assignment on education should be free

Why Education Should Be Free: Exploring the Benefits for a Progressive Society

Written by Dan

Last updated February 13, 2024

The question of whether education, particularly higher education, should be free is a continuing debate marked by a multitude of opinions and perspectives.

Education stands as one of the most powerful tools for personal and societal advancement, and making it accessible to all could have profound impacts on a nation’s economic growth and social fabric.

Proponents of tuition-free education argue that it could create a better-educated workforce, improve the livelihoods of individuals, and contribute to overall economic prosperity.

However, the implementation of such a system carries complexity and considerations that spark considerable discourse among policymakers, educators, and the public.

Related : For more, check out our article on  The #1 Problem In Education  here.

Within the debate on free education lies a range of considerations, including the significant economic benefits it might confer.

A well-educated populace can be the driving force behind innovation, entrepreneurship, and a competitive global stance, according to research.

Moreover, social and cultural benefits are also cited by advocates, who see free higher education as a stepping stone towards greater societal well-being and equality.

Nevertheless, the challenges in implementing free higher education often center around fiscal sustainability, the potential for increased taxes, and the restructuring of existing educational frameworks.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

• Free higher education could serve as a critical driver of economic growth and innovation.
• It may contribute to social equality and cultural enrichment across communities.
• Implementation of tuition-free higher education requires careful consideration of economic and structural challenges.

Related : For more, check out our article on  AI In Education  here.

The Economic Benefits of Free Education

Free education carries the potential for significant economic impact, notably by fostering a more qualified workforce and alleviating financial strains associated with higher education.

Boosting the Workforce with Skilled Workers

Free education initiatives can lead to a rise in college enrollment and graduation rates, as seen in various studies and practical implementations.

This translates into a larger pool of skilled workers entering the workforce, which is critical for the sustained growth of the economy. With more educated individuals, industries can innovate faster and remain competitive on a global scale.

The subsequent increase in productivity and creative problem-solving bolsters the country’s economic profile.

Reducing Student Loan Debt and Financial Insecurity

One of the most immediate effects of tuition-free education is the reduction of student loan debt . Students who graduate without the burden of debt have more financial freedom and security, enabling them to contribute economically through higher consumer spending and investments.

This financial relief also means that graduates can potentially enter the housing market earlier and save for retirement, both of which are beneficial for long-term economic stability.

Reducing this financial insecurity not only benefits individual lives but also creates a positive ripple effect throughout the economy.

Related : For more, check out our article on  Teaching For Understanding  here.

Social and Cultural Impacts

Free education stands as a cornerstone for a more equitable society, providing a foundation for individuals to reach their full potential without the barrier of cost.

It fosters an inclusive culture where access to knowledge and the ability to contribute meaningfully to society are viewed as inalienable rights.

Creating Equality and Expanding Choices

Free education mitigates the socioeconomic disparities that often dictate the quality and level of education one can attain.

When tuition fees are eliminated, individuals from lower-income families are afforded the same educational opportunities as their wealthier counterparts, leading to a more level playing field .

Expanding educational access enables all members of society to pursue a wider array of careers and life paths, broadening personal choices and promoting a diverse workforce.

Free Education as a Human Right

Recognizing education as a human right underpins the movement for free education. Human Rights Watch emphasizes that all children should have access to a quality, inclusive, and free education.

This aligns with international agreements and the belief that education is not a privilege but a right that should be safeguarded for all, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status.

Redistributions within society can function to finance the institutions necessary to uphold this right, leading to long-term cultural and social benefits.

Challenges and Considerations for Implementation

Implementing free education systems presents a complex interplay of economic and academic factors. Policymakers must confront these critical issues to develop sustainable and effective programs.

Balancing Funding and Taxpayer Impact

Funding for free education programs primarily depends on the allocation of government resources, which often requires tax adjustments .

Legislators need to strike a balance between providing sufficient funding for education and maintaining a level of taxation that does not overburden the taxpayers .

Studies like those from The Balance provide insight into the economic implications, indicating a need for careful analysis to avoid unintended financial consequences.

Ensuring Quality in Free Higher Education Programs

Merit and quality assurance become paramount in free college programs to ensure that the value of education does not diminish. Programs need structured oversight and performance metrics to maintain high academic standards.

Free college systems, by extending access, may risk over-enrollment, which can strain resources and reduce educational quality if not managed correctly.

Global Perspectives and Trends in Free Education

In the realm of education, several countries have adopted policies to make learning accessible at no cost to the student. These efforts often aim to enhance social mobility and create a more educated workforce.

Case Studies: Argentina and Sweden

Argentina has long upheld the principle of free university education for its citizens. Public universities in Argentina do not charge tuition fees for undergraduate courses, emphasizing the country’s commitment to accessible education.

This policy supports a key tenet of social justice, allowing a wide range of individuals to pursue higher education regardless of their financial situation.

In comparison, Sweden represents a prime example of advanced free education within Europe. Swedish universities offer free education not only to Swedish students but also to those from other countries within the European Union (EU).

For Swedes, this extends to include secondary education, which is also offered at no cost. Sweden’s approach exemplifies a commitment to educational equality and a well-informed citizenry.

International Approaches to Tuition-Free College

Examining the broader international landscape , there are diverse approaches to implementing tuition-free higher education.

For instance, some European countries like Spain have not entirely eliminated tuition fees but have kept them relatively low compared to the global average. These measures still align with the overarching goal of making education more accessible.

In contrast, there have been discussions and proposals in the United States about adopting tuition-free college programs, reflecting a growing global trend.

While the United States has not federally mandated free college education, there are initiatives, such as the Promise Programs, that offer tuition-free community college to eligible students in certain states, showcasing a step towards more inclusive educational opportunities.

Policy and Politics of Tuition-Free Education

The debate surrounding tuition-free education encompasses a complex interplay of bipartisan support and legislative efforts, with community colleges frequently at the policy’s epicenter.

Both ideological and financial considerations shape the trajectory of higher education policy in this context.

Bipartisan Support and Political Challenges

Bipartisan support for tuition-free education emerges from a recognition of community colleges as vital access points for higher education, particularly for lower-income families.

Initiatives such as the College Promise campaign reflect this shared commitment to removing economic barriers to education. However, political challenges persist, with Republicans often skeptical about the long-term feasibility and impact on the federal budget.

Such divisions underscore the politicized nature of the education discourse, situating it as a central issue in policy-making endeavors.

Legislative Framework and Higher Education Policy

The legislative framework for tuition-free education gained momentum under President Biden with the introduction of the American Families Plan .

This plan proposed substantial investments in higher education, particularly aimed at bolstering the role of community colleges. Central to this policy is the pledge to cover up to two years of tuition for eligible students.

The proposal reflects a significant step in reimagining higher education policy, though it requires navigating the intricacies of legislative procedures and fiscally conservative opposition to translate into actionable policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section addresses common queries regarding the prospect of free college education, its impact, and practical considerations for implementation.

What are the most compelling arguments for making college education free?

The most compelling arguments for tuition-free college highlight the removal of financial barriers, potential to increase social mobility, and a long-term investment in a more educated workforce , which can lead to economic growth.

How could the government implement free education policies without sacrificing quality?

To implement free education without compromising quality, governments need to ensure sustainable funding, invest in faculty, and enable effective administration. Such measures aim to maintain high standards while extending access.

In countries with free college education, what has been the impact on their economies and societies?

Countries with free college education have observed various impacts, including a more educated populace , increased rates of innovation, and in some instances, stronger economic growth due to a skilled workforce.

How does free education affect the accessibility and inclusivity of higher education?

Free education enhances accessibility and inclusivity by leveling the educational playing field, allowing students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue higher education regardless of their financial capability.

What potential downsides exist to providing free college education to all students?

Potential downsides include the strain on governmental budgets, the risk of oversaturating certain job markets, and the possibility that the value of a degree may diminish if too many people obtain one without a corresponding increase in jobs requiring higher education.

How might free education be funded, and what are the financial implications for taxpayers?

Free education would likely be funded through taxation, and its financial implications for taxpayers could range from increased taxes to reprioritization of existing budget funds. The scale of any potential tax increase would depend on the cost of the education programs and the economic benefits they’re anticipated to produce.

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About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

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Education Should Be Free Essay in English

In most countries, education is a fundamental human right. And in some countries, it's considered so important that tuition is free for everyone, regardless of income or social status. Here are some sample essays on why education should be free.

100 Words Essay On Education Should Be Free

Quality education is important. In today's economy, it's more important than ever but the cost of a higher education can be prohibitive. That's why free education should be a priority for our country. It's an investment in our future, and it will pay dividends for decades to come.

A quality education is the key to unlocking opportunity and prosperity for all Indians. Everyone should have access to a quality education, regardless of their status or background. It is the one thing that can break the cycle of poverty, and it is the one thing that can give hope to the next generation.

200 Words Essay On Education Should Be Free

The benefits of free education are innumerable. Free education is a valuable investment in our future.

Benefits of Free Education

When education is free, more people have access to it. This means that more people can improve their lives by learning new skills and getting better jobs.

In addition, free education helps to level the playing field. It gives everyone an opportunity to improve their lives, regardless of their socioeconomic status. This is important because it helps to break the cycle of poverty and ensures that everyone has a chance to succeed. Furthermore, free education could also help bridge the gap between different socioeconomic levels and reduce inequality.

Free education bridges cultural divides: when people from all backgrounds can learn together in a safe and supported space, the result is often a greater sense of understanding and acceptance across demographics. Free education provides an opportunity to make real change on a broader scale, by improving people’s lives through financial and social stability.

By providing free education, we are creating a generation of knowledgeable and skilled workers who will help our economy thrive. By offering students the opportunity to continue their studies, society will gain a reliable, productive workforce that would benefit future generations.

500 Words Essay On Education Should Be Free

In today's society, education plays an even more important role in the development of our world. Unfortunately, not every student can support their education, as most of them do not have strong finances to get into their desired school and continue their future studies.

An effective free education policy might require changes to the way teachers are trained, which can be a major undertaking considering the current system in many countries is already overburdened. Finding ways to motivate and retain teachers in an environment where they won’t be as financially incentivized is also an important piece of this puzzle.

Social Benefits of Free Education

When it comes to the social benefits of free education, one of the most significant is the impact it can have on poverty. By ensuring that everyone has access to education, regardless of their socioeconomic status, this can open up opportunities for people who had previously been excluded from higher learning.

Students who receive free education are also able to break out of poverty by finding better jobs and earning higher salaries over time. This in turn helps promote economic growth, as well as create a more equal society.

Educational Equity Issues That Could Be Addressed by Free Education

The primary benefit of free education is that it would make higher learning more accessible to lower-income individuals and families who may not be able to afford college tuition. This would open up opportunities that may not have been available previously, helping those who are most in need gain access to a quality education.

It would also ensure that everyone has the same opportunity to pursue their academic dreams without worrying about finances. Free education would create a level playing field for everyone, regardless of their financial background, giving them an equal chance for success.

The Impact of Universal Education

Universal education would have a positive impact not only at the micro level but also on a macro level. Countries with higher rates of education can experience increased economic growth and improved labour productivity.

If everyone was afforded a quality education for free, the world would be in a better place. People would be better equipped to make sound financial decisions, drive innovation, and participate in civic life.

Finally, if all people had access to quality educational resources regardless of their socio-economic status or background, there could be an increase in social cohesion as well as an improved sense of belonging within society. This could lead to increased communication between different classes of people and help bridge the gap between us all.

Challenges to Achieving Free Education

In most countries, the majority of funding comes from taxpayers. When talking about free education, one of the biggest challenges is finding ways to pay for it.

Another challenge is providing access to quality education. Even if tuition fees are eliminated, there are still costs associated with materials, resources and other learning aids that can put many people at a disadvantage. That’s why it’s important to make sure that any policy aimed at providing free education takes into account the resources necessary for students to get the best out of their studies.

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Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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• Student Loans
• Paying for College

Should College Be Free? The Pros and Cons

Types of Publicly Funded College Tuition Programs

Pros: why college should be free, cons: why college should not be free, what the free college debate means for students, how to cut your college costs now, frequently asked questions (faqs).

