Thomas Frey, Google’s top rated American futurist and celebrity speaker, once said that the “Overhead costs are far too high, state support is dropping, and college tuition is far too expensive. Colleges are pricing themselves out of existence.” (Frey). College tuition is far too high in America as a whole and it is just getting worse with each year that passes. Soon college will not be affordable for most people even with loans and because some people are starting to notice that there has been a debate on whether or not the government should make it free. While some say that it is a bad idea, getting a college should be free for students in all of North Carolina as it is in other places. The cost of college is increasing rapidly each year and student debt is really getting out of control. College education should be free because it is something that will benefit the people of this state in several ways. Getting this education would promote more equality in the job market, allow for more jobs to be available and open to a larger pool of applicants, gives people the opportunity to make more money, and gives low-income students who cannot typically afford college a chance. Students’ getting a free education will promote equality in the job market. Often times, jobs will only be open to a select pool of applicants because of their education rather than special skills that they may possess. If everyone applying to one particular job had the same level of education then the company now has a larger amount of people to consider for the job. There are already so many limitations and unfairness in the job market that education does not need to be one of them.
The only downside to this is that it will generate competition amongst applicants but that is to be expected. It is still better if everyone was able to achieve this higher level of education because it benefits the greater good. People who have a higher level of education typically get paid more in the workplace. This means that the person with only a high school diploma will make significantly less than the person with an Associate degree and that person with only an Associate degree will make significantly less than the person with a Bachelor degree. According to an article presented by Dennis Vilorio, an economist in the Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. In his article he states that “…data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), earnings increase and unemployment decreases as educational attainment rises. Grouping workers by education level, the chart shows that those with more education have higher earnings and lower rates of unemployment than those with less education.” (Vilorio 2016) This goes back to my point that it is important to get a degree. Once students get this degree this will help them have an easier time in not only obtaining a job but they could potentially go back to school again and keep furthering their education to start on the pathway of making more money.
In many cases, students that are low-income and do not come from a financially stable family are likely to not go to college because of the cost of it. If a college education as free, it will give more people a chance to excel in life because they can obtain better jobs and better jobs mean more money going into their pockets which is better for not only them but the economy as a whole in the long run because they will have money to spend. The cost of college is out of control in America. The cost of college is increasing at rapid rates each year and eventually it will not be affordable for anyone. Even with the help of financial aid, it will be difficult to pay back all of the loans that would need to be taken out to cover the costs of school. Tressie McMillan Cottom, in her work titled Why Free College is Necessary, argues that free college addresses the reasons why some students may not be going to school.
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There are a surplus of other reasons, but free college is definitely one of the biggest reasons. She believes that because the cost is so high, most people basically do not want to bother with the idea of going (Cottom 2015). Fran Cubberley, in her article The Reality of Free Community College Tuition, argues in favor of Obama’s free tuition plan. She supports this claim by first going into detail on how many students choose work over school, then some of the benefits of free college tuition such employment and being able to actually get a bachelor’s degree, then finally talking about how tuition free schooling impacts the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC)(Cubberley 2015). Sara Goldrick-Rab and Andrew P. Kelly, in their forum Education Talks, debate with each other on whether or not community college should be free. Goldrick-Rab argues that instead of just making tuition free with the Obama plan, the government should go as far as providing funding for students’ living expenses and any other expenses while they are pursuing a 2-year associate degree which is similar to the G. I Bill. If you are attending a public school, the Post-9/11 GI Bill can pay your full tuition directly to the school. You will receive a monthly housing allowance and up to $1000 a year for books and supplies.
