While staring your college tuition in the eyes, the concept of a free, public education may not seem like such a bad idea. Millions of people would get the opportunity to obtain a higher education without a majority of them having crippling student loans upon graduating.

Hey, maybe without that hefty bill at the end, your parents would have let you pursue your passion in basket weaving, rather than insisting that you join the blossoming STEM or business fields.

On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why we shouldn’t make public education free. Who wouldn’t want a world of more highly-educated people with an endless supply of baskets?

But the fact of the matter is free education would do far more harm than good.

The first point I am compelled to address is the increased access to a higher education. I am completely in favor of getting rid of the obstacles that prevent individuals from having access to college.

But while money is a big factor, it isn’t the only one. Providing a free college education to individuals whose foundational educations have failed them is only promising future failure.

If a child falls behind in a subject, the solution isn’t to pay their way through college to try to make up for lost time. A free college education is just putting a band-aid on a problem that should be solved much earlier in life.

But say the student is truly bright, and money was the only factor preventing them from attending college. This is a highly common occurrence. They get through their four years, graduate, and earn their diploma.

The problem is, so did most of the other kids that were once held back by money. Let me explain.

Currently, there is a gap between your GRE and your bachelor’s degree, where income and employability dramatically increase. This gap motivates most individuals to go to college in the first place – to have an easier time getting a job and making a higher wage than someone with what is considered to be a “standard” high school education.

In our proposed future, this gap isn’t eliminated; it only shifts. With the influx of individuals earning their bachelor’s degree at no extra charge, that degree becomes the new “standard”.

The gap is introduced when employers begin to look for people who went the next step further in their education with a master's or doctoral degree. But the increase in overall education of the population doesn’t change the fact that there are lower-level jobs that need to be filled.

As a result, you have individuals who were beat out in the now over-populated industry and are forced to put their bachelor’s degrees to work behind a cash register or waiting a table.

Furthermore, where does the money for your free education come from? The staff still needs to be paid and the school still has to pay for utilities.

Is the public going to want this to come out of their pockets via taxes? Will the one-percenters agree to front the costs out of the kindness of their hearts?

Who is going to pay for all of these students?

Lastly, one of the most interesting aspects of this topic that isn’t frequently talked about is the students in the military. Many individuals join the armed forces in order to have their education paid for when they return home.

Think about how many students won’t choose that path if public education is made free for anyone. I’m aware that we have the largest defense system.

Yes, it’s arguably excessive, borderline laughable. But are you comfortable enough right now to take thousands of those people out of the armed forces by paying for their education?

It’s a terrible thing to point out – of course, I would rather have these teenagers be in a classroom than in a war zone - but it’s a harsh reality.

So yes, the saying goes, “The best things in life are free,” but no one ever said that organic chemistry was one of the best things in life.