The current President of the United
States, Barack Obama, has brought up a new proposition for the people of the
United States; he has declared that he would like to make community college
free. “As the president’s “America’s College Promise Act” — which would
increase federal funding to cover the bulk of the average community college
tuition — sits in Congress, many states are already working on their own free
college programs”, (Dickler, 1). How would that even be a possibility? Nothing
in this world is free. Even if you go shopping and a sign says “free this” or
“free that”, there is always some kind of stipulation that entails whether it
be getting the free item means that you actually have to buy something or that
you have to enter some kind of sweepstakes. Free college actually means free
college for you. Someone has to pay for the facilities, professors, and staff.
Although free college sounds like the best thing in the world its not as easy
of a solution as it sounds. There are many solutions that have to be created
and combined in order to give the entire country a chance at a free college
education.
The people who are going to have to
pay for the free college are taxpayers. They are going to be the ones who will
have to pay because the money has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is
the working class. Raising the taxes would mean that where would more income so
that the government could afford to pay the community colleges so that they can
stay open. Although taxes may rise, many parents would be relieved to know that
their child will have an opportunity in higher education. As I wrote in my previous
blog post, a college education is an invaluable gift to give.
Of course, with free college there
also come problems. Many students may take advantage of free college without
actually intending to graduate. It’s important that community colleges keep
their standards high when it comes to who can receive a free college education.
A student should have to keep a specific GPA in order to continue their
education at a community college. There are many students here at GCC who
attend classes because they don’t have anything else to or they feel like they
should be here and they end up not putting in any effort towards their classes.
Those students may be here on financial aid, which they are squandering away.
Its important that the educational institution makes sure that their students
are there for a reason and have goals they would like to achieve regarding
their education.
Another way that we can create a
solution for a free college education is that community colleges offer
scholarships for students who excel in the classroom. Colleges can offer
scholarships to those who don’t qualify for financial aid so that they are
still able to afford college. They may be able to require a certain GPA or write
an essay as to why they should receive a scholarship. Many schools already
offer scholarships but they should definitely make it so that it’s available
only to those who don’t qualify for financial aid.
There won’t always be a simple
solution to issues like free college. It takes a lot of brains and willpower to
implement something like this. The government can make this possible and if
maybe 100% free college isn’t the solution than maybe we can work to lower
tuition rates. Making college affordable is the best decision that our country
can make. Educated individuals make for outstanding, taxpaying, law-abiding
citizens.
Works Cited
Dickler, Jessica.
"Free College Programs Could Be around the Corner." USA TODAY
College. 2016. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
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