There are arguments to both sides of the free tuition debate. I say this having previously also been against free tuition. I was also lucky enough to have parents who were able to pay for my tuition. The author says that college is a privilege, not a right, but America pretty much already made education a “right” by requiring funds for mandatory public schooling up to high school. Much of the reason was to make people more educated and close economic gaps. The same reasons apply here. A high school degree isn’t what it used to be, and without a college degree, most people now can’t get decent-paying jobs. This presents economic barriers that perpetuate themselves. If you can’t get a high-paying job with a college degree, you’re less likely to be able to pay for your children to have one. At top-tier institutions, students with wealthy family outnumber those without 14 to 1, which means college affordability isn’t based on how hard you worked, but how hard your parents worked. Nor is there any evidence that “paying” for college means you are more likely to try harder; the average college completion rate in United States is between 50 and 60 percent. Parks and Rhodes scholarships definitely award trying hard, but the same would be true even with free tuition, since they also pay a living stipend (wage) which students usually have to forego to attend college. Nor does free tuition take away punishments for not trying. Students at NC State have to maintain a certain GPA, or we get the boot. That’s part of what prevents slacking. Top-tier universities would still have tougher requirements for getting in, so you’d still have people competing for more desirable degrees.
Free tuition isn’t necessarily a joke. Several countries around the world do this, some of which outperform us in education. These countries pay higher taxes, but that’s another argument. Having an educated population benefits society and helps low-skill workers whose jobs are lost every year by automated technology and cheaper overseas workers. The U.S. could even go half-way into this to start off. Obama’s free tuition to two-year community colleges is a good example, as it would make technical trades more affordable and could even force more expensive universities to stop rising costs through competition. We could even go for free graduate school, since many grad students’ tuitions are paid for by federal grant money anyway.
If you don’t like the thought of paying for someone else’s education, consider this: Each year, NC State students pay $120 to Athletics, a program that is not revenue neutral, part of which pays for athlete scholarships. That’s almost as much as the Student Health ($170) and actual education ($220) fees. NC State fees and tuition rise every year, handing us the bill for gym renovations, and athletes and student centers we voted against, and no one seems to be doing anything about it.
Bryan Maxwell
Graduate student
Biological and agricultural engineering
