Public College Education Should Be

¶ … Public College Education Should Be Provided Free in the United States There are groups and organizations throughout the United States that believe that college education should be provided free-of-charge to all individuals wishing to attend college.

One such supportive group is related by the Free Higher Ed Website of the South Carolina Labor Party and their campaign for free tuition at all public colleges and universities and states as the reason for needing free high education the fact that: "The average student graduates with $17,000 in debt from student loans; 39% graduates with debt loads that require more than 8% of their monthly income in repayments.

In 1999/2000, 71% of students from families earning less than $20,000 per year graduated with debt, compared with 44% of students from families with more than $100,000 annual income. It is not surprising, therefore, that 86% of high school graduates from families with incomes over $80,750 go on to college while only 57% of graduates from families earning less than $33,000 do so.

These dollar amounts do not account for the cost to those who avoid pursuing courses of study that appeal to their intellectual curiosities and interest because they fear not being able to earn enough to pay off their loans. Nor does it account for those who do not even consider attending college because of the cost.

What would it cost to provide free higher education for everyone currently enrolled in public colleges and universities? The total cost of tuition and fees for everyone currently enrolled in public colleges and universities is approximately $25 billion. This is a sum that is easily manageable in current federal budgets.

More than double that amount of money would be available to the federal treasury if only those corporate tax loopholes created between 1990 and 2000 were eliminated." (Free Higher Ed, 2004) The reason that college education has become so unaffordable is stated as: "Tuition costs have been rising faster than inflation and are projected to skyrocket in coming years. Due to cutbacks in state funding (the primary revenue source for public colleges), many public colleges are projecting tuition increases in the double digits and cuts in need-based financial aid programs.

In general, public institutions cost less than private ones, but tuition and fees have increased nearly tenfold (in inflation-adjusted dollars) between 1969 and 1999. Average tuition and fees at public four-year institutions rose from $338 to $3,243 during that time.

Private four-year college tuition now averages over $14,000 a year." (Higher Ed, 2007) Under this proposal there is stated to be no age limit "as the right to education should be life-long." (Higher Ed, 2007) Furthermore, both part-time and full-time students would be covered." (Higher Ed, 2007) There are stated to be several reasons for not including private universities in this proposal which includes: (1) Targeting public institutions covers 83% of all students now attending college; (2) Covering the remaining 17% in private schools would make the program nearly twice as expensive; and (3) the Labor Party has always supported public schools and if education is to be considered a right, it should be anchored in public institutions.

II. MODEL for FREE COLLEGE FOLLOWS THAT of G.I. BILL The plan for free college and universities in the state of South Carolina as stated by the Labor Party include modeling the campaign after the "G.I. Bill, which provided access to higher education for 8 million returning veterans after World War II. It paid all tuition and fees, as well as a living-wage stipend for all qualifying veterans. Its impact on the nation has been tremendous.

More than 40% of veterans interviewed who attended college indicated that they wouldn't have been able to without the G.I. Bill. A subcommittee of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee estimated that the G.I. Bill returned $6.90 in revenue for every $1 spent on educating these veterans, based on the resulting increased income and productivity. This investment in education had much broader impact as well. The expansion of enrollments the G.I. Bill made possible stimulated construction of new facilities and institutions, increased demand for faculty and staff, and stimulated commercial development.

The nation benefited from the veterans' talents and abilities that otherwise would not have been cultivated. That educational experience also provided the economic security and interest that made it possible for immediate beneficiaries' children and their children to pursue higher education.

College and university life was broadened from the perspectives of a wider range of the American class and social spectrum." (Higher Ed, 2004) it is related that the City University of New York (CUNY) attempt in the 1970s to: "...deliver on the dream of free higher education" however, it is also related that: "As budget crises increased the pressure on states and municipalities, most of these types of institutions were forced to charge tuition and/or constantly escalate fees." (Higher Ed, 2004) This proposal concludes by stating: "...our nation did not always have universal access to high school.

