Free College Education: Weighing The Benefits and Drawbacks

Should college be free? People will be able to just sign up to enroll in college, complete their classes, and receive a degree absolutely free. It sounds great, but in reality there’s a price for everything, and when the amount of something like a degree goes up the value goes down. Free college could cause increased taxes, and could decrease the value of college degrees. Free college also could potentially take away the amount of hardworking, successful students by allowing disrespectful, non-compliant students to stroll on in to class and disrupt lessons. My objective is to expose the faults of free college, and how it could negatively impact the United States, before we make a decision we later on regret. When people hear the term “free college” they perch up, and begin to feel a surge of excitement wiggle through their body. The mind focuses on the reward, (in this case free college) and blocks out the reality of how college would really be paid for. This is because they are told what they want to hear, and not the realistic effects of free college. When someone says “who wants a million dollars” you will more than likely spring up from your seat and beg for the money.

Imagine that the answer to your reply is “well, better have someone else provide you with that money.” This is essentially what free college would be. Nothing is really free. College would be paid for by increasing taxes, and collecting money from wealthy hardworking individuals. Why should people who work hard to earn their share of wealth, sacrifice their own money to pay for someone else's college? In fact, many of these wealthy individuals have already completed, and paid for their own college. A big part of college is meeting the challenges containing college debt, and having to work hard in order to restore that debt. This brings a sense of motivation to college students forcing them to put forth their best effort in order to accomplish their goals as a student. Without this financial barrier college students may take advantage of the free program by failing, and skipping classes the hardworking citizens of America would be forced to pay for. Receiving a college degree is a great accomplishment to many people in the United States. This degree signifies hard work, sacrifice, and an improved knowledge base. If we were to hand every single person in America a chance at a free degree, the significance of sacrifice, and hard work could be flushed down the drain.

Ever notice how many high school students don’t put in effort? This is because high school is free, and if you fail, what’s the harm? Its free right? This could become the state of mind future college students fall into if we were to move forward with the idea of free college. Another problem with the significance of a degree going down, is the fact that many job positions will be filled due to the number of students graduating for free, leaving other graduated college students with degrees unemployed. The basic idea I'm trying to demonstrate is college degrees will lose a lot of value, then what would be the point of free college? Many people argue that college is too expensive, and free college could give everyone a chance to earn a degree. While this statement is true, everyone would have the opportunity to enroll in college, there are many other ways to pay for college through athletic and grade scholarships, Hathaway programs, and simply making monthly payments. There are many ways to pay for college, and the hard working individuals who achieved their degrees through student loans and scholarships go on to prove this statement.

The fact that people think they shouldn't have to pay for college ties in to the statement in the paragraph above. They want something valuable but are not willing to put forth the time, money and effort in order to accomplish this. This goes on to show just how lazy American citizens are becoming. By looking at every negative aspect of free college, people can begin to see that there aren't many positive aspects about free college. I believe free college would take away from the value of college degrees leaving many college students unemployed, or not earning their full potential wage. I also believe free college would give kids who don't really want to put forth effort a chance to use college as an excuse to mess around for a few more years before becoming a responsible adult. If you want something in America it's always possible, but it’s not always easy, and it’s never free. Hard work and dedication demonstrate just how far someone can go in the country we live in, and college is one of those goals you have to make sacrifices, and work hard to achieve. I strongly suggest we offer more payment programs, rather than forcing the rich to pay for college. In my opinion free college would be more of a problem then a resolution, and I believe we should not entertain the idea free college.