College Education Should Not Be Free: Choice Would Be Limited

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College Education Should Not Be Free
The debate about college education has been around for quite some time. Researchers, policy makers and educational think tanks have inarguably presented serious arguments for and against the freeness of college education. A majority of those in favor of this argue that the introduction of free college education will help achieve equity in the educational system as those hardworking students from poor backgrounds will join universities and colleges in pursuit of their dreams. The supporters of this argument argue that there are several people who should have joined college education but due to lack of finances their dreams were shut down (Turner 14). However, in my view, college education should not be made free. Firstly, already there are several government programs for financing college education. Free college education will result to increased financial burden on the government which will translate to increased taxes on the citizens. The introduction of free college education will result to increased government control on the courses that students should undertake and also college and university choices for bright students could be limited. This initiative will disadvantage those who have already gone through the system and have taken loans and used their finances to finance their education programs. Students will have no financial incentive attached to their academic performance and will not be motivated to work hard as they have nothing to lose even if they fail. Lastly, it will result to increased college enrolment even for those talented individuals in the name of benefiting from free college education. Accordingly, this paper argues that college education should not be made free.
There already plenty of help available
Snyder and Dilo argue that tuition fees alone can be very expensive, additional costs being exclusive. There are already several federal programs to help those students coming from poor backgrounds to realize their higher education dreams. Community colleges grant degree studies for a fraction of the cost in comparison to certain institutions. Also, there are many merit-based and other forms of scholarships that offer chances for students with the right qualifications. The large scholarship award is availed to those with the highest qualifications and also those that are well talented or possess other vital abilities. Also, financial aid forms, part-time job, and assistantships programs are also crucial in supplementing the fee programs. Colleges and universities in this regard offer assistantship programs as a mechanism of acquiring employees, in return offer significant financial help and tuition waiver. Therefore, college education should not be free as some students will leave out such assistantships offered by college and this will not only make them idle while in college but also will encourage laziness in a fast growing world of globalizationCITATION Sny12 \p 6 \l 1033 (Snyder and Dillo 6)
Choice would be limited
Scholars argue that making public higher education free would limit the choices for students preferred universities or colleges. Many people believe that the reward of working hard and making more money is the best option for the young generations. In this regard, when students are selecting the colleges and universities that they should join, their academic efforts will be the most appropriate tool in the selection process in a competitive approach. Furthermore, making all college education free would eliminate the incentives to work hard as the students have no financial incentive attached to their studies, they will not care as they have nothing to lose. Therefore, this would not only affect the students applying for colleges and university placements but also for those adults who work hard towards funding their familiesCITATION Bau10 \p 746 \l 1033 (Baun and Patricia 746).
More government control
The rate at which the government has control in all areas of life is usually a contentious issue. For instance, the Republicans do not subscribe to the style of politics best called “big government”. Many Individuals believe that if higher learning institutions are well funded by federal taxes, the government would then acquire profound control over the services that universities and colleges provide. This is because of the fact that absolute federal control has done so little to improve things as far as the education system is concerned. Such controls over college institution system would mostly lead to a much more unresponsive, rigid and bureaucratic system for students and professors. In the current situation where the students and their families are paying for their tuition, the hand of the government is less reliable. Programs can in this regard be tailored to individual students, classes, counties and state. This will make the education experience more fulfilling to particular student needs (Card and Thomas 747).
Trickle-down effect of taxation
Despite the fact that the initial concept of free college is an appealing idea, the truth behind this matter is that education needs to be paid for. Essentially this would mean that taxpayers could be funding the system. It could result to increased personal taxation rates to cater for siz...