Should Public College Education in the US Be Free

¶ … Public College Education in the United States Be Free for All?

Education should be free for all U.S. citizens in the United States in order for the U.S. workforce to effectively compete in the globalized economy.

I believe education is integral to national and personal well-being. The current U.S. economy is highly global and competitive, and for it to become, and remain, strong, the nation requires the world's most highly educated workforce. This cannot be achieved if, year after year, several thousand bright youngsters in the nation are unable to afford college education, whilst several million more quit school deep in debts. The U.S. must ensure that each youngster in the nation who aspires to earn a college diploma/degree can realize his/her dream, without falling in debt, irrespective of family income (Sanders para. 5). United States is the leader of the western world and the western world is the leader of the world. Individual liberty and pursuit of happiness need to materialized hand-in-hand with free education for all. Both national and personal well-being, in this increasingly globalized world, cannot be achieved without free and quality education.

While it appears difficult to believe, higher/collegiate education was once nearly free in America to a number of citizens. After the Second World War, the 1944 GI Bill accorded over two million war veterans (several of whom did not possess the means to attend college), free education. This profited not only the veterans but the nation's economy and society as well. In fact, in experts' view, this investment proved to be a key reason for America's high economic progress and productivity after the war. This, however, no longer remains the case, whereas free college continues to be prioritized in several other regions across the globe (Sanders para. 6). Laws should be drafted and passed that should assist U.S. citizens rather than assist for-profit educational establishments. The government should meet the educational establishment halfway by not only increasing tuition aid but also creating a profit cap on private educational establishments.

Land grants by the federal government helped create the "people's colleges" -- a few of the greatest colleges in the U.S. However, this dream of an admission to college for many, appears to be extremely inaccessible for a growing crowd of U.S. students who are crushed by rising debt and soaring tuition fees. A century and a half after Abraham Lincoln's pledge, it is high time that public university and college education becomes free for all Americans (Ellison para. 1&2). It is more critical now than before that free and quality education is accessible for all U.S. citizens. The consistently changing global economy and its challenges need to be met with a highly knowledgeable workforce. This cannot be achieved without free education for all as recognized and implemented by a number of U.S.'s European counterparts.

For instance, public universities and colleges in Mexico, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden continue to be tuition-free. In Germany, they provide free education to foreign nationals as well. The outcome can be seen in the movement of over 4,600 U.S. students each year to universities in Germany. For a small token fee (roughly two-hundred dollars per annum), American citizens can earn engineering and math degrees from a premier European university. The governments of these nations recognize the importance of their investments in this regard, to their societies, as well as to students (Sanders para. 7). The United States needs to do the same as the enormous hike in tuition fee in the U.S. has devastating effect on education opportunity. Unable to afford, most young people drop out or never attend college.

Spiraling loan debt and tuition fees are making higher education unreachable for a number of American students. Costs associated with attending 4-year colleges have risen by a whopping 1,122% since the year 1978! Uncontrolled hikes in tuition fees have made college enrolment the costliest it has ever been in the history of the nation. Concurrently, student loan debt has grown into the biggest form of Americans' personal debt -- larger than auto loans and credit card debts. In the previous year, 38 million U.S. students owed student loans of over 1.3 trillion dollars (Ellison para. 4). I believe free college education would restore education opportunity to many Americans and remove the burden of debt from young people.

For students who are required to fund their education by themselves, current costs prove very real, including labor -- more than 50% of all undergraduates working in college, with roughly 40% being full-time workers, as per a study conducted by the Georgetown University. Scholars do not make college campuses' only hard workers, and debt constitutes an ever-present reality for most (more than scholarships), even full-time college enrollees are required to work two jobs (Bolinder para. 6).