The housing allowance is paid at a percentage based on your active duty service, and your credit load. Kelly argues that allowing the tuition through the Obama plan will fail to address the lack of college readiness in America and student success in school. He also believes that it will do nothing but stain public budget. However, having free college does not mean that colleges requirements go out of the window. The idea essentially is to have students get into schools based on that school’s requirements but not have to worry about the cost of attending. With that being said, Kelly’s point of view is not really valid and does not really apply here (Goldrick-Rab & Kelly, 2016). Some people such as Jamaal Abdul-Alim say that free college should not take effect in (North Carolina] because of the fact that it would exclude private colleges. In his article, Free College Proposal a Threat to Private Colleges, Diversity, Some Say, he informs audience that Hillary Clinton’s free college proposal would provide a threat to private colleges. He supports his claim by first introducing a Georgetown analysis on how this would affect private colleges in North Carolina. The analysis states that private colleges would be losing students by up to 15%. However, private colleges do not necessarily matter in this instance. Private colleges are not funded through the government therefore the government cannot regulate that they be free (Abdul-Alim 2016). Another side to the argument against free college is that it is not exactly practical. Matt Bruening in his work, The Case Against Free College, he argues the case that is against free college. He thinks that it is not something that needs to be happening. He develops his claim by first stating that the phrase “free college” means different things to people. He then goes on to explain that most students come from different backgrounds and that some students don’t even need for college to be free for them since they are so well off financially. To finish his claim, he says that unless student benefits are presented to students as some sort of a welfare handout, then it is practically pointless. More money than necessary would be spent and there isn’t any real benefit for anyone but the poorer families in [North Carolina] (Bruening 2015).
However, this is not true. Schools such as Stanford are actually granting free tuition to students whose families make less than $125,000 a year. According to a USA Today article written by Lindsay Deutsch, “…the school will offer free tuition to accepted students who come from households with an annual income below $125,000. Previously, the aid package capped at $100,000 per household… Students will be expected to contribute $5,000 a year through part-time work” (Deutsch 2015). This is a huge step in the right direction for making college free for all. It grants students with plenty of opportunity to thrive and be able to become something great. Another argument against free college tuition is how it will never work. Stephen M. Krason in his column, Neither Left nor Right but Catholic, he writes an article titled What’s Wrong with Guaranteeing a Free College Education. In this article he argues that getting a college education should not be free. He develops this claim by first introducing Bernie Sanders proposal and explaining some faults in it. He then addresses the other side of the argument, which is the side that is for free college education, and how there is fault in that, instance. Private colleges are not funded through the government therefore the government cannot regulate that they be free (Abdul-Alim 2016). Another side to the argument against free college is that it is not exactly practical. Matt Bruening in his work, The Case Against Free College, he argues the case that is against free college. He thinks that it is not something that needs to be happening. He develops his claim by first stating that the phrase “free college” means different things to people. He then goes on to explain that most students come from different backgrounds and that some students don’t even need for college to be free for them since they are so well off financially. To finish his claim, he says that unless student benefits are presented to students as some sort of a welfare handout, then it is practically pointless. More money than necessary would be spent and there isn’t any real benefit for anyone but the poorer families in [North Carolina] (Bruening 2015).
However, this is not true. Schools such as Stanford are actually granting free tuition to students whose families make less than $125,000 a year. According to a USA Today article written by Lindsay Deutsch, “…the school will offer free tuition to accepted students who come from households with an annual income below $125,000. Previously, the aid package capped at $100,000 per household… Students will be expected to contribute $5,000 a year through part-time work” (Deutsch 2015). This is a huge step in the right direction for making college free for all. It grants students with plenty of opportunity to thrive and be able to become something great. Another argument against free college tuition is how it will never work. Stephen M. Krason in his column, Neither Left nor Right but Catholic, he writes an article titled What’s Wrong with Guaranteeing a Free College Education. In this article he argues that getting a college education should not be free. He develops this claim by first introducing Bernie Sanders proposal and explaining some faults in it. He then addresses the other side of the argument, which is the side that is for free college education, and how there is fault in that, finally he goes on to say his own take on the matter. He believes that college education being free would lead to many problems such as taxes rising and the fact that with more people being able to access an education, the minimum job requirement would be to have a college degree. “Sanders, proposal was supposed to be paid for by imposing tax on Wall Street speculators” (Krason, 2017, p.395).
While he is probably right about the fact that the minimum requirement would be to have a college degree for jobs he also does not acknowledge the fact that this is already true for a high portion of the jobs that are out there already so his argument does not necessarily matter. Bernie Sanders said it best when he said “The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt” (Sanders). Many people want nothing more than to get an education but because of the price of it, it is practically impossible. The day that everyone sees that making college tuition free is the best, logical, and right thing to do for this state is the day that everyone is granted the ability to really make it far and become anything they want to be in life.