It was secured because people fought for it, in spite of dire warnings from opponents. In fact, many wealthy families in the early 1900s felt that resources would be wasted if high school were made available to the masses." (Higher Ed, 2004) The work of Laura McClure (2002) entitled: "Higher Sights" relates that "The National Conference of Black Political Scientists has become the first academic professional organization to sign on to a Labor Party-led campaign for free higher public education.

The campaign' statement of academics in support of free higher education is circulating among leading academics around the country." In March, the New Jersey Industrial Union Council and the California Nurses Association signed on." (McClure, 2002) McClure states: "Most people believe that a college education is a key to a good job for themselves and their children. But paying for it is getting harder and harder. Tuition and fees increased nearly tenfold (in inflation-adjusted dollars) between 1969 and 1999. Average tuition and fees at public four-year institutions rose from $338 to $3,243 during that time.

Private four-year college tuition now averages over $14,000 a year." (2002) According to Joan Greenbaum, professor at the City University of New York's LaGuardia College and at the CUNY Grad Center: "...tuition at CUNY stabilized in the early 1990s following militant student protests against rising costs. Now, though, CUNY, once famous for providing free high-quality education for all New Yorkers, is increasing costs in 'stealth wars.' Tuition has just doubled for non-documented immigrants. Serving immigrants, she notes, is part of CUNY's original mission.

And yet these hard-hit students face huge tuition increases just because, somewhere at the INS, the paperwork's not finished." (McClure, 2002) Furthermore, with all the lab and book fees when it is all added up five classes and their associated fees could be $500 per college semester. III. STUDENTS WORKING TOO MUCH WHILE in COLLEGE Greenbaum states estimates that: "...about 90% of her students are working their way through school. Of those, a majority work up to 40 hours a week. And these are full-time students - so it's insane.

We tell them that it's very hard to get an education and work full-time." (McClure, 2002) Greenbaum relates that: "...students take the only jobs usually available to them - low-paying ones with demanding bosses."They work in places like department stores, and in the busy season, they're asked to work extra. And somehow, the busy season always seems to correspond with exam time. it's a horror story every year. Many of our students work in warehouse jobs or at the airport.

They might be scheduled to work 20 hours a week, but they end up working longer. The employer says, 'You've got to work extra hours tonight,' and they say, 'I can't - I've got a test tomorrow' - and then the employer says, 'You want the job, you work extra hours.' All this really affects their ability to plan their lives, take classes, prepare for their courses.

They don't have the time for the kind of reflective thought that higher education demands." (McClure, 2002) According to Greenbaum "more students are forced to 'stop out,' They're not dropping out. They just have to stop for a semester or two until they get the money together." All education ceases until full tuition is paid. "Every semester, we never know until the last minute how many students are actually going to attend, because they can't be fully registered until they're fully paid.

Sometimes I get attendance lists where half the people are missing because somebody hasn't come through with their piece of paperwork." (McClure, 2002) McClure relates that while college education enrollment has "grown dramatically, there is evidence that rising tuition costs are preventing some people from attending at all: 'The total number of high school graduates headed for college rose only slightly if at all during the 1980s and 1990s according to a recent study by the Lumina Foundation.

The growth in enrollment during that time is largely due to dramatic increases in part-time student populations." (McClure, 2002) the outcome of the higher costs of college education is that the education gap existing in the country is widened. "Teens whose parents have degrees start out thinking they'll go to college (86% say they plan to get a bachelor's degree). But less than half of the kids whose parents have a high school diploma or less expect to get a college degree.

Later, those expectations are often fulfilled: 65% of young people from more educated families enroll in four-year institutions - compared to just 21% of young people from families with less formal education." (McClure, 2002) Further stated is a racial divide as in 1998: "41% of white non-Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in college, compared to 30% of blacks, and 20% of Latinos, according to the Digest of Education Statistics." (McClure, 2002) McClure relates that: "Financial aid could help close these gaps.

