Should college education be free?

President Obamas 2010 remarks on higher learner was,were The single most important
thing we can do is to make sure weve got a world-class education system for everybody. That is
a prerequisite for prosperity. It is an obligation that we have for the next generation, (Secretary
12)(Secretary). With such a strong and precise statement, it leaves me lost as to why there is a
vast marginal difference in the ethnical graduating rates in America. Education is a product and
the bulk of consumption is by White Americans. If indeed education is the prerequisite to
prosperity why isnt it free? We have acknowledged the necessity of a postsecondary
institutioneducation, yet we have failed to ensure this prerequisite is made readily available to
all. Year after year Americas education system shows its racial and cultural bias in
postsecondary graduating rate. Rates which seem look to run parallel with Americas economical
imbalance. Here we I will attempt to add to the conversation of unrestricted education, education
made available to all. We will visit multiple realms from each end of the spectrum in search of an
answer on weather higher education should indeedundeniably be free.
First, tTo acquire a better understanding of the conversation itself I first chose to look at
how other ordinaryaverage American citizens felt about the question topic. There I found
multiple perspectives on the issue. "It just isn't feasible. Someone will have to pay for the
maintenance of campuses, the salaries of professors, and several other factors. If tuition were to
be eliminated, taxpayers would most likely have to pay to fund these institutions, even further
inhibiting the financial productivity of taxpayers," New York Times blogger, Will, wrote.Will
wrote on New York Times blog (Gonchar 5). A valid positon I thought. As Americans, our
natural reactioreaction n when speaking about money is to first ask how a that change will affect
us ourselves financially. Unaware of how federal and state funding worked I did a little

researching. The federal governments assistance is for the student themselves and the state pays
for the general operation of public institutions. With state contributing around fifteen percent less
than they did between the years of 1987-2012, the students has taken on that an addition cost
(Initiative 2). With that in mind I stumbled across an article in The Atlantic where the author was
suggestingsuggested that not only could public college be free, but in the FY 2012 we over spent
on postsecondary education. Based off the Department of Educations data, $62.6 billion in
tuition was collected from students (state cost in and tuition and fees) and $77 billion was issued
in federal aid (work study, Pell Grant, ect.) (Ginder 7). Thus, proving that the FY 2012
postsecondary college was free and there was funds left over to assist with other expenses
students may have. A hypothesis for the education system to consider is, It appears, if state and
local govt maintained their current subsidizes for the up keeping of intuitions and the federal
govt fully subsidized tuition, a free education may be possible. Though the states may need
addition assistance from the federal govt it would be substantially less than what students, as a
whole, are being required to borrow. A state by state evaluation of additional funds needed could
very well be the first step in the right direction.
Continuing Forwarding my search I considered what Cory, another blogger on New York
Times, touched on, College should be free because not everyone can afford it. You have a hard
working person with the dream to achieve but not the money to make it happen. So many people
are in depth debt just to get an education after k-12th grade. If all 18-24 year old were in college,
we would reduce the unemployment rate by 2 million people, and fewer people would be in need
of government assistance," (Gonchar). Immediately his statement struck a nerve. As I touched on
before, the mass consumption of postsecondary institutions education is white Americans. As
IHere are listed graduates rates by race, take in consideration I have combined minorities (i.e

African American, Hispanic, and Asian/American Indian) to bring this substantial difference into
perspective. In FY 2009-2010 (the most recent federal data available) degrees were dived out as
followed: Associates Degree: White- 66.3 %, combined other- 33.7%, Bachelors Degree:
White- 72.9%, combined other- 27.1%, Masters Degree: White- 72.8%, combined other 27.2%
and Doctrines: White- 74.3%, combined other- 25.7% (Statistics 1). After Once I was able to
wrappping my mind around what is obviously decades of the Americas educational systems
failures, I had to find out how someone could place an argument against these statistics.
In an Education Next article I found authorI read an article by Andrew Kelly taking
whom took an exceptionally strong stance against Presidents Obamas plan for tuition-free
community college. He covered the following points:
[most low- and middle-income students already pay no net tuition to attend community
college., free community college could lead students to undermatch , Washington
couldnt regulate community colleges to success,the combination of tuition caps and
direct public funding could actually lead to rationing, and free public option would
stifle innovation and competition (Kelly 1).]
He pointsPointing out that most low and middle- income student are currently attending
community college for free and also receiving additional grants and scholarship aid to cover
other cost, began questioning in my head. Even with low-income students having the ability to
attend, the community college graduating rates are still unpromisingly low at those institutions.
He Kelly goes on to proposes that:
[Simply throwing money for living expenses at students is unlikely to remove other
clear obstacles to success and may well exacerbate them. For instance, how would free

