Argumentative Essay: Should College Education Be Free?

Everyday, there is a topic that takes over the news by storm. One of which is the topic of whether or not college education should be free to everyone. College education is a tremendous responsibility, because unlike any other schooling, it takes dedication to pay and work towards the degree of choice. Since it usually costs quite a bit to go on to college, people have begun to talk about making college free, but is that the right choice? Lower levels of education is understandable, but college is a place where things are more serious than before. It is a place where more studious students go to achieve their goals, not just lolligag through more years of schooling. College education shouldn’t be free because of the value of the education

to the students, where the costs for free education would come from, and how it would lower a schools degree value.
Free is a word that everyone is fond of, but nothing is ever really “free”. Education is no exception from this rule either. College is a costly pit, that unfortunately many students find themselves in after getting a tremendous debt. So, what does that have to do with free college? Well, for starters, who would pay for the colleges’ expenses, maintenance or labor? The most idealistic world would say that there would be enough money from the government too cover all of that, but there isn’t. The plan that they would most likely take would be to create a higher taxation to taxpayers. Which brings up a point that Aderounbi Oyeyemi Ogunway makes which is that even people without kids would have to pay this tax ( Ogunway Pg 1). Also, what about the people or families that don’t have that extra money to pay this new higher tax? They would then be put into a situation where they would lose money they don’t even have to spare, just to make education free for those who want to go. As Bob Luebke says, “Free college tuition plans merely shift the costs of education from one group of taxpayers, to all taxpayers” ( Para 25).
Another reason why college education shouldn’t be is that it could lower the level that people and students value education. “Students go to college to get a leg up on an economic advantage and to make more money” ( Ogunway pg 1). If all students go, it will make a normality, causing it to not give them a huge advantage or one at all. Plus, if the student pays for their way, it will make them more productive since they know what is at stake if they waste their money. It drives them to want to go to their classes, and succeed at their goals. Paying brings value to the idea of college, and if it is free, people might think of it as a joke, since it won’t need to be as serious. Luebke brings up that “if college becomes free, it could encourage students to take an easy three years of relaxation” ( Para 3). That could bring in people who aren’t suited for college, and affect those who are trying to get their best work done. For instance, it could create a setting much like a high school, where some classes get disrupted by the “class clowns” or the ones who always back talk. It wouldn't just be a place for those who strive for the education, and could get filled with those who take it with less concern. Not only does the word free lower the value of education, it can also disrupt the reputation of the colleges that take part in this idea.
A large number of colleges and universities have a reputation of being a top prestigious school. Take Harvard University, a school majority of America knows as the top school to be accepted into because of the type of school it is. It takes a lot of hard work to get accepted into Harvard, which could explain why those who graduate from there get better job opportunities and get more respected by others. Harvard also costs a fortune to go, estimating at roughly $46, 340 for just tuition alone! If all the fees and rooming and board is added, it goes by substantially to $67,580. Even mentioning about getting accepted into Harvard is a giant accomplishment that people don’t take lightly, but if college was free..how would that affect how people react if someone says they graduated from Harvard? Would people still think of it as a humongous accomplishment..or would it be seen a normality?
This idea of free college could possibly lower the value of degrees from those prestigious schools that we know and adore. It could accomplish this because if it became free, anyone could practically go anywhere that they wanted to for their degree, making it normal to have those degrees from schools like Harvard. On top of that, Ogunway brings up that “degrees would be like high school diplomas” ( Pg 1). He isn’t wrong either, since it will cause almost everyone to have a degree in something, once again making it a normality rather than a rarity. Since it would be normal, there would be very few job openings left, but there would be more in more vocational jobs. This could seriously disrupt our economy by causing an overbearing load of college graduates, that brings my point back to the drawing board.
Free education is a grand idea, but it is unreasonable with how we would achieve it.

I believe that with all of the pros and cons, the cons easily out number the pros in this case. Making college education free could raise taxes, since the taxpayers would have to pay for this added perk, even if they didn’t have a use for it for themselves or their kids. What about those who already can’t afford their taxes anyway? They would be losing more money than they could possibly afford. Also, making college education free could decrease how the students and other people value the education. Paying brings it value, while the word free makes it seem less so. Finally, it could lower the degree values of the colleges and universities by a long shot, making it less impressive when students get their degrees. All of these points, and the ones earlier, are justifiable in today’s time. Why risk all of this things, in order to make something free for everyone? It would cause huge repercussions within the students, degrees, and the economy itself since it would take a huge mountain of money to get a project like this started in the first place. Do we even have enough money in the first place to make this justifiable? Although there are a vastly large number of reasons why it shouldn’t be free, there are also a lot for it to be

free.
There are two main points on why college education should be free. The first one being that everyone should have the right to equal access to an education, and not be held back by their own financial issues. This point is a valid one, because it isn’t fair that many people have an advantage when going to college and others do not, or have a harder time trying to get the degree that they want due to financial issues. The second main point is that it would allow growth in the country since more and more people would be educated in a field or two depending on their degree choice. Plus, more educated people in a country could, in the long run, help the economy by allowing more opportunities to appear. While every argument does have its other side to things, there are also limits to what an argument can really begin to say.
For one, although free college education is something I disagree with, I don’t know the full extent to how the government would try to work that into our country, my best bet was with the taxpayers money, but I can’t be certain with that. Another point would be that maybe not everyone would take advantage of free college education after some time because the ones who want to go will still go, but those who don’t won’t have or feel the need to go. Plus, I don’t fully know the extent on how doing this could impact a college or university’s degree value, or if all the schools would just possibly start to have all the same criteria. However, with all that is at stake with this idea, college education should still not be free since the cons fully outweigh the pros.