But in the past decade or so, outright grants have increasingly been supplanted by loans as the primary way to help lower-income students finance their education. The Lumina Foundation study found that in most states low-income students simply can't afford to go to public four-year colleges without borrowing significant amounts of money.

This is wreaking havoc on students' lives." (2002) Additionally reported by McClure is: "A new report by the State Public Interest Research Groups bolsters the Lumina study: It found that two out of three students now have to borrow money to attend college, and four out of ten face unmanageable debts once they graduate. According to the report, which is based on information from the Census Bureau and the Labor Department, 42% of students had to borrow to pay for college in 1992. Four short years later, in 1996, 59% had to take out loans.

The average debt of graduates rose from $9,188 in 1992 to almost $17,000 in 2000. " (McClure, 2002) McClure concludes by stating: "By renewing and broadening that commitment to higher education for all, we could, in the words of Adolph Reed Jr., "expand the foundation of American democracy." (2002) IV. ADOLPH REED on FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION The work of Reed (2001) states that in 2000 "polls indicated that respondents included education, along with the economy, as one of the two highest priority issues in choosing a presidential candidate.

Although much of this expressed concern is centered on the quality of pre-collegiate schooling, Americans are also worried about access to post-secondary education. Legitimately so, for post-secondary education is increasingly a prerequisite for effective labor force participation, for any hope of a relatively secure, decent job.

If that is the case, shouldn't society have an obligation to provide universal access to such an essential social good? Why should we accept a putative consensus that preempts consideration of an issue so important to so many Americans?" (Reed, 2001) Reed relates that "Universal access to higher education is not entirely unprecedented in recent American history.

The most dramatic approximation to it was the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, popularly known as the GI Bill, under which a generation of Second World War veterans received what was usually full tuition support and stipends (up to nearly $12,000 per year in 1994 dollars) to attend post-secondary educational institutions. By 1952, the federal government had spent $7 billion (nearly $39 billion in 1994 dollars) on sending veterans to college. This amounted to 1.3% of total federal expenditures ($521.8 billion) during that period.

A 1988 report by a congressional subcommittee on education and health estimated that 40% of those who attended college under the GI Bill would not otherwise have done so.

The report also found that each dollar spent educating that 40% produced a $6.90 return (more than $267 billion in 1994 dollars) in national output due to extra education and increased federal tax revenues from the extra income the beneficiaries earned." (Reed, 2001) Reed states that the "dynamics set in motion by the GI Bill had broad, positive ramification for the country as a whole extending far beyond the direct beneficiaries" and the latter benefited from income increasing, occupational and employment opportunities and personal group and enrichment..." (2001) Furthermore, these benefits "...extended intergenerationally making for greater opportunities for their children and families which contributed to a general expansion in college enrollments through the 1970s, far outstripping the population growth." (Reed, 2001) There was a 21% increase in enrollments between 1950 and 1960.

1.7% of the total U.S. population were enrolled in colleges and universities in 1950 rising to 5.2% by 1975. This growth "fueled a dramatic expansion of colleges and universities. Bulging enrollments led to substantial enlargement of physical plant and capacities at existing institution. Increased demand for higher education also prompted creation of new institutions, many of them public campuses in urban and under-served rural areas that brought higher education physically within reach of new segments of society.

The Bureau of the Census counted 1,708 institutions of higher education in 1940 and 1,959 in 1960; by 1981, the number had risen to more than 3,200. All this expansion in turn stimulated construction and other employment opportunities, ranging from faculties and staff to support services and the commercial sector.

It also dramatically democratized college and university life and broadened and deepened the intellectual life of campuses and academic disciplines." (Reed, 2001) Reed states that there were factors "other than public tuition support" which were contributors to the postwar explosion in attendance of higher education institutions including: (1) the general economic prosperity of the period; (2) the rising wages, benefits and job security; and (3) the perceived need to invest in education sparked by the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik in 1957." (Reed, 2001) Reed relates that the history of the City University of New York (CUNY) "provides a local, but instructive illustration of the general social benefits that result from removing financial.