Kimberly Jackson

Professor Orban
ENGL 120
12 April 2021

Education Should be Free

Imagine not being able to afford your education for the lifestyle you desire. It is not fair

for anyone to have to pay to gain a further education. Education is a right that everyone should

be able to have access to. In our society education can be very limited to some who need it, it is

the key to success in life especially in America. Some families will not have the ability to send

their children to college due to high tuition and insufficient funds. In this essay I will explain

why education should be free for everyone to have access to. Why should someone have to pay

a large amount of money to pursue education?

The main issue with the costs of tuition is that poor families that do not have the

resources to send their children to college. This would increase equality for all students. If all

were given the same opportunities then the less fortunate students would have the access to a

quality education. Affordable education is a major step to equality in our society. Also due to

the pandemic of covid-19, this has also taken a toll on people trying to pay for college.

According to a OneClass study, “Fifty-six percent of students said their families can't afford to

pay for college, and about half of undergraduates said they must determine how to pay for school

because of the pandemic’s impact on their finances” (PYMNTS). As is, college tuition is

already hard to pay. Some students who attend college may drop out due to not being able to

afford tuition for all four years. This reduces graduation rates for students. If tuition was
eliminated it would give students the ability to graduate college in order to be on the same track

as others who received that education.

The next reason that education should be free is to eliminate student debt. The average

student graduates with about 37,000 in student loan debt. Debt only increases with interest

throughout the years only setting students back further. If more people were able to graduate

without debt, it would boost the economy by increased consumer spending. Recently, the

current president Joe Biden has proposed an idea to forgive 10,000 in student debt. According to

CNBC, Rebecca Safier (student loan expert) stated on this topic,

I think [student debt forgiveness] would ease people’s financial anxiety,” says Rebecca Safier, a

student loan expert at student-loan management site Student Loan Hero, citing a recent survey of

2,000 Americans in which 64% said having their loans reduced by $10,000 would improve their

life significantly. Student loan debt has been a huge burden for years, and now people are

dealing with unemployment, loss of income, general anxiety and stress from the pandemic. So

any kind of student loan forgiveness that could ease the burden would be helpful for student loan

borrowers (Safier).

Some may say that free education is impossible due to the fact it is not affordable by the

government. Therefore causing an increase in taxes in order to put money towards the schools.

According to the department of education data, it would cost at least $79 billion a year to

eliminate tuition. Although some may say it is too expensive to go this way, it would not be as

hard as some may expect. According to a New York Times article, “In 2016, the government

spent 91 billion on policies that subsidized college attendance. That is more than the 79 billion

in total tuition and fee revenue for public institutions” (Deming).

 Providing education to more people has the power to improve society. With more educated

people, society would be able to progress at a faster rate. According to an article on UO the

people, “When more people have access to a college education, the number of employable

people for high-skilled jobs increases. This means that more people will join the workforce,

which could help lessen the wealth gap between the upper, middle, and lower class” (UO the

people). This shows that free education would have a major positive impact within our society.

There are a number of other countries that offer free education to its students. These

countries include Germany, Austria, Finland, Spain, France, and Czech Republic. These

countries understand the positive impacts on free education and apply it to their citizens.

In conclusion, there are many reasons as to why education should be free. It can be

unaffordable for some families, education is what sets people up for success, it is free in other

countries, and can help create diversity. Making education free will assist those who desire to go

further in life through their education. It is not fair for students who suffer financial issues to not

be able to attend school. Some may say that it would be too much for the government to afford,

although it is not.

Works Cited

Deming, David. “Tuition-Free College Could Cost Less Than You Think.” The New York Times,

19 July 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/tuition-free-college.html.

Hess, Abigail. “Experts weigh in on Biden’s support of $10,000 in student debt forgiveness.”

CNBC Make It, 22 Jan 2021.

PYMNTS. “ECONOMYSurvey: 56 Pct Of Undergraduates Can’t Afford College Tuition.”

PYMNTS, 4 June 2020, https://www.pymnts.com/economy/2020/survey-half-of-

undergraduates-cant-afford-college/.

UOPeople Team. “5 Reasons Why College Should Be Free: The Case for Debt-Free Education.”

University of The People, https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/5-reasons-why-college-should-

be-free/.