Should college education be free?

President Obama’s 2010 remarks on higher learner was, “The single most important thing

we can do is to make sure we’ve 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).

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

isn’t it free? We have acknowledged the necessity of a postsecondary institution, yet we have

failed to ensure this “prerequisite” is made available to all. Year after year America’s education

system shows its bias in graduating rate. Rates which seem to run parallel with America’s

economical imbalance. Here we 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 indeed be free.

To acquire a better understanding of the conversation itself I first chose to look at how

other ordinary American citizens felt about the question. 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," Will wrote on New York Times blog (Gonchar 5). A valid positon I

thought. As Americans, our natural reaction when speaking about money is to first ask how a

change will affect us financially. Unaware of how federal and state funding worked I did a little

researching. The federal government’s 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 addition cost

(Initiative 2). With that in mind I stumbled across an article in The Atlantic where the author was

suggesting that not only could public college be free, but in the FY 2012 we over spent on

education. Based off the Department of Education’s data $62.6 billion in tuition was collected

from students (state cost in tuition and fees) and $77 billion was issued in federal aid (work

study, Pell Grant, ect.) (Ginder 7). It appears, if state and local gov’t maintained their current

subsidizes for the up keeping of intuitions and the federal gov’t fully subsidized tuition, a free

education may be possible. Though the states may need addition assistance from the federal

gov’t 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 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 just to get a 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 is white Americans. As I list

graduates 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:

Associate’s Degree: White- 66.3 %, combined other- 33.7%, Bachelor’s Degree: White- 72.9%,

combined other- 27.1%, Master’s Degree: White- 72.8%, combined other 27.2% and Doctrines:
White- 74.3%, combined other- 25.7% (Statistics 1). After wrapping my mind around what is

obviously decades of the educational systems failures, I had to find out how someone could place

an argument against these statistics.

In an Education Next article I found author Andrew Kelly taking an exceptionally strong

stance against Presidents Obama’s 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

couldn’t 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 points 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. Even

with the ability to attend, the graduating rates are unpromisingly low at those institutions. He

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 won’t 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 such, 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

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 couldn’t regulate community college success.” To

ensure the proper functionality of these public institutions, the federal gov’t would have to build

guidelines and regulations that institutions would need to follow. Thereby, requiring the state to

build requirements for their local grade schools to adhere too. To implement a plan like such

could become very tedious, very 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 America’s 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 2013–14, 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 indeed completing

high school at the same rate as white graduates, yet the marginal difference in college graduation

rates would lead you to assume 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 don’t add up. Even with the public high

school system graduating 82 percent of their students, prepared or not, why aren’t more of these

students furthering their education?

Economics. “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 a game

changer in the measurement of weather a student will be successful in school. Due to the

psychological stress of living in poverty, student’s health and working memory are negatively

affected. With all minority groups leading the way in poverty it is inevitable for them to fall short

in the academic arena. A fully subsidized education is only the icing on the cake. With evidence

that our academic turnout runs parallel to our economic turnout, you would think America would

attempt to stir the economical pot. But we don’t. Instead we continue to dance around the real
issue. Economical division. 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-be-free/?_r=1. 3
June 2016.

Initiative, Fiscal Feralism. The PEW Charitable Trusts. 11 June 2015.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/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-student-success-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/remarks-president-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.