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Americans have been debating the wisdom of free college for decades, and more than 30 states now offer some type of free college program. But it wasn't until 2021 that a nationwide free college program came close to becoming reality, re-energizing a longstanding debate over whether or not free college is a good idea. 

And despite a setback for the free-college advocates, the idea is still in play. The Biden administration's free community college proposal was scrapped from the American Families Plan . But close observers say that similar proposals promoting free community college have drawn solid bipartisan support in the past. "Community colleges are one of the relatively few areas where there's support from both Republicans and Democrats," said Tulane economics professor Douglas N. Harris, who has previously consulted with the Biden administration on free college, in an interview with The Balance. 

To get a sense of the various arguments for and against free college, as well as the potential impacts on U.S. students and taxpayers, The Balance combed through studies investigating the design and implementation of publicly funded free tuition programs and spoke with several higher education policy experts. Here's what we learned about the current debate over free college in the U.S.—and more about how you can cut your college costs or even get free tuition through existing programs.

Key Takeaways

• Research shows free tuition programs encourage more students to attend college and increase graduation rates, which creates a better-educated workforce and higher-earning consumers who can help boost the economy. 
• Some programs are criticized for not paying students’ non-tuition expenses, not benefiting students who need assistance most, or steering students toward community college instead of four-year programs.  
• If you want to find out about free programs in your area, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has a searchable database. You’ll find the link further down in this article. 

Before diving into the weeds of the free college debate, it's important to note that not all free college programs are alike. Most publicly funded tuition assistance programs are restricted to the first two years of study, typically at community colleges. Free college programs also vary widely in the ways they’re designed, funded, and structured:

• Last-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs cover any remaining tuition after a student has used up other financial aid , such as Pell Grants. Most state-run free college programs fall into this category. However, these programs don’t typically help with room and board or other expenses.
• First-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs pay for students' tuition upfront, although they’re much rarer than last-dollar programs. Any remaining financial aid that a student receives can then be applied to other expenses, such as books and fees. The California College Promise Grant is a first-dollar program because it waives enrollment fees for eligible students.
• Debt-free programs : These programs pay for all of a student's college expenses , including room and board, guaranteeing that they can graduate debt-free. But they’re also much less common, likely due to their expense.  

Proponents often argue that publicly funded college tuition programs eventually pay for themselves, in part by giving students the tools they need to find better jobs and earn higher incomes than they would with a high school education. The anticipated economic impact, they suggest, should help ease concerns about the costs of public financing education. Here’s a closer look at the arguments for free college programs.

A More Educated Workforce Benefits the Economy

Morley Winograd, President of the Campaign for Free College Tuition, points to the economic and tax benefits that result from the higher wages of college grads. "For government, it means more revenue," said Winograd in an interview with The Balance—the more a person earns, the more they will likely pay in taxes . In addition, "the country's economy gets better because the more skilled the workforce this country has, the better [it’s] able to compete globally." Similarly, local economies benefit from a more highly educated, better-paid workforce because higher earners have more to spend. "That's how the economy grows," Winograd explained, “by increasing disposable income."

According to Harris, the return on a government’s investment in free college can be substantial. "The additional finding of our analysis was that these things seem to consistently pass a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "The benefits seem to be at least double the cost in the long run when we look at the increased college attainment and the earnings that go along with that, relative to the cost and the additional funding and resources that go into them." 

Free College Programs Encourage More Students to Attend

Convincing students from underprivileged backgrounds to take a chance on college can be a challenge, particularly when students are worried about overextending themselves financially. But free college programs tend to have more success in persuading students to consider going, said Winograd, in part because they address students' fears that they can't afford higher education . "People who wouldn't otherwise think that they could go to college, or who think the reason they can't is [that] it's too expensive, [will] stop, pay attention, listen, decide it's an opportunity they want to take advantage of, and enroll," he said.

According to Harris, students also appear to like the certainty and simplicity of the free college message. "They didn't want to have to worry that next year they were not going to have enough money to pay their tuition bill," he said. "They don't know what their finances are going to look like a few months down the road, let alone next year, and it takes a while to get a degree. So that matters." 

Free college programs can also help send "a clear and tangible message" to students and their families that a college education is attainable for them, said Michelle Dimino, an Education Director with Third Way. This kind of messaging is especially important to first-generation and low-income students, she said. 

Free College Increases Graduation Rates and Financial Security

Free tuition programs appear to improve students’ chances of completing college. For example, Harris noted that his research found a meaningful link between free college tuition and higher graduation rates. "What we found is that it did increase college graduation at the two-year college level, so more students graduated than otherwise would have." 

Free college tuition programs also give people a better shot at living a richer, more comfortable life, say advocates. "It's almost an economic necessity to have some college education," noted Winograd. Similar to the way a high school diploma was viewed as crucial in the 20th century, employees are now learning that they need at least two years of college to compete in a global, information-driven economy. "Free community college is a way of making that happen quickly, effectively, and essentially," he explained. 

Free community college isn’t a universally popular idea. While many critics point to the potential costs of funding such programs, others identify issues with the effectiveness and fairness of current attempts to cover students’ college tuition. Here’s a closer look at the concerns about free college programs.

It Would Be Too Expensive

The idea of free community college has come under particular fire from critics who worry about the cost of social spending. Since community colleges aren't nearly as expensive as four-year colleges—often costing thousands of dollars a year—critics argue that individuals can often cover their costs using other forms of financial aid . But, they point out, community college costs would quickly add up when paid for in bulk through a free college program: Biden’s proposed free college plan would have cost $49.6 billion in its first year, according to an analysis from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Some opponents argue that the funds could be put to better use in other ways, particularly by helping students complete their degrees.

Free College Isn't Really Free

One of the most consistent concerns that people have voiced about free college programs is that they don’t go far enough. Even if a program offers free tuition, students will need to find a way to pay for other college-related expenses , such as books, room and board, transportation, high-speed internet, and, potentially, child care. "Messaging is such a key part of this," said Dimino. Students "may apply or enroll in college, understanding it's going to be free, but then face other unexpected charges along the way." 

It's important for policymakers to consider these factors when designing future free college programs. Otherwise, Dimino and other observers fear that students could potentially wind up worse off if they enroll and invest in attending college and then are forced to drop out due to financial pressures. 

Free College Programs Don’t Help the Students Who Need Them Most

Critics point out that many free college programs are limited by a variety of quirks and restrictions, which can unintentionally shut out deserving students or reward wealthier ones. Most state-funded free college programs are last-dollar programs, which don’t kick in until students have applied financial aid to their tuition. That means these programs offer less support to low-income students who qualify for need-based aid—and more support for higher-income students who don’t.

Community College May Not Be the Best Path for All Students

Some critics also worry that all students will be encouraged to attend community college when some would have been better off at a four-year institution. Four-year colleges tend to have more resources than community colleges and can therefore offer more support to high-need students. 

In addition, some research has shown that students at community colleges are less likely to be academically successful than students at four-year colleges, said Dimino. "Statistically, the data show that there are poorer outcomes for students at community colleges […] such as lower graduation rates and sometimes low transfer rates from two- to four-year schools." 

With Congress focused on other priorities, a nationwide free college program is unlikely to happen anytime soon. However, some states and municipalities offer free tuition programs, so students may be able to access some form of free college, depending on where they live. A good resource is the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s searchable database of Promise Programs , which lists more than 100 free community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

In the meantime, school leaders and policymakers may shift their focus to other access and equity interventions for low-income students. For example, higher education experts Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel published a book in 2021 titled "Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students." The book argues that policymakers should focus more strongly on college completion, not just college access. "There hasn't been enough laser-focus on how we actually get people to complete their degrees," noted Strempel in an interview with The Balance. 

Rather than just improving access for low-income college students, Strempel and Handel argue that decision-makers should instead look more closely at the social and economic issues that affect students , such as food and housing insecurity, child care, transportation, and personal technology. For example, "If you don't have a computer, you don't have access to your education anymore," said Strempel. "It's like today's pencil."

Saving money on college costs can be challenging, but you can take steps to reduce your cost of living. For example, if you're interested in a college but haven't yet enrolled, pay close attention to where it's located and how much residents typically pay for major expenses, such as housing, utilities, and food. If the college is located in a high-cost area, it could be tough to justify the living expenses you'll incur. Similarly, if you plan to commute, take the time to check gas or public transportation prices and calculate how much you'll likely have to spend per month to go to and from campus several times a week. 

Now that more colleges offer classes online, it may also be worth looking at lower-cost programs in areas that are farther from where you live, particularly if they allow you to graduate without setting foot on campus. Also, check out state and federal financial aid programs that can help you slim down your expenses, or, in some cases, pay for them completely. Finally, look into need-based and merit-based grants and scholarships that can help you cover even more of your expenses. Also, consider applying to no-loan colleges , which promise to help students graduate without going into debt.

Should community college be free?

It’s a big question with varying viewpoints. Supporters of free community college cite the economic contributions of a more educated workforce and the individual benefit of financial security, while critics caution against the potential expense and the inefficiency of last-dollar free college programs. 

What states offer free college?

More than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington State. The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education lists over 100 last-dollar community college programs and 16 first-dollar community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

Is there a free college?

There is no such thing as a truly free college education. But some colleges offer free tuition programs for students, and more than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program. In addition, students may also want to check out employer-based programs. A number of big employers now offer to pay for their employees' college tuition . Finally, some students may qualify for enough financial aid or scholarships to cover most of their college costs.

Scholarships360. " Which States Offer Tuition-Free Community College? "

The White House. “ Build Back Better Framework ,” see “Bringing Down Costs, Reducing Inflationary Pressures, and Strengthening the Middle Class.”

The White House. “ Fact Sheet: How the Build Back Better Plan Will Create a Better Future for Young Americans ,” see “Education and Workforce Opportunities.”

Coast Community College District. “ California College Promise Grant .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Biden’s Free College Plan Would Pay for Itself Within 10 Years.”

Third Way. “ Why Free College Could Increase Inequality .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Free-College Programs Have Different Effects on Race and Class Equity.”

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. “ College Promise Programs: A Comprehensive Catalog of College Promise Programs in the United States .”

Is free college a good idea? Increasingly, evidence says yes

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, douglas n. harris douglas n. harris nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy , professor and chair, department of economics - tulane university @douglasharris99.

May 10, 2021

• 10 min read

In just a few short years, the idea of free college has moved from a radical idea to mainstream Democratic thinking. President Biden made free college one of his core campaign planks , and one that the first lady has been promoting for years. In his recent address to Congress, the president also signaled that he is ready for legislative action on a scaled-back version of the idea as part of his American Families Plan .

Two weeks ago, the nonprofit College Promise (CP)—led by Martha Kanter, who served as President Obama’s undersecretary for education—also released a proposal that will influence the free college debate. (Full disclosure: I previously advised the Biden campaign and presently advise CP, but have received no compensation for these efforts.)

In today’s polarized environment, the free college idea stands out for its bipartisan support. A majority of self-identified Republicans has supported the notion of free college in some polls. In fact, one of the first such statewide programs was put in place by Bill Haslam, the former Republican governor of Tennessee. While this could go the way of Obamacare, which faced strong GOP congressional opposition despite the law’s origins with Republican Mitt Romney, free college seems different. Biden’s latest plan only applies to community colleges, which focus on career and vocational education of the sort Republicans support, as opposed to universities, which many Republicans view as hostile battlegrounds in a culture war.

But I am less interested in the politics than the evidence of effectiveness. I have studied college access for many years and run two randomized control trials of financial aid , which produced some of the first causal evidence on free college in Milwaukee. Two years ago, Brookings released the first installment of the Milwaukee work, which I carried out with a team of researchers. Since then, we have collected more data and learned more about how students responded over time. Below, I summarize our just-released study (co-authored with Jonathan Mills), compare our results to other financial aid programs, and then discuss implications for the Biden and CP proposals. Consequently, I conclude that the evidence increasingly favors free college and “open access aid” more generally.

What Did We Learn in Milwaukee?

I developed The Degree Project (TDP) in 2009 as a demonstration program in partnership between the nonprofit Ascendium (then known as the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates) and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). TDP offered all first-time 9 th graders in half of MPS high schools $12,000 for college as “last-dollar” aid. Students could use the funds for college if they graduated from high school on time with a GPA of 2.5 and a class attendance rate of 90%. Also, as is the norm with free college programs, students had to fill out the FAFSA and have at least one dollar of unmet need. The aid could be used to attend any of the 66 public, in-state, two- or four-year colleges in Wisconsin. Ascendium provided up to $31 million to fund the grant and, as the main program administrator, sent regular letters to remind students about the program and its requirements. The organization also worked with school counselors to support students becoming eligible for the funds and preparing for college.

TDP was announced to students in the fall of 2011. Using anonymized data, we then tracked students’ high school, college, and life outcomes for eight years, and we recently received data extending through when students were roughly 22 years old. As a rare randomized trial, we could estimate the effects by comparing the control and treatment group outcomes. Here is what we found:

• For students who met the performance requirements, the program increased graduation from two-year colleges by 3 percentage points . This might seem small, but the denominator here is comprised of low-income 9 th graders. Half of the control group did not even graduate from high school, let alone college. The effect amounts to a 25% increase in two-year degrees.
• The framing and design of the program as free two-year college changed student decisions in ways consistent with what free college advocates suggest. The $12,000 maximum award amount was selected because it was sufficient to cover tuition and fees for a two-year college degree. The fact that TDP made two-year college free, but only reduced the cost of four-year college, was clearly communicated to students. This appears to explain one of our main results: Student enrollments shifted from four-year to two-year colleges. This is noteworthy given that students could use the funds at either two- or four-year colleges. In fact, students likely would have been able to use more of the $12,000 if they had shifted to four-year colleges. The only plausible reason for shifting to two-year colleges is that they were really attracted to the idea of free college.
• The “early commitment” nature of the program had some modest positive effects on some high school outcomes . Students learned about TDP in their 9 th grade year, giving them time to change their high school behaviors and college plans. Although it did not improve high school academic achievement, we find that TDP increased college expectations and the steps students took to prepare for college. TDP recipients also reported working harder because of the program (even though this did not show up in the academic measures). This highlights the fact that free college might also help address not only college-going rates, but the long-term stagnancy in high school outcomes.
• The merit requirements undermined the program’s effectiveness . Though the 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance and other requirements were arguably modest, only 21% of eligible students ended up meeting them. So, they ended up excluding many students. We also tested the two main ways that the merit requirements could have been helpful: (a) merit requirements might provide incentives for students to work hard during high school and better prepare for college, and (b) merit requirements might target aid to students who respond to it most. We find no evidence of either benefit. While students did work harder (see point [3] above), this appears to be due to other elements of the program, not the merit requirements.

Overall, these results suggest that aid is most effective when it is “open access”—that is, aid with early commitment and free college framing, but no merit requirements.

What about the evidence beyond Milwaukee?

Our study also reviews other research on financial aid, including federal aid, state merit aid programs, and the newer “promise scholarship” programs that mimic free college. Our study is not alone in finding that financial aid improves student outcomes. In fact, the vast majority of the most rigorous studies find positive effects on college attendance and college graduation. Given the strong average benefits of college, we can expect follow-up studies to show effects on employment earnings, voting, and other outcomes.

What about the costs? Open access aid is more expensive to be sure. More students receive aid and the aid levels per students are larger than traditional financial aid. Is it worth it? Our analysis suggests it is. We carried out new cost-benefit analyses of multiple programs, including TDP, but also other actively studied programs in: Kalamazoo, Michigan; Knox County, Tennessee; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and one statewide program in Nebraska. We also used estimates of the average effects of aid taken from prior literature reviews. All of these programs pass a cost-benefit test. That is, the effects on college outcomes, and the effects of college outcomes on future earnings, is much larger than the cost to the government and society as a whole. Moreover, it appears that benefits-per-dollar-of-cost are at least as high with open access aid as with more restricted programs. This means that open access aid provides greater total benefits to the community as a whole.

Back to the Free College Proposals

What do these results mean for President Biden’s and CP’s proposals? The table below provides a side-by-side comparison. The main difference is the level of detail. This reflects that the CP plan was designed to align with, and flesh out, the Biden campaign proposal. Perhaps the only substantive difference is that the CP proposal (and the Milwaukee program) includes private colleges. The Biden campaign documents exclude private colleges, though the American Families Plan just says “free community college,” signaling alignment with the CP plan. Both proposals are clearly in the category of open access aid.

There are numerous similarities between these provisions and the Milwaukee program that my team and I studied. All three programs make two-year college free (or nearly so) for all students without income requirements and through early commitment of aid. All three require the FAFSA and high school graduation. Importantly, unlike both the Biden and CP proposals, the Milwaukee program had merit requirements, which undermined its success. This is partly why our evidence is so relevant to the current debate.

Some might wonder why the president has scaled back the proposal to just free community college. This reflects that the idea of free college—even the “scaled back” version—is such a marked departure from past policy, especially at the federal level. Free community college alone would still be arguably the largest shift in federal higher education policy in the past half-century.

Caveats and Concluding Thoughts

We cannot make policy from evidence alone, but it can and should play a key role. Sometimes, policy ideas have such limited evidence of effectiveness that it is difficult to make any plausible case for a large-scale, national program. In other cases, there is enough promise for pilot studies and competitive grants to establish efficacy. With free college, we seem to be well beyond that point. In addition to decades of results on general financial aid programs, we have a growing number of studies on state and local programs that all show positive evidence—the “laboratory of democracy” at work. The idea of a large, federal free-college program therefore has more and more credibility.

A decade ago, it was not at all obvious that this is what the evidence would show. There was really no evidence on free college programs when we started this project back in 2009. Also, there were good reasons to expect that such a large increase in aid would suffer from “diminishing returns”—the idea that the next dollar is less effective than the previous one. This could have made free college more costly than the benefits could justify. Now, we know better.

I do still worry a bit about other factors and challenges. For example, the above analyses can only capture the immediate effects of financial aid, yet a federal free college program is such a marked departure in policy that it could alter political and market forces operating on higher education in unpredictable ways, perhaps even lowering college spending and quality. Also, if the proposal remains focused on community colleges, then this will shift students out of four-year colleges and into colleges that currently have very low completion rates. There are also other ways to increase college affordability and access that do not require free college (e.g., increased Pell Grants and income-based loan repayment), some of which target funds more narrowly to the most disadvantaged students. And there are many details to be worked out as the president’s allies in Congress try to generate sufficient support without (a) sacrificing core principles, or (b) creating new problems that can arise when grafting new federal programs on to widely varying state contexts.

Still, it is not often that an idea comes around that addresses a widely acknowledged problem and has both research support and a fair degree of bipartisan political support. The stars seem aligned to make some form of national free college a reality. The more evidence we see, the more that would seem to be a step forward.

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Should Higher Education Be Free?

• Vijay Govindarajan
• Jatin Desai

Disruptive new models offer an alternative to expensive tuition.

In the United States, our higher education system is broken. Since 1980, we’ve seen a 400% increase in the cost of higher education, after adjustment for inflation — a higher cost escalation than any other industry, even health care. We have recently passed the trillion dollar mark in student loan debt in the United States.

• Vijay Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, and faculty partner at the Silicon Valley incubator Mach 49. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His latest book is Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future . His Harvard Business Review articles “ Engineering Reverse Innovations ” and “ Stop the Innovation Wars ” won McKinsey Awards for best article published in HBR. His HBR articles “ How GE Is Disrupting Itself ” and “ The CEO’s Role in Business Model Reinvention ” are HBR all-time top-50 bestsellers. Follow him on LinkedIn . vgovindarajan
• JD Jatin Desai is co-founder and chief executive officer of The Desai Group and the author of  Innovation Engine: Driving Execution for Breakthrough Results .

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Essay on Education Should Be Free

Students are often asked to write an essay on Education Should Be Free in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Education Should Be Free

Introduction.

Education is a fundamental right for everyone. It shapes our future, helps us develop skills, and broadens our perspectives. Therefore, education should be free for all.

The Importance of Free Education

Free education ensures everyone gets a fair chance to learn. It reduces inequality as it’s accessible to all, regardless of financial status.

Benefits to Society

A society with educated individuals thrives better. They contribute to the economy, innovation, and progress. Free education can fuel this growth.

In conclusion, free education is a powerful tool for societal progress and individual growth. It should be a priority for all nations.

250 Words Essay on Education Should Be Free

The concept of free education.

Education, a fundamental human right, is often considered a stepping stone towards personal development and societal progress. The concept of free education is an appealing proposition, particularly when considering the vast disparities in educational access and quality worldwide.

Economic Perspectives

From an economic viewpoint, free education can be seen as an investment in human capital. It could potentially stimulate economic growth by creating a more educated, skilled workforce. Additionally, it can help reduce the socioeconomic gap, enabling individuals from all backgrounds to secure better employment opportunities and contribute more effectively to the economy.

Societal Implications

On a societal level, free education can foster equality, inclusivity, and social mobility. It provides everyone, irrespective of their financial status, with equal opportunities to learn, grow, and advance. Moreover, it has the potential to mitigate social issues such as crime and poverty, which are often linked to educational inequality.

Potential Challenges

However, implementing free education presents its own set of challenges. It requires significant public funding, which could strain national budgets. Furthermore, it necessitates careful planning and execution to ensure quality and efficiency are not compromised.

In conclusion, while free education is an ideal worth striving for, it demands careful consideration of its economic implications and potential societal impacts. A balanced approach, considering both the benefits and challenges, is crucial for its successful implementation.

500 Words Essay on Education Should Be Free

The essence of free education.

Education is a fundamental human right, a path to personal growth, and a stepping stone towards societal development. It is the key to creating, applying, and disseminating knowledge, thereby contributing to the cultural, social, and economic advancement of a society. The proposition of free education, however, is a contentious one, sparking debates globally.

The Social Perspective

From a social perspective, free education can be seen as a leveller, an opportunity to eradicate socio-economic disparities. It can ensure that every individual, regardless of their background, has an equal chance to learn, grow, and contribute to society. The current system, where education is often a privilege of the wealthy, perpetuates inequality. Free education can break this cycle, fostering a more equitable society.

Economic Implications

From an economic standpoint, free education can be a significant investment in human capital. Education is directly linked to economic growth – a more educated workforce tends to be more productive, innovative, and capable of adapting to new technologies and challenges. Free education can lead to a larger, more skilled labor pool, potentially boosting economic productivity and competitiveness.

The Question of Quality

However, a significant concern is the potential compromise on the quality of education. With no tuition fees, the financial resources available to educational institutions may be limited, potentially affecting the quality of education. To counter this, governments can explore alternative funding mechanisms, such as progressive taxation. Additionally, investment in education should not be viewed as a cost but as a long-term investment that will yield substantial societal returns.

The Role of Digital Technology

Digital technology can play a pivotal role in making education universally accessible and affordable. Online learning platforms can democratize education, making high-quality resources available to everyone, irrespective of their geographical location or financial status. However, this also necessitates investment in digital infrastructure and measures to bridge the digital divide.

Conclusion: A Paradigm Shift

In conclusion, making education free is not just about removing financial barriers; it’s about a paradigm shift in how we view education. It’s about recognizing education as a public good, a collective responsibility, and a cornerstone of a fair society. It’s about investing in our future, knowing that the returns – a more equitable society, a more robust economy, and a more informed citizenry – are well worth it.

While the road to free education is fraught with challenges, the potential benefits to society are immense. It is an idea worth exploring, debating, and, if possible, implementing. The journey may be long and arduous, but the destination – a world where every individual has an equal chance to learn and grow – is a vision worth striving for.

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Argumentative Essay: Free Education

The USA doesn’t have free education for students, at least at the higher levels. Much has been made about increasing levels of debt. Some people have even called for the introduction of free education. This would be a major mistake. It would decrease personal freedoms for much of the general population, reduce quality, and send the wrong message to students. This essay will explain why.

Firstly, someone has to pay for education. It’s physically impossible to deliver quality education while charging students nothing. Someone has to pay for it. If it isn’t students taking care of their responsibilities, it’s taxpayers who already pay for the substantial grants and scholarships awarded to students every year. It’s wrong to place this burden on the general population for a decision entirely resting on the individual’s shoulders.

Making education free would mean the money has to be found from elsewhere. The only options available to the government would be to raise taxes or cut services elsewhere. It’s no fairer to cut other vital services than it is to make students pay for education. It doesn’t solve the problem, it only shifts the problem onto another part of the population.

Increasing taxes to pay for education reduces personal freedoms. Economic freedom directly correlates with personal freedoms. By cutting disposable income through the raising of taxes, it reduces the options available for families across the country. Arguably, it’s selfish to do this because a minority group decides to go into higher education.

Some would argue making education free would open up colleges and universities to a greater number of students. This isn’t the case. Although education isn’t free now, this in no way means people are prohibited from entering higher education. Grants awarding achievement already exist for the best students. Furthermore, the vast majority of students can already receive student loans to pay for tuition and maintenance. There are no barriers to students entering higher education even without a free tuition system.

With the current student loan system, lenders are far more forgiving and the repayments are much lower than a conventional loan. The system already allows students to climb up the career ladder before they start to pay back significant amounts.

Cutting fees would also make it more difficult to continue to improve the standard of education within schools and colleges. If these institutions can’t make a profit from charging their students, they can only make enough to cover their maintenance costs. They can’t invest in themselves and boost standards. This would only lead to the continuing decline of American higher education facilities and make the country less attractive for international students.

Overall, it’s important to make students understand they have responsibilities and the onus rests on them to take care of these responsibilities. It’s wrong to place the burdens of others onto the general population. Cutting fees would bring benefits to students who don’t have to pay for their own education, but it would only lead to the general decline of the facilities they study at.

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What you need to know about the right to education

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that education is a fundamental human right for everyone and this right was further detailed in the Convention against Discrimination in Education. What exactly does that mean?

Why is education a fundamental human right?

The right to education is a human right and indispensable for the exercise of other human rights.

• Quality education aims to ensure the development of a fully-rounded human being.
• It is one of the most powerful tools in lifting socially excluded children and adults out of poverty and into society. UNESCO data shows that if all adults completed secondary education, globally the number of poor people could be reduced by more than half.
• It narrows the gender gap for girls and women. A UN study showed that each year of schooling reduces the probability of infant mortality by 5 to 10 per cent.
• For this human right to work there must be equality of opportunity, universal access, and enforceable and monitored quality standards.

What does the right to education entail?

• Primary education that is free, compulsory and universal
• Secondary education, including technical and vocational, that is generally available, accessible to all and progressively free
• Higher education, accessible to all on the basis of individual capacity and progressively free
• Fundamental education for individuals who have not completed education
• Professional training opportunities
• Equal quality of education through minimum standards
• Quality teaching and supplies for teachers
• Adequate fellowship system and material condition for teaching staff
• Freedom of choice

What is the current situation?

• About 258 million children and youth are out of school, according to UIS data for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age.

155 countries legally guarantee 9 years or more of compulsory education

• Only 99 countries legally guarantee at least 12 years of free education
• 8.2% of primary school age children does not go to primary school  Only six in ten young people will be finishing secondary school in 2030 The youth literacy rate (15-24) is of 91.73%, meaning 102 million youth lack basic literacy skills.

  How is the right to education ensured?

The right to education is established by two means - normative international instruments and political commitments by governments. A solid international framework of conventions and treaties exist to protect the right to education and States that sign up to them agree to respect, protect and fulfil this right.

How does UNESCO work to ensure the right to education?

UNESCO develops, monitors and promotes education norms and standards to guarantee the right to education at country level and advance the aims of the Education 2030 Agenda. It works to ensure States' legal obligations are reflected in national legal frameworks and translated into concrete policies.

• Monitoring the implementation of the right to education at country level
• Supporting States to establish solid national frameworks creating the legal foundation and conditions for sustainable quality education for all
• Advocating on the right to education principles and legal obligations through research and studies on key issues
• Maintaining global online tools on the right to education
• Enhancing capacities, reporting mechanisms and awareness on key challenges
• Developing partnerships and networks around key issues

  How is the right to education monitored and enforced by UNESCO?

• UNESCO's Constitution requires Member States to regularly report on measures to implement standard-setting instruments at country level through regular consultations.
• Through collaboration with UN human rights bodies, UNESCO addresses recommendations to countries to improve the situation of the right to education at national level.
• Through the dedicated online Observatory , UNESCO takes stock of the implementation of the right to education in 195 States.
• Through its interactive Atlas , UNESCO monitors the implementation right to education of girls and women in countries
• Based on its monitoring work, UNESCO provides technical assistance and policy advice to Member States that seek to review, develop, improve and reform their legal and policy frameworks.

What happens if States do not fulfil obligations?

• International human rights instruments have established a solid normative framework for the right to education. This is not an empty declaration of intent as its provisions are legally binding. All countries in the world have ratified at least one treaty covering certain aspects of the right to education. This means that all States are held to account, through legal mechanisms.
• Enforcement of the right to education: At international level, human rights' mechanisms are competent to receive individual complaints and have settled right to education breaches this way.
• Justiciability of the right to education: Where their right to education has been violated, citizens must be able to have legal recourse before the law courts or administrative tribunals.

  What are the major challenges to ensure the right to education?

• Providing free and compulsory education to all
• 155 countries legally guarantee 9 years or more of compulsory education.
• Only 99 countries legally guarantee at least 12 years of free education.
• Eliminating inequalities and disparities in education

While only 4% of the poorest youth complete upper secondary school in low-income countries, 36% of the richest do. In lower-middle-income countries, the gap is even wider: while only 14% of the poorest youth complete upper secondary school, 72% of the richest do.

• Migration and displacement

According to a 2019 UNHCR report, of the 7.1 million refugee children of school age, 3.7 million - more than half - do not go to school. 

• Privatization and its impact on the right to education

States need to strike a balance between educational freedom and ensuring everyone receives a quality education.

• Financing of education

The Education 2030 Agenda requires States to allocate at least 4-6 per cent of GDP and/or at least 15-20 per cent of public expenditure to education.

• Quality imperatives and valuing the teaching profession

Two-thirds of the estimated 617 million children and adolescents who cannot read a simple sentence or manage a basic mathematics calculation are in the classroom.

• Say no to discrimination in education! - #RightToEducation campaign

Related items

• Right to education

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HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Background, rationale and objectives 12 March 2024

HerAtlas: Monitoring the right to education for girls and women HerAtlas: Disclaimer and terms of use 12 March 2024

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7 Reasons Why Education Should Be Free

Besides being the cornerstone of success in a society, many barely understand why education should be free. This blog post covers that and more. 

Education is the only mechanism available to you that allows you to shape your life. It is the most powerful weapon you can take up in the fight against ignorance. Unfortunately, it is mostly used as a tool for economic gain. 

The rise in the cost of education is one of the biggest problems to hit our world today. The rising costs make it even harder if you have limited means to get educated and compete with those who can afford it. 

This post views reasons why education should be free, and how it helps develop society while improving your standard of living. 

What is Free Education?

Free education is  education without economic cost , tuition, fees, or other products. You could also define it as one controlled or completely funded by the state, free of charge, or free to all students.

Over the past decade, small but devoted groups of people have worked together to make education accessible to everyone. After all, education should be free because it helps you develop your abilities and take part more in society.

Also, free education means expanded access to education by everyone. So, instead of education being available to certain people based on social status, it expands to everyone to ensure that they can attend for free.

Free schooling should always be available to everyone, not fee-based as with most universities and colleges.

What are the Importance of Free Education?

The idea of free education is growing around the world as more and more people realize the importance of free schooling. Some countries provide free education for their citizens, but it is not as common as it should be.

However, free education helps create a better and more productive future for people around the globe. Also, it provides you with the knowledge needed to succeed and allows you to take on challenges with confidence.

1. Education Empowers People to Be Agents of Change

Education empowers us to be agents of change. It is the only sustainable force for global progress and social justice. It should be free because it is also a human right that goes beyond school.

Quality education also extends to you learning beyond the classroom through life experiences.

Also, education is important to create real, sustainable change in the world. It equips you with knowledge and building capacity for marginalized or oppressed individuals. Access to free education can also make positive changes toward a more fair world.

2. It Will Stop the Brain Drain

Brain drain is the migration of skilled workers from one region to another in search of quality life and better standards of living. This includes better education, higher salaries, better healthcare, access to state-of-the-art technology, and better security.

More educated people will stop the brain drain. The human capital theory describes how knowledge is always of value to everyone. This means that if you have acquired knowledge, you hold more value than an ordinary person. 

Hence, access to free education leads to an increase in skilled workers available in your country. A country with more skilled workers will not suffer from brain drain when some move in search of greener pastures. 

3. It Increases the Choices Available to Learners

Free education increases the choices available to learners and reduces the barriers we currently face. The goal of education should be to free us from a controlled and scheduled curriculum and not to limit or define our thinking and creativity.

4. Education Is a Basic Human Right

Education being a human right is a statement confirming that it should be available to all without restriction due to financial, cultural, linguistic, or gender disparities. 

Also, education is a basic right because it is a form of human capital that facilitates capacity building and opportunities in life. It also allows you to live a fulfilling and productive life.

In modern times, uses of this right may include public literacy programs, public libraries, open universities, and free Internet resources .

What are the Benefits of Free Education?

Education should be free and accessible for every individual.

There’s no better way to have the tools and skills needed to succeed in today’s ever-changing world than through higher education. If the government doesn’t invest in human capital, we will end up with a workforce lacking vital job skills.

Also, an under-educated population will bring down the economy. While educational platforms like Coursera and Udemy help by offering free courses to people, more can be done to make it a reality.

Below are some reasons why access to free education is crucial.

1. Access to Free Education Increases Your Opportunities

By removing the financial barrier to education, everyone can enjoy all the gifts and benefits education can offer. Free education will break the poverty cycle and give people the power to get out of poverty. 

2. It Reduces Inequality

Education should be for everyone, despite your financial position. After all, education contributes to success and equality and increases your chances of prospering in a nation.  

Through free education, you will get the same amount of knowledge as others with higher societal standards. You also won’t have to live with such a big gap between you and those who attend expensive institutions.

3. Free Education Leads to Lower Crime Rates 

The argument that a more educated society has fewer crimes is one of the most popular arguments for free public education.

Studying improves human behavior and reduces government costs on law enforcement. This also means lesser costs on damage repairs caused by criminals.

Also, two-thirds of juvenile crimes are from people who lack a high school diploma or proper education. 

4. Free Education Helps Develop the Economy

Education allows a country to grow economically as it becomes more educated. Education equips you with the skills to work in the job market, from entry-level jobs to higher-paying jobs.

The more skilled labor that exists in a country, the more economic growth that country experiences.

5. Free Education Attracts Tourists 

If education is free in a country, that country records a rise in tourists coming to enjoy the top-notch education system. This in turn leads to diversity and economic growth.

6. It Helps Prevent Conflict 

While education is the key to any nation’s success, the lack of access to education leads to ignorance and the rise of conflicts.

Yet, when proper education is free and available for all, we can better handle social and political problems. It also helps us live together peacefully.

7. Free Education Means More Better-Educated Employees 

Education promotes critical thinking, creative development, public speaking, and resourcefulness. 

These skills help businesses to thrive and develop. So not only does free education create informed workers, but it also creates a higher level of understanding among you and your colleagues. 

Businesses benefit by hiring educated staff who are smarter and more productive than uneducated ones. 

What Are the Challenges Facing Free Education?

Challenges facing the actualization of free learning include inadequate facilities, systematic corruption, and insufficient funding.

Also, inadequate support from the community, negligence from the government, and a high level of insecurity contribute to the challenges faced. 

Free education finance is a long-term problem for governments worldwide. These challenges make it difficult for most countries to effect free schooling in the system, as their attention is usually diverted.

Corruption within the system and among the politicians in power also makes the implementation of free education a hard task to perform.

Ways to tackle the challenges facing free education include:

• Combating corruption in the system.
• By preventing acts of terrorism and insecurity that cause damage to infrastructure.
• Allocating more funds to the education sector.
• By helping communities provide more support to combat illiteracy in society.

Examples of Countries with Free Education Systems 

Ideally, the education system should be fair. The rich should not live a better life through education simply because they can afford it.

There are several countries where you can find free higher education such as:

How does education improve your life?

Education helps you by building your knowledge, improving your abilities, and getting you a good job. It also helps in making a decent living and in bringing an overall improvement in your lifestyle. 

Why is education so expensive?

One key reason is educational bureaucracy.

Modern education models are set up to be extremely bureaucratic with different entities controlling various aspects of education. This can stifle innovation and give rise to corruption at all levels of the ecosystem. 

How does the high cost of education affect your standard of living?

It becomes harder for you to have a complete education when schools charge higher fees. While this might not affect people of higher social status, it affects the common man.

As a result, you may have to take out student loans or work many jobs to pay for your education.

What is the greatest advantage of free education?

The greatest advantage of free education is that it is available to all who need it.

A lot of us are not given the chance to receive higher education due to its high cost. However, if education is available to everyone, everyone would have a shot at getting a good job that pays well. 

Also, as a business owner who is better educated, you make wiser decisions for yourself and your employees.

Your employees will also be more informed about the way they work because of their ability to understand. This means that you and your staff can improve the business, maximize profits, and help people.

Does lack of access to free education lead to poverty?

Yes, the lack of affordable or free education leads to poverty for the majority.

Education is perhaps the cornerstone for both children and adults of the future. Because most parents do not have that much money to pay for their child’s education, a college education is often neglected.

Furthermore, as a result of this inability to afford an education, a good job is out of reach leading to poverty. This is a circumstance that no one deserves.

A lack of proper education means limitations to most high-paying jobs. It also means more turn to a life of crime in other to get a better life.

Education is a powerful and important tool for shaping the world. It empowers you and sets you free, allowing you to do anything you want to do in life.

Unfortunately, education is not currently free in most countries but is a business. And like all businesses, education serves to make money.

Effective education should not be a luxury for the rich, it is a necessity in any society, in any culture, and in any country. Also, education isn’t just a workplace skill—it’s an economic and societal driver. It breeds success and helps families succeed. 

Additionally, education leads to new careers, higher wages, a secure society, innovation, tolerance, better healthcare, improved law enforcement, and much more. 

Finally, free education should not be a charity, but rather an investment in human capital. I believe this will lead to economic growth and societal development.

You should also read more about why education is important to society . You will be convinced of the benefits of free learning if you read this.

I hope you found this post helpful. Thanks for reading. 

You may also like:

• Top 11 Reasons Why Education Is Important to Society
• 10 Major Purposes of Education
• What Is Life Skills Education: Importance, Challenges, & Categories
• Benefits Of Education: Why Education Is Important
• A Guide to Liberal Education

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College & Careers

Tuition-free college is critical to our economy

Morley Winograd and Max Lubin

November 2, 2020, 13 comments.

To rebuild America’s economy in a way that offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead, federal support for free college tuition should be a priority in any economic recovery plan in 2021.

Research shows that the private and public economic benefit of free community college tuition would outweigh the cost. That’s why half of the states in the country already have some form of free college tuition.

The Democratic Party 2020 platform calls for making two years of community college tuition free for all students with a federal/state partnership similar to the Obama administration’s 2015 plan .

It envisions a program as universal and free as K-12 education is today, with all the sustainable benefits such programs (including Social Security and Medicare) enjoy. It also calls for making four years of public college tuition free, again in partnership with states, for students from families making less than $125,000 per year.

The Republican Party didn’t adopt a platform for the 2020 election, deferring to President Trump’s policies, which among other things, stand in opposition to free college. Congressional Republicans, unlike many of their state counterparts, also have not supported free college tuition in the past.

However, it should be noted that the very first state free college tuition program was initiated in 2015 by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican. Subsequently, such deep red states with Republican majorities in their state legislature such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas have adopted similar programs.

Establishing free college tuition benefits for more Americans would be the 21st-century equivalent of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration initiative.

That program not only created immediate work for the unemployed, but also offered skills training for nearly 8 million unskilled workers in the 1930s. Just as we did in the 20th century, by laying the foundation for our current system of universal free high school education and rewarding our World War II veterans with free college tuition to help ease their way back into the workforce, the 21st century system of higher education we build must include the opportunity to attend college tuition-free.

California already has taken big steps to make its community college system, the largest in the nation, tuition free by fully funding its California Promise grant program. But community college is not yet free to all students. Tuition costs — just more than $1,500 for a full course load — are waived for low-income students. Colleges don’t have to spend the Promise funds to cover tuition costs for other students so, at many colleges, students still have to pay tuition.

At the state’s four-year universities, about 60% of students at the California State University and the same share of in-state undergraduates at the 10-campus University of California, attend tuition-free as well, as a result of Cal grants , federal Pell grants and other forms of financial aid.

But making the CSU and UC systems tuition-free for even more students will require funding on a scale that only the federal government is capable of supporting, even if the benefit is only available to students from families that makes less than $125,000 a year.

It is estimated that even without this family income limitation, eliminating tuition for four years at all public colleges and universities for all students would cost taxpayers $79 billion a year, according to U.S. Department of Education data . Consider, however, that the federal government  spent $91 billion  in 2016 on policies that subsidized college attendance. At least some of that could be used to help make public higher education institutions tuition-free in partnership with the states.

Free college tuition programs have proved effective in helping mitigate the system’s current inequities by increasing college enrollment, lowering dependence on student loan debt and improving completion rates , especially among students of color and lower-income students who are often the first in their family to attend college.

In the first year of the TN Promise , community college enrollment in Tennessee increased by 24.7%, causing 4,000 more students to enroll. The percentage of Black students in that state’s community college population increased from 14% to 19% and the proportion of Hispanic students increased from 4% to 5%.

Students who attend community college tuition-free also graduate at higher rates. Tennessee’s first Promise student cohort had a 52.6% success rate compared to only a 38.9% success rate for their non-Promise peers. After two years of free college tuition, Rhode Island’s college-promise program saw its community college graduation rate triple and the graduation rate among students of color increase ninefold.

The impact on student debt is more obvious. Tennessee, for instance, saw its applications for student loans decrease by 17% in the first year of its program, with loan amounts decreasing by 12%. At the same time, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications soared, with 40% of the entire nation’s increase in applications originating in that state in the first year of their Promise program.

Wage inequality by education, already dreadful before the pandemic, is getting worse. In May, the unemployment rate among workers without a high school diploma was nearly triple the rate of workers with a bachelor’s degree. No matter what Congress does to provide support to those affected by the pandemic and the ensuing recession, employment prospects for far too many people in our workforce will remain bleak after the pandemic recedes. Today, the fastest growing sectors of the economy are in health care, computers and information technology. To have a real shot at a job in those sectors, workers need a college credential of some form such as an industry-recognized skills certificate or an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

The surest way to make the proven benefits of higher education available to everyone is to make college tuition-free for low and middle-income students at public colleges, and the federal government should help make that happen.

Morley Winograd is president of the Campaign for Free College Tuition . Max Lubin is CEO of Rise , a student-led nonprofit organization advocating for free college.  

The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. Commentaries published on EdSource represent diverse viewpoints about California’s public education systems. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our  guidelines  and  contact us .

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Genia Curtsinger 2 years ago 2 years ago

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make … Read More

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make it more affordable to the student and their families.

Therefore I think people should have free education for those who meet the admission requirements.

nothing 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like colleges shouldn’t be completely free, but a lot more affordable for people so everyone can have a chance to have a good college education.

Jaden Wendover 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think all colleges should be free, because why would you pay to learn?

Samantha Cole 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think college should be free because there are a lot of people that want to go to college but they can’t pay for it so they don’t go and end up in jail or working as a waitress or in a convenience store. I know I want to go to college but I can’t because my family doesn’t make enough money to send me to college but my family makes too much for financial aid.

Nick Gurrs 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like this subject has a lot of answers, For me personally, I believe tuition and college, in general, should be free because it will help students get out of debt and not have debt, and because it will help people who are struggling in life to get a job and make a living off a job.

NO 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think college tuition should be free. A lot of adults want to go to college and finish their education but can’t partly because they can’t afford to. Some teens need to work at a young age just so they can save money for college which I feel they shouldn’t have to. If people don’t want to go to college then they just can work and go on with their lives.

Not saying my name 3 years ago 3 years ago

I think college tuition should be free because people drop out because they can’t pay the tuition to get into college and then they can’t graduate and live a good life and they won’t get a job because it says they dropped out of school. So it would be harder to get a job and if the tuition wasn’t a thing, people would live an awesome life because of this.

Brisa 3 years ago 3 years ago

I’m not understanding. Are we not agreeing that college should be free, or are we?

m 2 years ago 2 years ago

it shouldnt

Trevor Everhart 3 years ago 3 years ago

What do you mean by there is no such thing as free tuition?

Olga Snichernacs 3 years ago 3 years ago

Nice! I enjoyed reading.

Anonymous Cat 3 years ago 3 years ago

Tuition-Free: Free tuition, or sometimes tuition free is a phrase you have heard probably a good number of times. … Therefore, free tuition to put it simply is the opportunity provide to students by select universities around the world to received a degree from their institution without paying any sum of money for the teaching.

Mister B 3 years ago 3 years ago

There is no such thing as tuition free.

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The Only Way to Save Higher Education Is to Make It Free

College was already a financial house of cards. Then coronavirus hit.

By Claire Bond Potter

Dr. Potter is a professor of history.

In January 2020, while I was in New Hampshire canvassing for Elizabeth Warren, a campaign organizer urged me to tell voters why I supported her. For me, that was easy. “As a college teacher,” I said when someone answered the door, “I believe that higher education is a house of cards because Americans won’t tax ourselves to support it.”

I didn’t know how right I was, or how quickly my words would bear out.

Two months later, Covid-19 closed American colleges and universities, and the cards came tumbling down. Millions of dollars in refunded housing and dining fees created yawning budget gaps. And the crisis isn’t over, especially if students don’t return in the fall. In the United States, tuition payments represent , on average, about a quarter of a public college’s budget, and about 35 percent of a private college’s. For many, it is far more.

The crisis highlights the unjust, unsustainable fact that higher education is surviving on ever higher tuition payments — and, going forward, will most likely lean even harder on students and their families to make ends meet. The frank conversation that Bernie Sanders and Senator Warren started during the primary season has now become a crisis. We urgently need to change how we pay for college, and that starts with removing the burden of tuition from working families.

Will college be free under a Democratic president? Probably not. But we can reduce the bill significantly if we imagine that education as part of an economic New Deal. That means more than just making college free or inexpensive for most students. It means re-evaluating the place that higher education occupies in our society.

Financing tuition through taxes works for other countries. In 2014, Germany abolished tuition for all students from the European Union. Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark charge no tuition for all European Union students, and provide low-interest loans to cover other college expenses: in Sweden, at a rate of just 0.13 percent . In Australia and Britain , public tuition is half what Americans pay, and in Israel, a 10th. In Australia, students repay loans as a percentage of income when they reach a livable income threshold.

Charging tuition was a political decision, one embraced by city, state and federal politicians as voters pushed for lower and lower taxes.

The United States also once financed education as a public good. In 1888, the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., began to forgive tuition in exchange for two years of teaching in Virginia’s public schools. Federal land grant universities established after the Civil War were free for decades, and remained low cost until the 1980s. The City University of New York was free until 1976. Stanford was free to California residents for 30 years after it opened its doors in 1891.

Charging tuition was a political decision, one embraced by city, state and federal politicians as voters pushed for lower and lower taxes in the 1960s and ’70s. California led the way. As governor from 1967 to 1975, Ronald Reagan ended free tuition at the University of California, cutting higher education funding by 20 percent and declaring that taxpayers should not “subsidize intellectual curiosity.” As president, Reagan made this national policy, galvanizing the shift to tuition-dependence , and student loans, that we live with today.

Public universities took the biggest hit . Between 1987 and 2012, public funding dropped by 25 to 30 percent. And the cutting continues. Last year, Alaska cut its higher education budget by $135 million, more than the entire sum that supported three campuses.

From 1980 to 2014, tuition increased nationally by 260 percent , more than twice the rate of other consumer expenses. Federal policy supported a tuition-based revenue system by shifting funding to student loans; by 2013, they accounted for over half of the $75 billion federal higher education budget. Less than $3.8 billion was dedicated to funding educational infrastructure, most fulfilling federal obligations to historically black and tribal colleges.

In 2009, the Obama administration expanded Pell grants for the poorest students , mitigating the effect of state-level cuts. But it left the tuition model intact and failed to articulate higher education as a location for infrastructure investment, or as a public good on a par with health care, child care, social security and national defense.

And college is, more than ever, a gateway to the middle class . So Americans have continued to pay — with salaries, savings and loans — until they are at the breaking point.

Critics point to waste, luxury spending and administrative bloat as the problem, and suggest that colleges can simply rebalance their budgets. But the truth is more complex . As we feed the tuition beast with federal dollars, state governments raid education budgets further, raise tuition and cut support for infrastructure like libraries and technology. Deferred building maintenance , often for historic structures, is at a crisis point on many campuses.

Even before coronavirus hit, higher education was entering a financial crisis.

What about endowments? Again, it’s not that easy. Those funds are spoken for. No endowment, as the president of Yale, Peter Salovey, put it , is structured as rainy day savings. Endowments keep buildings open, pays faculty and funds — you guessed it — tuition. Around 22 percent of a private college’s budget comes from endowment income . But among schools ranked by U.S. News & World Report , the median endowment is $65.1 million. Ten colleges have endowments of less than a $1 million.

Even before coronavirus hit, higher education was entering a financial crisis. Consulting companies can tell you how likely a college is to survive, or merge with another institution, before your child graduates. In 2019, until a squad of lawyers stepped in, one company planned to release a list of 946 borderline insolvent institutions . Antioch, Hampshire, Sweet Briar, and Bennett narrowly averted extinction, but between 2016 and 2020, more than 60 other colleges did not. Five more have buckled in the last three months.

The coronavirus crisis will simply speed up the implosion of higher education. The University of Maryland pegs its losses at $80 million , the California State system, at over $337 million , and the University of Michigan up to nearly $1 billion . By some estimates the $14 billion awarded to higher education under the CARES Act falls short of current needs by at least $46.6 billion and, if you count projected lost tuition revenue for the fall, several hundred billion. Simultaneously, state legislatures are slashing education — again — to reduce ballooning state deficits.

Non-tuition income — research hospitals, NCAA television contracts, summer institutes, conference services, sports camps — has likewise withered over the last few months. So has tuition from abroad. Foreign students, already intimidated by the Trump administration’s immigration policies , now find Covid-19 an even more imposing deterrent.

If colleges are in a bind, students and their families have it even worse. The tuition model had brought poor and middle-class students to their knees long before Covid-19. It is not possible for most to save enough for college, so they borrow; they cannot live on what they borrow, so they work . I teach teenagers who fall asleep after working a night shift at minimum wage. One undergraduate, who worked three gig jobs, was repeatedly absent and hungry. “I have never worked so hard and been so financially insecure,” that student said, ashamed and in tears.

The tuition model is taking food out of students’ mouths. When students lost their jobs because of Covid-19, colleges became relief agencies, paying out millions for food and rent. Distributing wireless hot spots for distance learning, we learned how many students had no reliable technology beyond a mobile phone. We learned that many had no money to get home, and in some cases, had no home.

Since 1970, when Elizabeth Warren paid $50 for her last semester of public college, tuition has become as confusing as health insurance or a credit card agreement.

The irony is that we know how to do this because higher education is already a relief agency. Under normal conditions, almost half of students are food insecure, and 22 percent are routinely hungry; 64 percent are housing insecure and 15 percent are homeless — almost 20 percent in California . My own university has a department called Student Support and Crisis Management. Funding food banks, emergency housing loans and subsidizing psychiatric and medical care is now part of where tuition goes on all campuses.

Families are urged to comparison shop for good deals on college. But since 1970, when Elizabeth Warren paid $50 for her last semester of public college, tuition has become as confusing as health insurance or a credit card agreement. It’s hard even to know what it costs. In 2018 , 84 percent of American undergraduates at four-year public institutions and 90 percent at private ones, were granted tuition discounts. But that doesn’t allow students or their families to plan: Financial aid is recalculated every year as tuition rises and institutions reassess a family’s ability to pay.

So they take out more loans. By 2019, students, their parents and their grandparents had signed away over $1.5 trillion .

These loans — so easy to get, so difficult to understand or repay — conceal the fact that, regardless of how much financial aid is available, the majority of students cannot pay tuition. Almost half of colleges are only affordable for families with incomes over $160,000, 35 percent for students whose families make more than $100,000. Imagine families budgeting for that while also suffering economically from what may be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

So what must change? To start, public colleges and universities should be truly public and tuition-free; private ones, a crucial and longstanding resource, should be discounted by the cost of a public education. Federal loans should be generous, interest-free and forgivable, perhaps in exchange for national service. To paraphrase my late friend , the historian Jesse Lemisch, we need a federal New Deal for higher education, supported by tax dollars, that breaks the stranglehold tuition has on American families.

But addressing college costs is not just about lowering tuition fees. It is also about finding a way to make higher education financially sustainable. The first step to doing that is to recognize how education expenses like food, housing, salaries, health care, technology, libraries and pensions — as well as instruction — are tightly interwoven with the overall economy.

Every economic plank on Joe Biden’s 2020 Democratic platform should be linked to higher education policy, and policy proposals should be evaluated for how they contribute to making higher education affordable for students and the institutions themselves. National health care, robust Social Security reform, infrastructure investment, affordable housing, minimum basic incomes — can have a positive impact on the higher-education burden borne by working families. They create dignified, healthy lives for students. They release colleges from paying the cost of health and retirement benefits for employees. And they help to create good, full-time jobs.

Covid-19 has presented us with an unexpected choice: to use this crisis as an opportunity for realistic, multitiered, reform. Above all, we must restore higher education as a human right. That will depend on more than making college free — it will depend on reminding ourselves that we need to pay taxes for the public good.

Claire Bond Potter ( @TenuredRadical ) is a professor of history at the New School and the co-executive editor of Public Seminar.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Home — Essay Samples — Education — College Tuition — Why Should College Be Free: Overview of The Benefits

Why Should College Be Free: Overview of The Benefits

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Words: 1583 |

Updated: 23 January, 2024

Words: 1583 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

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Introduction, why college should be free, works cited.

• BBC. (2019, December 20). Greta Thunberg: Climate Crisis Activist Gets Comic Book Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50861907
• CNN. (2019, September 23). Greta Thunberg: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.
• Greta Thunberg’s official website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gretathunberg.org/
• Svenska Dagbladet. (2018, August 20). Greta Thunberg: “Skolstrejken för klimatet kan pågå i åratal” [Greta Thunberg: “The school strike for climate can go on for years”]. Retrieved from https://www.svd.se/greta-thunberg-skolstrejken-for-klimatet-kan-paga-i-aratal
• The Guardian. (2019, March 11). Greta Thunberg: The Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Leading a Global Movement.

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Education Should Be Free Essay

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Education Should Be Free Essay: Education is the key to personal growth and societal progress. It empowers individuals with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and opportunities, enabling them to fulfill their potential and contribute positively to their communities. Education is the foundation upon which a brighter and more equitable future is built. However, the cost of education can often be a significant barrier to accessing knowledge and opportunities.

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Free education is essential as it breaks down financial barriers, ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills. It empowers individuals, promotes social equality, and contributes to a more educated and prosperous society, ultimately fostering progress and innovation. In this article, we’ll explore the idea that education should be free and provide sample essays of varying lengths to support this argument.

Education Should Be Free Essay 1: 150 Words

The concept of free education is rooted in the belief that access to knowledge should not be limited by one’s ability to pay. Education is not just a personal benefit but a societal one, as it leads to a more informed and empowered citizenry. When education is free, it breaks down economic barriers and opens doors to countless opportunities. One of the key advantages of free education is the reduction of inequality. It levels the playing field, enabling individuals from diverse backgrounds to access the same quality of education. This fosters social mobility, where talent and effort are the primary determinants of success.

Furthermore, free education has economic benefits. A well-educated workforce is more likely to contribute to a nation’s economic growth. It leads to a higher-skilled labor market, innovation, and increased productivity, all of which are vital for a nation’s competitiveness on the global stage.

In conclusion, the idea of free education is not just an idealistic notion but a practical and necessary step for societal progress. It promotes equality, empowers individuals, and strengthens economies, making it a worthwhile investment for any nation.

Essay on Education Should Be Free 2: 250 Words

Education is often referred to as the great equalizer, a means by which individuals can overcome socio-economic disparities and achieve their full potential. However, the rising costs of education have created barriers for many, limiting their access to this invaluable resource. This essay argues that education should be free, as it benefits not only individuals but society as a whole.

First and foremost, free education promotes equality and social mobility. It ensures that every person, regardless of their financial background, has the opportunity to pursue higher education. This levels the playing field and allows individuals to advance based on their merit and hard work rather than their financial resources.

Moreover, free education has economic advantages. A well-educated workforce is essential for a nation’s economic growth and competitiveness. It leads to higher productivity, innovation, and a more skilled labor market. When education is accessible to all, it contributes to a stronger and more prosperous economy.

Furthermore, free education benefits society by fostering an informed and engaged citizenry. Educated individuals are more likely to participate in civic activities, make informed decisions, and contribute positively to their communities. They are also better equipped to address societal challenges and drive innovation.

Critics may argue that free education is costly for governments, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the initial investment. Studies have shown that the economic returns from an educated workforce more than compensate for the costs of providing free education.

In conclusion, education should be free because it is a fundamental right and a public good. It promotes equality, social mobility, economic growth, and civic engagement. By making education accessible to all, we invest in a brighter and more prosperous future for individuals and society as a whole.

Education Should Be Free Essay 3 – 400 Words

Education is often regarded as the cornerstone of personal and societal development. It equips individuals with knowledge, skills, and opportunities that can transform lives and contribute to the betterment of society as a whole. However, the cost of education can be a formidable barrier for many, limiting access and perpetuating inequalities. In this essay, we will argue why education should be free, focusing on the benefits it offers to individuals and society.

First and foremost, free education promotes equality of opportunity. It ensures that individuals from all backgrounds, regardless of their economic circumstances, have the same access to quality education. When education is not contingent on one’s ability to pay, it levels the playing field, allowing talent and effort to be the primary determinants of success. This results in a more equitable society where everyone has a fair chance to achieve their aspirations.

Furthermore, free education is an investment in human capital and economic growth. A well-educated workforce is essential for a nation’s prosperity. It leads to increased productivity, innovation, and competitiveness on the global stage. When individuals are educated, they are more likely to contribute positively to the workforce, driving economic development and reducing dependency on social welfare programs.

Additionally, free education benefits society by fostering an informed and engaged citizenry. Educated individuals are more likely to participate in civic activities, make informed decisions, and contribute to their communities. They are equipped to address societal challenges, advocate for positive change, and drive innovation in various fields.

Critics may argue that providing free education is financially burdensome for governments. However, studies have shown that the long-term economic returns from an educated populace far outweigh the initial costs. Moreover, free education can be funded through various means, such as progressive taxation or reallocating budget priorities, ensuring that it is a sustainable and worthwhile investment.

In conclusion, education should be free because it is a fundamental right and a public good. It promotes equality, social mobility, economic growth, and civic engagement. By making education accessible to all, we empower individuals to reach their full potential and contribute to a more equitable and prosperous society. Free education is not just an idealistic notion but a practical necessity for building a brighter and more inclusive future for individuals and society as a whole.

Education Should Be Free Essay 4: 500 Words

Education is the key to personal and societal advancement. It has the power to transform lives, break the cycle of poverty, and pave the way for a more equitable and prosperous society. However, the cost of education has become a significant barrier for many, limiting access to knowledge and opportunities. In this essay, we will make a compelling case for why education should be free, discussing the benefits it brings to individuals and society at large.

Equality of Opportunity

One of the most compelling arguments in favor of free education is its role in promoting equality of opportunity. Education should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford it; it should be a universal right. When education is free, it ensures that individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds have the same access to quality learning. This levels the playing field, allowing talent and determination to be the primary factors in achieving success. It ensures that no one is left behind simply because of their financial circumstances.

Economic Prosperity

Free education is not just a social justice issue; it is also an economic imperative. A well-educated workforce is essential for a nation’s economic growth and competitiveness in the global arena. When individuals have access to higher education without the burden of crushing student debt, they are more likely to pursue careers that align with their passions and skills. This leads to increased productivity, innovation, and a more dynamic labor market.

Furthermore, educated individuals tend to earn higher incomes over their lifetimes, which, in turn, results in increased tax revenues for the government. This revenue can be reinvested in education and other critical public services, creating a positive feedback loop that benefits society as a whole.

Informed and Engaged Citizens

Education is not just about acquiring knowledge; it is also about fostering critical thinking and civic engagement. Educated individuals are more likely to participate in civic activities, vote in elections, and make informed decisions. They have the tools to analyze complex issues, advocate for positive change, and contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Education also plays a pivotal role in addressing societal challenges. It equips individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle pressing issues such as climate change, healthcare disparities, and social inequality. By investing in education, we empower a new generation to be the problem solvers and change-makers of tomorrow.

Financial Feasibility

Critics often argue that providing free education is financially unsustainable. However, numerous studies have shown that the long-term economic benefits far outweigh the initial costs. Moreover, there are various ways to fund free education, such as implementing progressive taxation or reallocating budget priorities.

Additionally, countries that have already implemented free or heavily subsidized education models have seen positive outcomes. For example, in countries like Germany and Finland, where higher education is largely free, they have not only achieved high levels of educational attainment but also maintained robust economies.

In conclusion, education should be free because it is a fundamental human right and a powerful catalyst for individual and societal progress. Free education promotes equality of opportunity, fosters economic prosperity, and nurtures informed and engaged citizens. It is a wise investment that benefits not only individuals but also society as a whole.

By making education accessible to all, we empower individuals to reach their full potential and contribute positively to their communities. In a world where knowledge is an essential currency, free education is not just an idealistic aspiration; it is a practical necessity for building a brighter and more inclusive future for individuals and society as a whole.

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FAQs on Education Should Be Free Essay

Should education be free.

Yes, education should be free because it promotes equality of opportunity, fosters economic growth, and empowers individuals to contribute to society.

Can education be made free in India?

While achieving entirely free education in India may be challenging, there are ways to reduce the financial burden on students and make education more affordable through government subsidies, scholarships, and policy reforms.

Why is free education required in our society?

Free education is required in our society to ensure that knowledge and opportunities are accessible to all, regardless of their financial background. It reduces inequality, fosters economic development, and empowers individuals to become informed, engaged citizens who can address societal challenges and contribute positively to their communities.

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Why College Education Should Be Free? : Argumentative Essay

Table of Contents

College education should be free to ensure that all individuals have equal access to higher education, regardless of their financial background. A highly educated population is essential for economic growth and development, and making college education free would help to create a more skilled and educated workforce. By removing the financial burden of tuition fees, students could focus on their studies and pursue their desired career paths without worrying about debt. Making college education free would also promote equality and social mobility, providing opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to access higher education and improve their economic situation. Investing in education is investing in the future, and making college education free would provide a strong foundation for the development of the country.

Top Reasons Why College Education Should Be Free?

Access to Education: Making college education free would provide greater access to higher education for individuals who cannot afford the high cost of tuition fees. This would help to increase the number of students enrolled in college and would provide them with the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue their desired careers.

Reducing Financial Burden: College education is a significant financial burden for many families. Making it free would eliminate the financial strain on families and students, enabling them to focus on their education rather than worrying about the cost of tuition fees.

Economic Growth: A highly-educated population is essential for economic growth and development. By making college education free, more individuals would be able to pursue higher education and contribute to the development of the economy.

Increasing Social Mobility: Education is an important factor in increasing social mobility. Making college education free would help to level the playing field and provide greater opportunities for individuals from lower-income families to access higher education and improve their economic situation.

Reducing Student Debt: Student debt is a significant problem for many students. Making college education free would reduce the need for students to take out loans to finance their education, reducing the burden of debt on graduates.

Promoting Equality: Education is a fundamental right and should be accessible to all. Making college education free would help to promote equality by providing individuals from all backgrounds with the opportunity to access higher education.

Investment in the Future: Investing in education is investing in the future. Making college education free would provide a strong foundation for the development of the country, ensuring that the workforce is highly educated and skilled.

Building a Knowledge-based Society: A knowledge-based society is one that values education and places a high priority on learning. Making college education free would help to build a society that values education and promotes lifelong learning.

Providing a Competitive Edge: In today’s global economy, having a highly-educated workforce is essential for competitiveness. Making college education free would provide a competitive edge by ensuring that the workforce is highly skilled and educated.

Fulfilling Social Responsibility: As a society, we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to education. Making college education free would fulfill our social responsibility by providing greater access to higher education for all.

Pros: Should College Be Free?

There are several potential pros to making college free:

• Increased Access to Education: By making college free, more individuals may be able to attend college who would otherwise not have been able to afford it. This could potentially increase the number of people with higher education degrees, which could have a positive impact on society.
• Reduced Student Debt: One of the biggest challenges facing college graduates today is the burden of student loan debt. By making college free, students would not have to take out loans to pay for tuition and other expenses, potentially reducing the overall amount of debt they carry.
• Increased Economic Growth: A more educated workforce could potentially lead to increased economic growth and innovation. This could benefit society as a whole by improving productivity and creating new job opportunities.
• More Equal Opportunities: A free college education could help level the playing field for students from low-income backgrounds who may not have the same opportunities as their more affluent peers. This could lead to greater social mobility and a more equitable society.
• Improved Workforce Skills: With a free college education, students may be more likely to pursue degrees in fields that are in high demand, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This could help ensure that the workforce has the skills needed to compete in a global economy.

Cons: Why College Should Not Be Free?

There are several arguments that can be made against the idea of making college education completely free:

• Cost: Implementing a free college education policy would be expensive and require significant funding from taxpayers. This could be a burden on those who do not have children attending college and may not see the direct benefits of the policy.
• Quality: Making college free may lead to a decrease in the quality of education. Colleges may not have the funds to maintain facilities or hire the best professors, which could ultimately hurt the education students receive.
• Value: If college education is made completely free, it may be devalued in the eyes of society. This could result in fewer students seeing the value in obtaining a college degree, which could ultimately hurt the job market and the economy as a whole.
• Alternative routes: Not all students need a traditional college education to succeed in their careers. There are alternative routes such as trade schools, vocational programs, and entrepreneurship that can be just as effective, if not more so, than a traditional college education.
• Equity: Making college free may not address the root causes of educational inequality. While it may provide financial relief to some students, it may not address other factors such as access to quality K-12 education, which can have a significant impact on a student’s ability to succeed in college.

Overall, while the idea of a free college education may seem appealing, there are significant drawbacks that must be considered before implementing such a policy.

Which Universities are Offering Free College?

There are a number of universities that offer free college education or tuition-free programs. However, it’s important to note that the definition of “free college” can vary depending on the specific program or university, and in some cases, there may still be fees or other expenses associated with attending these schools. Here are a few examples of universities that offer some form of free college education:

• Cooper Union: This private college in New York City offers a full-tuition scholarship to every admitted student, regardless of their financial need.
• Alice Lloyd College: This private college in Kentucky offers a free tuition program to students who come from one of the 108 counties in the central Appalachian region.
• Berea College: This private college in Kentucky covers the full cost of tuition for all students, and also provides additional financial support for books, room and board, and other expenses.
• College of the Ozarks: This private college in Missouri offers a tuition-free education to all students, who work on campus to cover the cost of their education.
• Curtis Institute of Music: This private music conservatory in Philadelphia offers a full-tuition scholarship to all admitted students.
• Webb Institute: This private college in New York offers a full-tuition scholarship to all admitted students, as well as a stipend for room and board.

It’s important to do your own research to find out which colleges and universities offer free college education, as the programs and requirements can vary widely. For personalized assistance in navigating the complexities of college admissions and exploring options like free education programs, you can also consider reaching out to college essay writing service .

How To Reduce Your College Costs Now?

Reducing college costs is a concern for many students and their families. Here are some tips on how to reduce your college costs:

• Apply for Financial Aid: Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can help you get access to grants, scholarships, work-study, and other financial aid options that can reduce your college costs. Make sure to submit your FAFSA on time and provide all the necessary information.
• Look for Scholarships: Scholarships are a great way to reduce your college costs. There are many scholarships available for different categories of students, such as academic merit, athletic ability, community service, and other factors. Research and apply for scholarships that fit your qualifications and interests.
• Consider Community College: Starting at a community college and then transferring to a four-year college can save you a lot of money in tuition and fees. Community colleges often offer lower tuition rates and have transfer agreements with four-year colleges that can help you save money and time.
• Choose In-State Public Colleges: Attending an in-state public college can significantly reduce your college costs compared to out-of-state public colleges and private colleges. In-state tuition rates are often much lower than out-of-state tuition rates.
• Reduce Living Expenses: Living expenses such as room and board, transportation, and personal expenses can add up quickly. Look for ways to reduce your living expenses by living off-campus, cooking your meals, using public transportation, and other cost-saving measures.
• Take Advantage of Tax Benefits: There are tax credits and deductions available for college expenses, such as the American Opportunity Tax Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit. Consult a tax professional or use tax software to see if you qualify for these benefits.
• Work Part-Time: Working part-time while attending college can help you earn money to pay for your college expenses. Look for on-campus jobs or jobs that are flexible with your class schedule.

By following these tips, you can reduce your college costs and save money while pursuing your education.

What are the Publicly Funded College Tuition Programs?

Publicly funded college tuition programs are initiatives put in place by state and federal governments to make college education more affordable and accessible for students. These programs provide financial assistance to eligible students to cover the cost of tuition fees, and in some cases, other expenses such as books and living costs.

Here are some examples of publicly funded college tuition programs:

• Pell Grants: These are grants awarded by the federal government to low-income undergraduate students to help cover the cost of tuition, fees, and other educational expenses.
• State-sponsored scholarship programs: Many states offer scholarships to students who meet certain eligibility criteria, such as academic achievement, financial need, or residency.
• State-sponsored tuition waivers: Some states provide tuition waivers to students who meet certain eligibility criteria, such as military veterans, dependents of deceased or disabled veterans, or students pursuing certain majors or careers.
• Free college programs: Some states, such as New York and Oregon, have implemented free college programs that cover the cost of tuition for eligible students.
• Community college initiatives: Several states have launched initiatives to provide free or reduced-cost tuition for community college students, such as Tennessee’s Tennessee Promise program.

Overall, these publicly funded college tuition programs are designed to make college education more accessible to all students, regardless of their financial background or other circumstances.

Providing free college education has several benefits. Firstly, it ensures equal opportunities for all students regardless of their socio-economic background. Students from low-income families or marginalized communities who may not be able to afford tuition fees can get access to quality education. This will lead to a more educated and skilled workforce, which is crucial for economic growth and development. Secondly, it would reduce the burden of student loan debt on graduates, allowing them to focus on their careers and contribute to the economy. Lastly, a free college education can also lead to a more educated and informed society, promoting social mobility and reducing income inequality. Overall, a free college education can have far-reaching positive impacts on individuals and society as a whole.

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Frequently Asked Questions Search By Students

Q.1: why education should be free for all.

