-promise-what-would-it-cost-how-would-it-work

Rachel

10/28/2018 10:23:07 pm

Do you think it would actually be possible to get interest rates lowered? What would that do to the economy? I agree that cutting costs completely would cost the government too much, but is there a way to truly make a college education available to all?

Kenna

10/28/2018 07:15:20 pm

I believe that nearly free college would be a good change. Yes taxes would go up but I think that it would be worth it. Do people even know what half our taxes even pay for? Even if college prices were halved that would be wonderful and taxes would not be raised as much. However, the fact that students might be lazier is unsettling.

Brooke

10/28/2018 07:38:09 pm

Ha, you bring up a good point about the taxes. There are some taxes out there that honestly could be eliminated and replaced with the funding for college. Maybe. If students were not willing to go to college, let that be their problem.

Sariah Cockrell

10/28/2018 07:17:06 pm

I think that it would benefit to have at least more reasonable college costs. People might say that people would not take it as seriously but I believe that most people who go to college go because they want to do good and graduate so they can make good money in their profession. Since college is an option people who do not want to go won’t. They won’t want to waste 4 or however many years on attending college just like they do not now. I think that lowering college rates is better then getting rid of them all together because then that way they are reasonable for someone to accomplish without loads of debt but still having to work for it and will take it seriously. I think that it is one of those things that have gotten outragesly out of hand with how much it costs. I believe there should be some change in it all.

Challis

10/28/2018 07:40:34 pm

College prices have gotten very pricey. It would be beneficial an all accounts if college prices were lowered.

Rachel

10/28/2018 10:20:55 pm

What about the people who want to attend college but are unable to due to the outrageous costs? How would we decide how much to lower the prices?

Challis

10/28/2018 07:30:41 pm

I would have to agree on the fact that the people should not have to pay for someone else's education but I also think that college should be cheaper than it is in order to ensure that anyone can access a higher education. Some things that would help could be to diminish interest rate on loans, give big discounts on classes that a student has an A in and offer more financial aid if possible. Even without these things I still think it would be plausible to at least lower tuition rates in most universities.

Kelsey

10/28/2018 08:12:56 pm

It is upsetting to think that taxes is the reason tuition is not free when the US spends so much money on other things that are not half as important as education. More financial aid would be nice, especially for families under a certain pay grade.

Jazz

10/28/2018 07:44:53 pm

If reduced college tuition is for communists, please refer to me as Mrs. Marx from now until further notice. Even with the numerous scholarships offered to high school students, paying for college without collecting a hideous amount of student loan debt is practically impossible for the average college goer. The idea of free or reduced tuition might turn the American taxpayer off, and I can understand why they might not want more of their hard earned money to vanish into thin air. But the reality is that it wouldn't just disappear. More students completing college leads to a more qualified and competent workforce, which boosts the economy. Tuition rates should be based on the grades which the student received in the previous semester or year, this will motivate them to earn good grades while keeping taxpayers from giving every single person a full ride out of their own pocket. If decreasing tuition prices doesn't float your boat, then consider lowering the absurd prices of required books for courses. In some cases, a professor might change one word in a textbook and not accept the previous edition in their class, which is unnecessary and pretty much robs the student, so prices should be decreased and previous editions should be allowed as long as the content is still relevant. If that's still a little too much to ask for, maybe lowering the prices of dorm rooms would be a nice thought considering that they're 120 square feet of awkwardly constructed trash, 140 sqft and a shared mini-fridge if you're willing to pay that extra $1,500. I won't even mention the meal plan, because they aren't too far from what a normal person would pay for food in our inflated economy which does not yet reflect the working minimum wage which most college students would be making.

Rachel

10/28/2018 10:18:14 pm

Free college would be such a benefit to our society. It is completely unfair that tuition is so expensive that to afford college, one must either be rich or get multiple scholarships. The level of education a person receives should not be based on theirs or their parents income. It should be based on their desire to learn. In addition, free tuition would increase the number of graduates, adding to the work force and stimulating the economy. Now some have said that it would increase taxes. This is true, but it comes down to a simple question: which do we value more, money or education? If tuition was made free, I would still like to see some limits set on it. These could include holding a certain GPA, fulfilling community service requirements, attending a set number of classes, and more. I think that if we regulated it correctly, tuition-free college would be very beneficial.

Tuition-Free College

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