college improve student readiness? Federal data show that 68 percent of public two-year
college students have to take at least one remedial course; the average student who starts
at a two-year college takes 2.9 remedial courses. Very few of these students complete a
degree or certificate. Free college tuition wont fix American high schools, and
conditioning cash for living expenses on college attendance would likely draw in even
more students who are unprepared for college-level work (Kelly).]
With a proclamation like suchthat, I am forced to revamp my line of questioning. Are American
students being properly prepared to receive a postsecondary education? If a free institution was
offered, are students equipped with the knowledge needed to attend? I am quickly learning that
the educational system is flawed at multiple levels. With more than half of public two- year
college attendants in need of a remedial course you have to question their previous educational
background. Where does the disconnect begin? But, before moving on, let me conclude his
Kellys argument.
The undermatch. This term is used to describe the concept of low-income students flooding
two-year colleges and essentially not graduating. It is said that enrolling in a college that is less
selective than they are academically qualified to attend reduces students chances of graduating
(Kelly). Kelly then states that Washington [Washington D.C] couldnt regulate community
college success. To ensure the proper functionality of these public institutions, the federal govt
government would have need to build guidelines and regulations that postsecondary institutions
would need have to followadhere to. Thereby, requiring the state to build similar requirements
for their local grade public schools to adhere tooabide by. To implement aImplementing a plan
like such could becomewould be very tedious, and could become very complex quickly. But, in
the long run could this improve graduation rates, hence improving the economy? Lastly, he visits

the idea that free public option would stifle innovation and competition. To this statement I
wonder to what degree competition will be affected. And is more competition bad? Has
Americas complaisance in its economic sector begun to effect its ability to encounter new
innovators and competitors?
As I questioned above, where does the disconnect begin? In school year 201314, the
adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR) for public high schools rose to an all-time high of 82
percent. This indicates that approximately 4 out of 5 students graduated with a regular high
school diploma within 4 years of the first time they started 9th grade. Asian/Pacific Islander
students had the highest ACGR (89 percent), followed by White (87 percent), Hispanic (76
percent), Black (73 percent), and American Indian/Alaska Native (70 percent) students (N. C.
Statistics). So let me understand, the American education system has reached its all-time high,
yet it is incapable of producing postsecondary ready students?. Minorities are indeedcertainly
completing high school at the same rate as white graduatesstudents, yet the marginal difference
in college graduation rates would lead you to assume believe different. Again I ask, where does
the disconnect begin? With at least 70 percent of all minorities graduating high school, how is
less than 30 percent of them combined bachelor degree recipients? The numbers just dont add
up. Even with the public high school system graduating 82 percent of their students, prepared or
not, why arent more of these students furthering their education?
Im willing to bet on individuals economical insufficienciesEconomics. The overall
percentages of children who were living in poverty were higher for Blacks (34 percent),
American Indians/Alaska Native (33 percent), Hispanics (27 percent), and Native Hawaiians or
Other Pacific Islanders (26 percent), than for children of two or more races (18 percent), Asians
(11 percent), and Whites (10 percent) (Aud). Poverty is indeed a game changer, in the

measurement of weather a student will be successful in schooland can be used to assess the level
of success a student can achieve. Due to the psychological stress of living in poverty, students
health and working memory are negatively affected. With all minority groups leading the way in
Americas poverty epidemic, it is inevitable for them to fall short in the academic arena. A fully
subsidized education is only the icing on the cake.Although a fully subsidized education would
be idol, it is apparent that that isnt the root of the problem, the issue runs much deeper. With
evidence that our academic turnout runs parallel to our economic turnout, you would think
America would attempt to stir the economical pot.It is undeniably clear that Americas academic
success runs parallel to its economic success, yet we refuse to stir the economical pot. But we
dont. Instead we continue to danceWe have become have complacent in our economical
division, resulting in a negative effect to or academic progression. around the real issue.
Economical division. When will America realize that e Equality in the economy will render
equality in our education system?.

Works Cited
Aud, Susan. "Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups." 2010.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015.pdf.
Ginder, Scott A. National Center for Education Statistics . December 2013.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013183.pdf. 3 June 2016.
Gonchar, Michael. The New York Times . 23 January 2016.
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/should-a-college-education-befree/?_r=1. 3 June 2016.
Initiative, Fiscal Feralism. The PEW Charitable Trusts. 11 June 2015.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issuebriefs/2015/06/federal-and-state-funding-of-higher-education. 3 June 2016.
Kelly, Andrew P. "Tuition Is Not the Main Obstacle to Student Success." Article .
2016. http://educationnext.org/tuition-is-not-the-main-obstacle-to-studentsuccess-forum-community-college/.

Secretary, Office of the Press. The White House President Barack Obama. 09 August
2010. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/09/remarkspresident-higher-education-and-economy-university-texas-austin. 3 June
2016.
Statistics, National Center for Education and. "Degrees conferred by sex and race ."
Reference Table and Figures . 2012. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?
id=72.
Statistics, National Center of Education. "Public High School Graduation Rates ."
Table . 2016. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_coi.asp.