Ans: Education is one of the most powerful tools for personal and societal development. It helps individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to lead a fulfilling life and contribute to their communities. However, not everyone has equal access to education due to financial barriers. Education should be free for all because it is a fundamental human right and a public good that benefits individuals and society as a whole. By providing free education, we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn and improve their lives, regardless of their economic background. It also promotes social mobility, reduces inequality, and boosts economic growth by creating a more skilled and productive workforce. Ultimately, free education is a wise investment in our future, as it enables individuals to reach their full potential and build a better world for all.

Q.2: Why education is compulsory for everyone?

Ans: Education is considered to be one of the fundamental necessities of human life. It is an essential component of human development and plays a crucial role in shaping individuals and societies. Education is compulsory for everyone because it provides numerous benefits to individuals, communities, and countries.

Firstly, education enhances the intellectual capacity of individuals. It enables individuals to develop analytical and critical thinking skills, allowing them to make informed decisions and solve complex problems. Education also helps individuals to understand the world around them, broaden their perspectives, and develop a sense of curiosity and creativity.

Secondly, education is a tool for social and economic mobility. It provides individuals with the skills and knowledge required to participate in the workforce, earn a decent income, and contribute to the development of their communities. Education also helps individuals to gain social recognition and respect, which can lead to better social and economic opportunities.

Thirdly, education promotes social cohesion and reduces social inequalities. Education can create a common ground for individuals from different backgrounds, cultures, and religions to come together, share their experiences, and learn from each other. Education also helps to reduce poverty, crime, and social exclusion, which are major challenges faced by societies.

Q.3: Why my education should be funded?

Ans: Investing in education is one of the most valuable and strategic investments a society can make. Education is the foundation of economic development, innovation, and personal growth. Funding education not only benefits the individual student, but it also creates a ripple effect that benefits society as a whole.

Firstly, education provides individuals with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today’s complex world. Students learn to think critically, analyze data, and communicate effectively, which are essential skills in virtually any profession. Moreover, higher education prepares students for the workforce and improves their chances of securing a well-paying job. This leads to higher income, a better standard of living, and greater economic stability for individuals and their families.

Secondly, education fosters innovation and drives economic growth. Education provides students with the necessary skills and knowledge to invent, design, and create new products and technologies. These advancements lead to increased productivity, job creation, and economic growth. Additionally, funding education leads to a more educated and skilled workforce, which attracts businesses and investment to a region and spurs economic development.

Thirdly, funding education is a smart long-term investment in society’s future. Education creates an educated, informed, and responsible citizenry, which is critical for a functioning democracy. Furthermore, an educated population is better equipped to address the pressing social and environmental challenges of our time.

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“Why College Education Should Be Free?” The Art of Writing an Argumentative Essay

• May 9, 2023 May 9, 2023

Education is a mission. Especially, when we are speaking in terms of the higher education to bestow not only the qualification degree but also the real life skills necessary to survive in the actual world. That is why; college education should be free for all to make sure that all individuals shall have equal access to the higher education, irrespective of their financial background. Whether we are talking about the economic growth and development of a region or the nation itself, a highly educated population will always have the leverage to generate an imperative workforce. The ready for job workforce and a highly demanding consumer market are the two wheels on which the economy of a region or a country shall move forward.

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When the financial burden is eliminated from the shoulders of the students, they can keep their focus simply on the studies and forge a path towards their desired career without worrying about the mounting figures of debt. When the college education is free, then it would be an ideal scenario promoting social mobility and equality. The individuals from all backgrounds can access higher education and boost their respective economic situations. In simple terms, we can say that, investing in education is all about investing in the future.

What does the Research says?

According to a study conducted by Pew Research Centre, nearly 63% of adults in the United States are in favor of providing free public college education and irrespective of the family or financial background. Out of those, there were 37% adults strongly in the favor of the said proposal.

Why College Education Should Always Be Free?

The following are some of the core reasons behind this argument are mentioned below –

• Access to Education: When college education is free, more individuals opt for that path who otherwise cannot afford the cost of high tuition fees. As the enrollment of the students in college increases, it would render them a lifetime of opportunity to attain the necessary knowledge and skills necessary to pursue the desired career path.

• Curtailing the Financial Burden: The concept of free education would eliminate the condition of financial strain on the students and their respective families. It would enable the students to simply focus on their studies to make it to a bright future instead of bothering about the financial uncertainties associated with the tuition fees.

• Economic Growth: The number of highly educated population is directly proportional to the economic development and growth story of the country. The highly educated individuals would immensely contribute in the fiscal flow of the economy.

• Promoting Social Mobility: Education is a critical aspect responsible to improve social mobility. Free college education would provide a level playing field with greater opportunities for the citizens from lower-income families. It would also uplift the families from destitution and improve the economic situation of the generations to come.

• Curtailing the Student Debt: The educational loan is one of the major debts confronted by the youth across the globe. Whether we are talking in terms of a developed economy or a developing one, reducing the financial burden on future graduates would enable them to write the growth story of the economy more fluently.

• Endorsing Equality: Education is a powerful tool to empower people with knowledge. It is a means to promote equality by bringing individuals from all backgrounds to a level playing field with equality in diversity.

• Investing in Future: The more we invest in education, the more confidently we can look towards a bright future. A highly educated and skilled workforce will always prove to be a strong backbone of the future growth of the country.

• Nurturing a Knowledge-Oriented Society: A Knowledge-oriented society is the one that always place education and learning on high priority list. Free college education is a step towards building a society that cherishes the values of lifelong learning.

• Getting a Competitive Edge: When we think in terms of today’s globalized economy, then we will find highly educated and competent workforce an integral part high pace development. That competitive workforce will always provide the decisive edge necessary to compete and thrive at the center stage.

• Attending Social Responsibility: Apart from moral and ethical responsibility, it is our social responsibility as a society to make free education accessible to all. A greater access to higher education would enable us to thrive as a society with better living standards and equal division and contribution of resources.

As you can see, the campaign for free education would indeed has a long term impact and most of that impact is highly positive. Now, let us throw some light over the merits and demerits of promoting free college education.

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There are various potential merits of promoting college education for free:

• Promoting Access to Education: When the college education is free, it would facilitate more individuals to attend college, which otherwise not be possible due to financial reasons. It would potentially increase the number of students to pursue for a college degree. It is always going to have a positive impact on the society.

• Reduction in Education Debt Culture: One of the major challenges faced by college graduates these days is the ever increasing burden of student loan. When the higher education is free, then it would significantly curtail the culture of students seeking out education loans to mend out the needs associated with tuition fee, hostel fee, and various other related expenses. When debt is lower, the students would feel confident and secured towards their chosen career goals.

• Growing Rate of Economy: In the contemporary world, it is the war of the economies. The countries that have a quality and skilled workforce will always have an edge. It would directly result in more scope for innovation, improved productivity meant for better domestic consumption and export and to generate new job opportunities.

• Equal and Better Opportunities: For the students with talent yet low-income backgrounds, free college education is going to offer a level playing field to compete with their affluent peers for the same opportunities and resources. This could result in greater social mobility as well as facilitating for a more equitable society.

• Improved and Skilled Workforce: While offering free education to the college students, the students from less fortunate backgrounds can even hunt for the degrees in the sectors of huge demand, including that of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). For a country competing at the global scale, it is imperative to have a lion’s share of workforce dedicated to these sectors.

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Demerits: Why College Education Should not be Free?

As we have learnt about several arguments in favor of making college education free, let us access the other side of the coin. There can be several pertinent arguments to be made against the idea of providing college education absolutely free. Let us get a better insight into those:

• Cost: The implementation of a free college education policy would come up with its own burden of expenses. It would demand a huge funding from the taxpayers and could subsequently burden those who do not have children in the age of attending college. They would never see any sort of direct benefit in the policy.

• Quality : There is also a possibility that free college education policy may result in the decrease in the quality standards of the offered education. Colleges may unable to access the funds essential to maintain the infrastructure facilities or for hiring the best professors. It could eventually hurt the prospects of the education that students are about to receive.

• Value : If the college education is made absolutely free, it may get devalued in the eyes of the society. This perception could result in a fewer number of students actually seeing any value in pursuing and obtaining a college degree. This perception could eventually hurt the job market and in later stages, the economy as a whole.

• Alternative Ways: Not all students require a conventional college education in order to professionally succeed in their lives. There are always alternative routes available in the form of trade schools, vocational and entrepreneurship programs that can turn out to be just as relevant, if not more so, in contrast to traditional form of college education.

Equity: Offering free college education may not be able to address the root causes behind educational inequality. While it might deliver certain financial relief to some of the students, it might not be able to address other critical factors like access to good quality K-12 education, that can have a decisive impact on the ability of a student to succeed in the college life.

So in overall terms, the whole concept or idea of free college education might appear appealing, but there are some of the major drawbacks that are well required to be taken into account prior to the implementation of the same on ground.

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Implementing free college education policy on ground comes up with several benefits. Firstly, it would be a passport to equal opportunity for all students irrespective of their socioeconomic background. That would include students from impoverished families or marginalized communities with no hope or scope to afford tuition fees but aspire to access quality education.

Secondly, it would result in a significant reduction in the burden of student loan on graduates. They can place their complete focus on their dream careers and wholesomely contribute to the economy proficiently and responsibly.

Last but not the least, free college education can lead to a more aware and informed society. It can significantly reduce the income inequality and endorse social mobility. In overall sense, free college education could have positive and far-reaching impacts over the individuals as well as the society as a whole.

What Did We Learn?

Here, we can learn that argumentative style of essay writing demand a specific kind of format and style of writing. While writing this kind of essay, it is imperative to opt for a balanced approach and elaborate both the sides of the issue. Then based upon logic, research based facts and rationality in the argument, it is pivotal to reach and inference. The same approach is used by the professional essayists when you are hiring assignment writing services from a credible assignment help agency online.

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I'm a woman in STEM who had to leave Oklahoma. My state must do better for women's health.

Sex education is so important because it helps women understand their bodies. we cannot make informed decisions about our health if we are not given clear scientific information..

I grew up in Houston, Texas. After high school, my love of science and math led me to pursue engineering.

Despite a system of exceptional universities with renowned STEM programs in my home state, I chose Oklahoma State University . The engineering program had small class sizes and lots of undergrad research opportunities, which were both big draws. And OSU came through for me, allowing me to double major in mechanical and aerospace engineering and create the launchpad for my career.

However, when it came time to extend my education, I knew Oklahoma was no longer the place for me. And it wasn’t because of a lack of quality educational offerings.

Fast-food businesses hiking prices because of higher minimum wage sound like Gordon Gekko

Oklahoma seems to downplay women's health issues

One major factor in my decision to move away from Oklahoma was the way the state seemed to downplay women, especially the health issues we face. It seemed especially clear in the state’s efforts to deny access to comprehensive, evidence-based education about sexual health and reproduction.

Sex education is so important because it helps women understand their bodies. We cannot make informed decisions about our health if we are not given clear scientific information. Knowing the facts allows women to make their own decisions about when to have children, and helps them identify and avoid sexual abuse.

Please don't abandon women's sports. Let's use this moment to embrace greatness.

In many ways, it seems a majority of legislators want to step in and make decisions about women’s health – including whether and how they can access contraception. I prefer to live somewhere that gives me the freedom to make these incredibly personal choices on my own.

My work puts me at the cutting edge of technology. But the actions of Oklahoma’s legislators and other elected officials make it clear they don’t share my commitment to the future.

Oklahoma lawmakers don't share my commitment to the future

I love everything that OSU and Oklahoma gave me. Sadly, to flourish, I – and many other people like me – have had to go elsewhere. Until the state changes its ways, the best and brightest will continue to establish their careers in friendlier, healthier environments.

I hope Oklahomans will demand their political leaders do more to encourage and support all women, but especially women in STEM. This is the key to creating a brighter future for all Oklahomans.

Lauren Jones earned two bachelor’s degrees in engineering from Oklahoma State University in 2019. She later earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington. This column originally appeared in The Oklahoman .