Everyone assumes that free college tuition would be a beneficial asset to teens today. Many years ago, college was mostly unattainable to the masses, but in recent years’ scholarships and government aid has become a widely-used resource that could pay for the student’s college education if done right. If free college tuition was implicated in America, it would appear to be a great thing that would allow every high school graduate to gain a higher education. Even though free college sounds like a fantastic idea, it would be a horrible thing for the American people who would have to foot the bill for the project, and to the students who want to attain a higher education.
The concept of free college comes with a lot of unanswered questions; there is the question of how long will the money last and if there any restrictions to getting the money. There has not been any final decision on how long will the government pay for the student’s tuition. Would it only be for the first two years, or would it be continuously paid for if the person is a currently enrolled student. That could also be a problem because some people would abuse that by failing and/or taking the minimum number of classes that have no purpose other than to waste taxpayers’ money.
For this concept to work, the American people would have to pay higher taxes while the cost of college would not change. The added burden of this could create more financial stress on lower income families and could lead to more problems with tax evasion. Why should everyone pay for someone’s for education if they did not get the same opportunity or if they do not believe in college? There is also going to be kids who do not want to go to college and will get the bare minimum just to appease their parents. People should not have to pay for someone who is not going to take the opportunity that they have been given seriously and work hard to get a degree and a good quality job.
Another big issue with free college is the fact that a degree will be so easily obtained that it will not have any value to it.That means that so many people will have a college degree that business will look at it like another high school diploma. More and more business will be wanting higher qualified people, so the older generation who have chosen not to go back to school will get replaced by the younger generation with higher degrees, and the earlier problem will just progress into the higher degrees. Give the free college concept a few years and soon enough a PhD still will not be a high enough qualification.
The cost of necessities and even wants would start in to increase in price in university towns. All school spirit wear prices would increase dramatically for the school to make some profit on their sales. Also, basic needs such as gas, food, and clothes would increase in price as well. This would only make students feel the need either to eat less or take out bigger and bigger student loans to cover all future costs. Even if the student was a commuter and lived at home, increases in prices would still be a big issue. If gas prices went up, that would mean that the commuters might take less classes or take too many in one day to not have to waste any more gas than they have too. This would cause added stress and could impact their grades.
Although the idea of being able to grant everyone the ability to go to college for no cost seems good on the outside, on the inside it creates plenty of other issues and makes smaller ones seem a whole lot bigger. College should be an attainable resource to all who want to work for it, but it should not be just given to anyone and everyone. College is a privilege that is obtained by hard work, discipline, and a strong will to get what you want in life. If free college was implemented in America, it still would not eliminate big, important, such as student debt, that Americans have surrounding college. Student debt would still exist; there will still be people in universities that do not take it seriously enough and continue to hinder other people from learning, and people will still be underqualified for high paying jobs that pertain to their major. Fixing a problem with a problem is never a good idea.
