It’s my Money and I Need it Now – why college should be tuition-free

If you have ever been to Costco, you know that Americans enjoy getting things (i.e. samples) without having to pay for them. Recently, the debate for free tuition has picked up more national attention than ever. In the immediate past, it was individual states that took measures to subsidize the cost of attending college. Now, there is a national movement for policies to be put in place that would allow all Americans to attend college without having to deal with the financial burdens of tuition. Supporters want free tuition for various reasons, but perhaps most importantly, because they believe that people have the right to an education even if they cannot afford one without taking out loans.

To understand why people support free tuition, we must also consider who specifically supports free tuition. According to a poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates in July 2016, a majority of Americans do in fact support free tuition. Additionally, 79% of millennials support this policy change. Granted, these are the people that would be the most affected by the proposed change. There is however a generational decrease in the amount of support for free tuition. Many young people are discouraged from seeking out higher education because they know the unmanageable burden it could bring on their family. This likely prevents many students from unlocking their full potential. Once students know they aren’t going to college they often give up on themselves (in an academic sense). Through this lens, it appears that the intimidating cost of attending college only perpetuates the poverty cycle while enabling the rich and middle class to grow their wealth.

Supporters site many examples, both within the states and abroad, at which our policy-makers should look for inspiration. Currently, the Tennessee Promise is a program in Tennessee that allows for high school graduates to attend community or technical college tuition-free. It began with the graduating class of 2015 as an initiative to increase the percentage of Tennesseans with a college degree. The first year the program was in place, Tennessee saw a significant increase in freshmen enrolled in the state’s colleges or universities that partook in the program. Officials in Tennessee believe that this will help address the loss of skilled workers as the baby boomer generation retires.

As Bernie Sanders claimed along his campaign trail, America once had various colleges that offered free tuition. According to writer Lawrence Wittner “in 1862, to provide educational opportunities for the ‘sons of toil,’ the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Act, establishing land-grant public colleges and universities on a tuition-free basis. For roughly a century thereafter, many American public colleges and universities either charged no tuition or a nominal fee for attendance. The State University of New York (SUNY) system – the largest in the nation – remained tuition-free until 1963. The University of California system, established in 1868, had free tuition until the 1980s.” Many nay-sayers fear that if we get rid of tuition, it will come at the expense of quality educators. However, California remains one of the least expensive states to attend college, in terms of tuition, despite their many amazing state programs. (Seriously! why couldn’t I grow up in California and go to Berkeley for $4,000 less per year than Penn State!?)  Many people see these examples as proof that free college tuition is possible in the United States.

If that is not proof enough, proponents of free tuition also site programs in Germany, Norway, etcetera as proof that free tuition has sustainable benefits for any developed country. These programs help bring in a diverse, skilled work force. It also encourages economic mobility within the country.

Whether you believe that free tuition is practical or not, most people can agree that youths are the future of this nation. Next blog post, the debate will continue on whether or not free tuition is the best way to make that future a bright one.

Here are links to various sources that were utilized in this blog:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/24/promise-program-sharply-lifts-tennessee-college-freshman-enrollment

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2152/Land-Grant-Colleges-Universities.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-01/majority-of-americans-want-college-to-be-free

 

One thought on “It’s my Money and I Need it Now – why college should be tuition-free”

  1. I am going to be biased with how much I think college tuition should be, considering I am a student. Yes, I feel that tuition should be free for state schools, but not only that, students who go to schools out of their home state should not have as expensive tuition. In my opinion, out of state tuition is vastly overpriced and causes students to choose a different school to attend. If tuition for out of state schools were drastically cheaper, the amount of students who accept their offer of admissions would also increase greatly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *