A Critical Examination of Free Access to Higher Education

College has proven to be a highlight in some peopleэs life, as it should be to those who make the most out of it. Students should be aware that college should not be free, it is for people who work hard, and by that hard work college should be considered as an award to them. If college was free in the United States, then everyone would go and it would be overcrowded. Also, it being free will cause a huge decline in the government's economy, as the government will be forced to pay for the students expenses. College being free has all its negatives, which will be discussed with evidences/facts and more. Hard work pays off, is what most experts/scientists claim. So if college was free it would debase most students hard work to get a scholarship, meanwhile students who took it easy and didn't put any effort in school would also get a scholarship. This is a bad idea in many ways as it does not push/encourage the students to become better, or in that case it also does not push students who did not put in the work in school to actually pay attention in classes and so on. This would also devalue a “college degree” as it won't feel special if everyone is getting one. College degrees were supposed to be a reward consisting of blood, sweat, and tears of hard work and nothing but hard work.

Working hard is a must in my opinion to get into college, but colleges being free also increases the amount of students on campus. College is supposed to be a place where you work hard, and also take it easy, however with an increase of students you won't “feel free” or lay back and enjoy your breaks as you used to. The reason to why some students so miserably want school to be over is because they believe some less educated students (bullies) create a bad environment around school, so if per say those students were to go to college the negative environment will be flying through the air. During break, the Food courts will be a huge mess, as restaurants will be forced to rush which will most likely include a misplace of an order or two. Making college feel the exact same way as school with some slight differences is not a step forward towards education. It would also increase the cost the United States government needs to pay, which could also raise the percentage of taxes deducted by an individual's income. The citizens in the United States are currently 329,049,917. It is mind boggling to even think about how much the government will have to pay to the students if college was free.

Will college really be considered “free” if it does happen, I mean sure students won’t have to pay for the college itself, but if the income of students increases, perhaps the government may consider only sending out scholarships to students with high degrees, so basically student loans will be a thing again, so it won't really be considered as free. Also if the government does take a step and decide that all colleges will be free, this will raise the taxes of each property of any college, which is never a good thing. To sum up, colleges should be a reward to people who have bled their guts into their education, and should not be a free lollipop to anyone. Colleges being free would for sure devalue a college degree, or maybe even a high school degree.