Across the globe, college education is envied more than any other level of education. A college education is a formal education with higher learning studies that enable students to attend complete programs for professional or graduate degrees (Chingos 1). For the past two decades, the popularity of college education has increased in society because of its benefits in the job market. For instance, earning a degree is worthwhile because a job seeker qualifies for more professional benefits, including a better salary, compensation, and even allowances than high school graduates. However, these benefits come at a considerable cost, requiring sacrifice, discipline, dedication, and social stability. This is why it is essential to revisit college education to ensure that not only a select group of people enjoy the privileges of higher education but everyone across all socioeconomic levels. A college education is an essential life-changing journey in a student’s life, and it should be made accessible to promote increased access to education and decrease the ever-growing student debt crisis in the country.
Primarily, providing free education in society is a fundamental step that promotes increased access to education for learners. Ideally, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all people have the right to education. Therefore, this is not a question of whether education should be denied to a particular group of people and given to others because providing education implies exercising a fundamental human right. In the context of finances, this education should be freely given to all learners to provide them with increased opportunities for higher learning. For instance, poor students have increased difficulty furthering their education towards advanced higher levels due to high tuition fees (Chingos 1). Surprisingly, about 68% of college enrollees completed their college degree program. This is scary, given that college dropouts deeply desire to learn but cannot afford college fees. Providing free education solves this problem for all students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, giving them access to opportunities and careers and allowing them to acquire the necessary skills for survival. Moreover, this would promote a knowledge-based society that highly values lifelong learning and education.
Secondly, free education should be given to all learners to address the problem of the rising student debt crisis. In the Biden administration, many Americans owe more loans than cars and credit cards. What seems more shocking is that this debt continues to rise significantly, contributing to endless unprecedented crises, nearing nearly $2 trillion (Chingos 2). Therefore, the only viable, feasible, and long-term solution to this crisis is reforming the education sector and providing free education. Education should be given at the public level to give many Americans opportunities to attend institutions of higher learning. Fortunately, the good thing is that this plan is ongoing in places such as New York and New Mexico, and learners are allowed to enroll in opportunities. In this regard, the surveys indicate that providing tuition-free services would significantly reduce debt by 15% (Chingos 2). The only challenge to implementing this change is that critics strongly oppose such a proposal before it even makes it to Congress, and when it does, it fails to garner enough votes. When free education is implemented, the urge for students to borrow will immediately stop, thus eliminating the debt burden on graduates. Moreover, such an important step would significantly impact the economic sector by producing an educated workforce to solve society’s problems.
Contrastingly, college education should not be made accessible because education is not something for everybody; it is for the ones who can afford it and help make the world a better place. Many proponents of free college education argue that providing free education is the only means of increasing accessibility, but this is not entirely the case because of the existing unemployed college graduates. Statistics indicate that about 4.8% of students who graduated from college do not have jobs (Chingos 3). This implies that the problem is more than providing free education; it is about the government’s failed role in creating jobs for college graduates. Secondly, the issue of college debts would not be permanently solved by developing free college education because even the government cannot do away with its foreign debt. Forgiving student loans would place a significant tax burden on citizens, which would strain them economically, especially low-income earners (Chingos 2). Therefore, it is in the best interest of college education to remain as it is and to have an economically sustainable society. A free college education would only worsen the situation and put the government under pressure to borrow from other departments, such as healthcare.
In conclusion, the government must provide free education to learners, promote increased access to education, and decrease the ever-growing student debt crisis in the country. At its core, free education is defined by its openness and accessibility to all people across different age groups, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, identities, cultures, and ethnicities. The country will thrive because of an educated workforce when free college education is provided. This will promote equal opportunities for all people and workforce skills for competing in the global economy.
Works Cited
Chingos, Matthew M. Who Would Benefit Most from Free College? 2016. Google Scholar, https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/97760/FreeCollegeBenefits.pdf?sequence=1.
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