College Tuition Should Be Free Essay

“Many students are faced with the realization that paying for college has become worth more than some people's yearly salaries”. (ELearners) I have met many people who state that the reason they didn’t go to college was due their inability to pay the tuition. A college degree can be the obstacle that makes or breaks a person’s livelihood, if two people are applying for the same job and one has a degree and the other doesn’t, then the person with the degree gets the job without a doubt. In the United States, as citizens we are guaranteed the right to the Pursuit of Happiness but why should we have to go bankrupt in the process? Therefore I believe that college tuition should be free to all citizens.

Due to the high cost of tuition, most students

are forced to work to help pay the cost. “The number one reason students give for leaving school is the fact that they had to work and go to school at the same time and, despite their best efforts, the stress of trying to do both eventually took its toll”. (Publicagenda.org) Personally I struggled trying to juggle both a job and school work in high school so attempting to do so in college is probably ten times more stressful. Many students are on their own in college so not only do they have to worry about paying their tuition but also their personal expenses because let’s be honest tuition doesn’t pay for everything. Working takes away from the time that they could use to be studying and when they get off from their long day they’re usually too tired to do anything but take a shower and go to sleep. As a student a person will try to do whatever they feel is necessary to secure their future. Let it be work their fingers to the bone or stay up all hours of the night doing homework in order to pass their classes. If the student is anything like me the first thing that will come to mind is not disappointing their parents.
This day in age, having merely an high school diploma will get you nowhere in the work force so completing at least four years of college is required to even be considered for a job that’s both well paid and doesn’t consist of flipping burgers and dropping fries.

A study done by Georgetown University predicts that by the year 2020, 35% of jobs will require higher than an Associate's degree, that’s five years from now so the graduating class of 2019 who were able to complete their four years, will have just graduated with their Bachelor’s degree. The four years possibly spent struggling in college will now just get you above the bar in the job field. This study also stated that of the 55 million jobs created between the years of 2010 and 2020; 7 million (12%) will require an associate’s degree, 13 million (24%) will require a bachelor’s degree, 6 million will require a master’s degree and 10 million will require some college or no degree at all. Jobs that don’t require any type of degree are more than likely to be the low income fast food restaurants and as the years pass yes these jobs might be suitable for the high school student who still live with their parents and doesn’t have to worry about major bills but for someone who lives on their own or has college tuition to pay, this will not suffice. Thus being said in the upcoming years, not attending college will be economically

unacceptable.
The counter argument that could be made is “If college is free then how will the expenses of the college be paid”? In the 2012-13 school year, DeVry University received the largest SEOG disbursement at $9.6 million and Palladium Technical Academy in California received the smallest at $760 million. (Atlas) The money that is saved by students not having to pay for tuition will go towards the college expenses. “This program broadens the country's welfare program, which encourages people to depend on the government, rather than promoting hard work, long-range planning, sacrifice, and self-reliance--attributes that have long been hallmarks leading to success. At the least, if the program is adopted, students participating in such a program should be required to commit to a one- or two-year service project in the community, military service, or an equivalent.” (The Huffington Post) People who don’t graduate from college and aren’t able to get a legitimate well paying job are more likely to end up on welfare because they won’t be able to support their families the way that they want to. So I really don’t see how helping someone to get ahead will cause that person to forever depend on that assistance if they're ambitious, they will try to make to where they don’t depend on the government for anything.
By allowing people to go to college for free, the government would be opening a plethora of job opportunities. With there being an increase in the amount of educated citizens in the country, the government can raise taxes, both of these actions will benefit the economy a great deal. Also by increasing the intelligence of citizens within the country, the United States will be in better competition with other high intell countries such as China and Korea. More citizens with college degrees gives a higher possibility for our country to make money, and isn’t that what moves our government? Currently we live in a democracy meaning the people chose our government so having better educated citizens means that they will make more intellectually sound decisions when it comes to choosing who will run our country correct? Also, a boost in our economy would make it less possible for our country to experience another recession and that benefits everyone. Providing people with the opportunity to go to college for free eliminates the excuse of the high price of tuition for why many don’t go to college, so it’s like basically handing someone the opportunity for a better life and all they have to do is fight for it. How stupefying would be for citizens to be able to say that they live in a country where 50% or more of its citizens have a college degree versus the 40% as of 2012 (Mason) providing free college to our citizens could make that happen.
Free college paves a bright future for so many people that it is simply unimaginable, it could possible eliminate the idea of “being the first to go to college in my family” or parents not being able to go to college because they have to pay for their child’s tuition. So many people spend their lives wishing that they could’ve attending college straight out of high school but couldn’t afford it, as a freshman in college I have classes with adults in their mid- thirties only because it is only now that they can afford the tuition. Many people including myself weren’t the straight “A” 4.0 GPA student in high school who had scholarship upon scholarship pouring in so when it came to paying for college, loans were the immediate decision and those are the people who will be in debt until forever. Free college tuition could and would eliminate that stress out of a person’s life. Students in college should be worrying about keeping their grades up, not rather or not they will be able to pay the cost of their tuition for the next year, this makes staying in college that much more difficult. Growing up all I was ever told was that college is supposed to sbe the time of your life well how is a person supposed to enjoy it if they’re constantly worrying about money issues? Providing free college to all citizens would eliminate all of these issues.