By Elsey Rafail
Reporter
Given the opportunity, many would jump at the chance of seeing and hearing the word “FREE,” so why does it cause hesitation when it is regarding tuition for college? As each year passes, the cost of tuition rises, and student loan debt continues to stack up heavily. The United States is “ranked near the top when it comes to [annual tuition] expense…,” as written by Erica Gellerman in his blog ‘What does College Cost around the world?’ featured on Earnest.
To combat this education debt, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a plan for free community college in which this “proposal would spend $109 billion (about $340 per person in the United States) to provide two years of free community college and $85 billion (about $260 per person in the United States) to increase the maximum Pell Grant by nearly $1,500 to help more students pay for college,” according to Fortune article “Biden suggests free community college proposal on the chopping block”, published by Megan Leonhardt.
With this proposal, community colleges will be able to receive funding, something worth changing as community colleges already receive less state funding compared to four-year colleges. The proposal can also combat poverty and the growth of student loan debt.
However, the proposal has been kicked from the President’s education plan, but there is still a need for this free community college agenda to happen.
In a Skyline article titled “Community college should be free for everyone”, it was stated by Anthony Perez “.. making community colleges free, the nation benefits from near universal access to higher education,” and it continues with, “[free community college] is beneficial for low-income students who do not qualify for certain programs,” meaning that with access to free education, students who usually do not qualify for benefits can get help to continue with their education in universities.
The goal of education is for students to have the opportunity to access more jobs and have a future career in what they study. With the movement of free education, future generations will be able to successful in their careers and with this success, it can come with even greater outcomes such as the possibility of better technology, better understanding of how to better the world, etc.
However, with the outcome of free community college comes with it the rise of taxes. Many Americans can argue that America just cannot afford the proposal, especially with the lingering of debt coming from student loan.
Despite this, there is a possibility that going through with this proposal can help since countries with a better education rate do not fall behind when it comes to debt. Sweden, as an example, has free tuition as well as the lowest student loan debt. However, it does come with a higher tax pay rate.
It will take adjusting; however, it is the type of change our country needs with its staggering student debt and the low education rates that come with. Education is not a privilege, instead it should be given as a basic human right.
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