Why College Education Should be Free (Research Paper Sample)

Student
Professor
Course
Date
Why College Education should be Free
The debate as to whether higher education should be free or not has dominated global discourses for a long time with no end in sight. On one side of the debate, there are those who argue that education, right from early level to college, is a basic human right that everyone should be able to access regardless of socio-economic status. To this school of thought, higher education has become expensive and unaffordable to many with college graduates leaving schools with huge debt burdens that hinder their growth prospect. Moreover, making college free would ensure more graduates with the attendant benefits such as reduced crime, reduced dependency on welfare, and improved social status for the society (Page, Max, and Dan 3). Yet on the opposite side of the discourse, there are those who argue that making higher education free would impose an additional tax burden on the citizens without commensurate benefits. This second school of thought argues that there is little evidence that free college translates to increased enrollment. Moreover, concerns persist that free tuition would lead to collapse of private schools that for a long time have been offering premier education and employing a sizeable number of teaching and non-academic staff. This paper will wade into the debate and demonstrate that where proper structures are put in place; making higher education free would make college education access to all with realizable benefits on the socio-economic front.
In the last four decades, the United States of America has experienced an exponential increase in the tuition charged in public school with a student now paying about $10, 000 annually (Correa, Juan, et al 4). In the 1980s, a student would pay slightly above $3, 000 to access the same state public college. The cost at a private college is now estimated to be more than thrice the amount in public college at $3, 600. In premier private colleges, students pay as much as five times as those in state public colleges. The funding model in which college students do not have to pay tuition upfront but instead are advanced tuition in form of loans to be paid later has led to a situation where American graduates are the most debt-ridden group in the world. It is estimated that more than 40 million Americans have students’ loans amounting to nearly $1.8 trillion (Pingel, Sarah, et al 4). While the United States of America grapples with the twin problem of soaring college fees and students’ debts, other developed nations have long ago made college free in a bid to encourage enrollment and prepare their future workforce. German and Denmark lead the way in Europe. Domestically, States like New York City, New Mexico, and Tennessee have been experimenting with different models of free college and the jury is still out on whether they are being effective or not.
The first reason college should be free is that higher education is now a necessity rather than an option people and the society can do without. In its push to have free college, the National Education Association argues that in the same way high school education was deemed a necessity a century ago, college education is now a must have for everyone (Page, Max, and Dan 3). The association of educators argues that a college education is a gateway to increased participation in a democracy, in the workforce, and socio-economic participation. College educated citizens are vastly empowered to