Argumentative Essay: Free Community College

According to an article titled “Free Community College”, a program called “America’s College Promise... would provide tuition-free classes for students who go to school at least half time, maintain a grade point average of 2.5 or higher, and are making steady progress toward a degree or transferring to a four-year institution.” When one compares this provision with the admittance requirements at state and university campuses, this program is reasonably easy to get into. For a high school graduate this program is a cheap and easy solution to getting a college education. The qualifications are not strict, and students would be readily accepted. The President has stated clearly that he wants everyone in the America to go to school for at least two years in a community college so they can be educated and provide a steady income for their family. However, it would be far more beneficial if the American government simply provided free tuition at community colleges than have students go through a program.

This will allow many people who can’t afford college to have an opportunity to attend, without having to stress about falling in debt or dropping out simply because they couldn’t pay. In his book, Friedman states, “So a poorly funded and staffed high school today is a pathway to a dead end” (361). He continues by quoting Marc Tucker, “Therefore, we have to find a way to educate all of our young people to a very high standard. Otherwise, if you don’t upgrade their skills, the only way the low-skilled can compete is by driving down the wages” (quoted in Friedman 361). What both, Friedman and Tucker, mean by this is poorly funded schools are not educating kids to be fully prepared for attaining high-skilled jobs. Since the world has flattened out it is harder for people without higher education to find a job. Many jobs today are being outsourced or automated. Which simply means machines and people from other countries are able to do the same jobs as Americans for a lower cost. With this reason it is becoming hard for people with low-education or low-skills to compete. In his article, “The Working Class Gets Little Support for Training,” R. Thomas Buffenbarger, the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, states,

With K-12 education free wouldn’t it make sense for college to be free? We have made

Did you know that Forty-one percent of four-year college students did not graduate within six years? College students around the country are in insane amount of debts and have no way to get rid of it and that’s a reason many do not graduate. Due to the rise in costs to attend college there has been discussions about free education, but how the debt could have been minimized and the effects on economy have not been brought up. College education should not be offered for free to all students because of the missed opportunities and unintended costs of free education are very expensive.

Students shouldn't have to pay for college, should they? No they shouldn't. Many smart kids who are more likely to succeed have little money and cannot afford college. More kids would go to college, also students would have more freedom to choose what they really wanted to do. College should be free for everyone for the kids with less money, it would help some actually go and be successful in life and they would have more freedom to choose what they want to do.

The cost of going to college is getting ridiculous. If a student were to apply to an out of state public college in 1997 they would be paying on average $8,840; now at the same out of state public school they would be paying around $26,010. Are we expecting people who have little money to stop their education even if they want to keep going or be in a huge amount of debt? If colleges were tuition free or had minimized costs the economy would be better or could improve and so would the lives of millions of people.

College is one of the most important and life changing times in the life of an American. Leaving high school behind and venturing out to the adult world is an amazing experience that every individual should experience. However, young adults from every corner of the country leave college with crippling debt or do not go to their preferred college of choice. College education should be cheaper as it will help families and students financially and give them the satisfaction with having the opportunity to go to their first choice for college.

College and universities are the final steps in someone’s educational journey. To go away to college is the dream, the American dream. College is where students find their future, to work for a degree, and to find out what they want to be, but at what cost? College is not cheap, a hefty fee is often payed by those who want to attend, often out of their own wallets. It is no secret that funding a college education is getting harder and harder. Thus begs the question, is the charge of Universities becoming too high? Yes, college costs have skyrocketed over the past decade (citation). Being capable of going off to a university to acquire an education is slipping for countless people due to the rising costs.

If colleges were free people without enough money has a chance to got to college. “ I’m to pass a law that will make 2 years of college free.”(Obama) People aren't always born into a family a with money. College should be free to give the less fortune people a chance to go to college. If

College ruins the world. Everyday families struggle financially to send their children to college. Why should we spend money on more education. Isn't twelve years enough? Since college is, and will always will be in high demand, the prices are always increasing. Instead of families worrying about how they are going to pay for their food or home, students will not go to college at all.This solution benefits all parties involved. Parents will have peace of mind knowing that their family is stable, children will be less stressed and can focus on what’s really important, work. Even the government will thrive with the flow of capital. Overall eliminating college as a whole is the best way to eliminate the increase in college prices.

If we made college free for everyone we would be funding the rich. Families that have the money to pay for some or all of the cost of a college education might choose instead to take advantage of free college at a public institution. Amelia Josephson said, “In effect, the government and taxpayers would be subsidizing the rich. Critics of free college who point to this drawback often argue that a more targeted reform subsidizing college for the poor and the middle class would make more sense. They also point to the example of Brazil, a country with free college where wealthy students reap a lot of the benefits of tuition-free education at public universities.” We don’t need to be giving more money to the rich we need to be taking money from the rich to start helping out the poor more. Free college would cost a lot of money and the money has to come from somewhere. If America somehow changed and moved to a tuition free college where would we get the money from? Taxes are the number one way to get money from. College Raptor says, “Who gets taxed seems to vary based on who is talking, but it seems certain that the upper echelons of American society will see increased taxes if this passes. There is a likelihood that it will increase the upper middle-class as well. Or maybe it will all come from Wall Street speculation taxes. The point is, all we know is that someone will pay these dues through taxes, and the uncertainty of who will carry the burden is not making many Americans comfortable.” People hate getting taxed, so if free college was going to occur. People would get taxed way more because school cost a lot of

“This approach is bad economic policy and bad education policy. An unprecedented federal spending increase for education will not improve economic growth -- and past experience strongly suggests that this plan will not improve American educational performance” (lips 2). Increasing school funding the wring way can cause the economy a lot of money and may lead to huge budget cuts or even jobs lost. There is a lot of public school across America that are underfunded so trying to fund them would cost a lot of money. Increasing school funding is very risky because if the graduation rates don’t go up when students get older they would face the problem of being in debt and won’t know how to pay it off . School funding is also based on the school population size. Why should newer schools with high income students get to have a lot more resources then the other schools with low income students. Why is it that lower income schools aren’t given the same resources to help the students? These students with low income do have the same opportunity as the higher income new schools. A lot of those students don’t have access to internet or even have a ride for transportation. Increasing school funding may cost money but it would help the future of

France, Brazil, Argentina, Sri Lanka, and Cuba along with dozens of other countries offer free four-year colleges to their citizens. So why do Americans pay an average of thirty seven thousand dollars just for college tuitions? The price we pay for education is excessive, and the average cost continues to increase every year. The four years of education from colleges and universities following high school should be free in the United States. Though there are some side effects to having free college, such as higher taxes, the positive impacts that they can provide greatly exceed the negative.

Don’t you think the federal government could reallocate funds from somewhere within the 3.8 trillion dollar federal budget to fund community college?

It is essential that younger generations receive a quality education. Children all over the United States of America are being deprived of their schooling. Not all schools receive equal funding. Kids who grow up in less wealthy areas are less likely to receive a good education. Children are being set up for failure. They 're funding is based on the wealth of the area they live in. Kids who might have excelled in certain areas with the right tutoring will never get the opportunity to without the proper funding. This is a shame to see talent going to waste. Think of all of the possibilities that these children could have created for the world with the right education. The United States has to invest in the youth. Keep the chain going to better the standard of life. That 's what the future is all about. We must improve on our previous generations to make the world a better place to live in. The United States must rehaul the out of date education system to compete with other top nations to give children an opportunity to education with equal funding so they can learn to the best of their ability.