Not Free Of Charge

Jose DuranEnglish 101 Mr. HuntSpring 2018Not Free of ChargeAs Thomas Jefferson once said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” This means exactly what it says; all people want is that the government pay for everything, but that only takes away the ability to be able to finance oneself. The case for or against free college has been in debate ever since the Socialist and Democratic member of congress Bernie Sanders brought the idea up in the campaign.

Since that declaration came about, many people began to analyze the idea and it became a split decision. Because it is an unrealistic goal to achieve, college tuition will probably never be able to become unfavorable options come about. Other choices have been placed onto the drawing board to replace Sanders’ idea.

College tuition should not be free because of increased expenses; however, post-secondary institutions should charge less and only for what is necessary.

If college actually became free from all costs and expenses, this is what would happen from then on. One thing that will happen is that people will start noticing that it is an act of injustice and eventually it would become unfortunately disproportionate. According to an article written by Matt Bruenig called “The Case Against Free College,” it states that “giving extra money to a class of disproportionately well-off people without securing any reciprocal benefit to poor and working-class people who do so often do not attend college, all while valorizing the college student as a virtuous person individually deserving of such benefits, would be at worst destructive, and at best, totally pointless”(Bruenig).

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This means that everyone would be paying for the “deserving” college freshmen so that they can attend college, which would cost them a large sum of money even if they or someone related to them is not going to college. Another thing that would happen is that many of those students will drop out out and it will become wasted money. So, as Kevin James,writer of “Bernie’s Bad College idea,” says, “His plan for free public college has some serious issues”(James). There are those who would argue the antithesis because they argue that “free college… should be a right of students because they have worked hard and done everything right”(Bruenig). It is a right, but what has the student paid for during his or her years in high school and should working hard to pass be a “get out of debt pass” for students? No. Instead of using this ingenious strategy to make college more affordable, it would be better to lower the costs of colleges.

By decreasing the amount that is charged for tuition, many students struggling to pay for college will not be struggling at all. First of all, it will be a great investment for their futures. In the article, “College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.,” written by Hunter Rawlings, former president of the Association of American Universities, it says that “the decision to go to college is a decision to make an investment in their future, an investment of time and money. And for many, a college education is expensive. Students have to play a major role in making sure it’s money well spent”(Rawlings). Secondly, colleges, universities, and institutions should lower the costs of tuition and if it is possible, they should probably only spend in what is really necessary. Many of those post-secondary institutions excessively spend large sums of money because they want to capture people’s attention with the school design, spend on unnecessary classes, etcetera. Antagonistic to this, someone may say that even with lowered tuition costs, students still cannot afford to pay because they either have low-paying jobs or have no jobs at all. According to Gail O.

Mellow, author of “The Biggest Misconception About Today’s College Students,” the majority of students need to work harder to pay for colleges and with a minimum wage, it is harder to afford college, even if the costs were to be lower (Mellow). The truth is that “making college free for everyone would almost certainly mean giving far more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones” (Bruenig). Not only do post-secondary institutions need to lower their tuition costs, but they also only need to spend on what is really necessary.It would make college a lot more affordable if they only spent their money on what is really necessary for a college. The first reason is that unnecessary costs make it so it is more difficult for a freshman to pay for college and graduate on time. Mellow writes that “with financial pressures like these…It is not uncommon for a student to take between three and six years to graduate from a two-year associate degree program”(Mellow).

Colleges need to spend only on books, supplies, room and board, and food because these things are the only things that a college attendee really needs. In “Germany proves tuition-free college is not a silver bullet for America’s education woes,” by Jon Marcus, it says that some argue that by limiting colleges to what they spend on will mean that they will be “blocked from an important source of revenue” (Marcus). Many “economists wonder how long the government will be able to support these costs” (Marcus.) If there was a complete end to college tuition, the government will not be able to help the colleges and universities with all of their expenses because they will be wasting a ton of money on things that are not really necessary to have in a post-secondary institution. Many colleges that that only pay for necessary costs are doing just fine.College tuition should not ever be free because the costs and expenses would increase, but if colleges and universities place a limit on what they need to spend on, going to school will be more affordable.

The former president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, said that if a government has the ability to give you everything for free, then they have the ability to take it back. According to Jefferson, if students want the government paying for every one of their expenses in college, then their ability to know what making an investment is will be taken from them. Since the time Bernie Sanders mentioned the idea of free college, many debates were started amongst many people whether it is possible or not. Some argue that it is a right of the student to have college paid for them, but the hard truth is that it is a right that does not allow students to make their investment. The goal is entirely unrealistic and difficult because of many unfavorable reasons. Even though college tuition will never be free of charge, the other solution can be taken into consideration.

Works Cited

1. Bruenig, Matt. “The Case Against Free College.”
2. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/123022/case-against-free-college James, Kevin.
3. “Bernie’s Bad College Idea.” U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/05/27/why-bernie-sanders-free-pu blic-college-plan-is-a-bad-idea Marcus, John. “Germany proves tuition-free college is not a silver bullet for America’s educationwoes.”
4. Quartz. https://qz.com/812200/is-free-college-possible-germany-shows-there-are-downsides-to-tuition-free-college/ Mellow, Gail.
5. “The Biggest Misconception About Today’s College Students.”
6. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/community-college-misconception.html?mcubz=1 Rawlings, Hunter. “College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one.”
7. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/09/college-is-not-a-commodity-stop-treating-it-like-one/?utm_term=.0b9f3f44f19a