Introduction

One of the main concerns many middle and lower class people have in the US while growing up is how they will be able to afford college. There are countries around the world that offer public college and universities that are free for everybody. K-12 education in the US is free, and we have seen politicians talk about free-tuition college bills multiple times, so why does the US government not offer free higher education yet? In this paper, we discuss the reasons why free-tuition may or may not be possible.

Discussion

In the article “The Politics of Designing Tuition-Free College: How Socially Constructed Target Populations Influence Policy Support” in Journal of Higher Education, Elizabeth Bell states that over 70 percent of parents express concern about how to finance their child’s college education (888). The idea of free higher education is not a new concept for Americans. In 2015, President Obama captured headlines in the US by announcing America’s College Promise (ACP), a policy that would reverse four decades of privatisation in higher education by making community colleges ‘tuition-free (from “Americans ‘Support’ the Idea of Tuition-Free College: An Exploration of Sentiment and Political Identity Signals Otherwise” in Journal of Further & Higher Education, by Daniel Collier, pp. 347). But what about the people who want to get a degree from a place better than a community college? Over 16 states have implemented some form of tuition-free college policy (Bell, 888). Nevertheless, some states have not succeeded in this. Oregon, for example, faced considerable difficulty in establishing political feasibility and sustainability (Bell, 888).

In the article “Aiming Higher: Make College Tuition Free” by Jon Wiener, he says that college used to be free at state schools before and gives the example of the University of California. In 2014, in-state tuition and fees for undergraduates totaled $13,222 for one year and as a result, two-thirds of college seniors now graduate with an average of $29,000 in student-loan debt (Wiener, 224). The problem is that this pushes students into decades of debt (Wiener, 224), which most of the time, prevents them from moving higher up in their career and economically until their loan debt is paid off.

Michael Horn, Senior Contributor at Forbes, wrote the article “Five Reasons Why Free College Doesn’t Make The Grade,” and he claims that by making college free, it complicates students’ ability to make the right choices for themselves because it privileges these traditional higher education experiences over new private options that are designed to be faster, cheaper, and optimized for student success (Horn). He also states that although financial struggles are one of the main reasons for student dropouts, there are other factors that contribute to it, such as professional commitments, health, lack of satisfaction with one’s school, and academics (Horn). Therefore, he tries to explain that even if higher education was 100% free, there would not be a big difference in the rate of students who drop out of college. He also adds that if all colleges were free, an immense amount of debt would be added to future generations of taxpayers (Horn).

There are several pros and cons on whether public higher education should be free in the US, and it is because of this that the US government has not been able to reach an agreement whenever this subject is discussed. The opinions on this are divided between the people who think free-tuition would be a great idea, and the people who think it will hurt the economy. What Michael Horn stated in his article is true, financial struggles are not the only reason college students drop out of school. Nevertheless, Jon Wiener makes a point in saying that “education is a public good” (224). He stated “the purpose of education is not just to enable people to increase their lifetime incomes; it’s to help them understand the world, to stimulate the imagination and inspire creativity in all fields. A good society provides opportunities for everyone. We need educated people. And we should be willing to pay to educate them (224).

Conclusion

Free-tuition can be possible in the US, but because the government is divided between people who have different opinions on this subject, an agreement has not been reached. If the government were able to prioritize this and come up with ideas to counterattack the disadvantages that this would bring, the overall outcome would be positive. Future generations would consist of highly educated people, who therefore would cause a drastic change in society.

Works cited

Bell, Elizabeth. “The Politics of Designing Tuition-Free College: How Socially Constructed Target Populations Influence Policy Support.” Journal of Higher Education, vol. 91, no. 6, Sept. 2020, pp. 888–926. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2019.1706015.

Collier, Daniel A., et al. “Americans ‘Support’ the Idea of Tuition-Free College: An Exploration of Sentiment and Political Identity Signals Otherwise.” Journal of Further & Higher Education, vol. 43, no. 3, Apr. 2019, pp. 347–62. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1361516.

Horn, Michael. “Five Reasons Why Free College Doesn’t Make The Grade.” Forbes, 17 July 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2019/07/16/five-reasons-why-free-college-doesnt-make-the-grade/?sh=5839172da6c1.

Wiener, Jon. “Aiming Higher: Make College Tuition Free.” Nation, vol. 300, no. 14, Apr. 2015, pp. 224–26. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=101720701&site=ehost-live&scope=site.