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John Eakin
Mrs. Cramer
College Comp. 1
April 21, 2017
The World of College Tuition
Free college tuition has been talk in the United States for years. Senator Bernie Sanders

once mentioned during his time as a Presidential Candidate that free college tuition could

happen, but it most certainly cannot happen. Most students love the idea of free tuition, but only

a few realize what would realistically happen. Free tuition would be too expensive to happen and

would hurt a large amount of students with their education, along with the people that work for

the school. People think race and opportunity has something to do with tuition, but people live in

America and they all get the same opportunity. Opportunity is only as good as the students that

want to work hard and push themselves to do better. College tuition should not be free due to

increase in taxes as well as the professors and the college students attend not getting income.

For starters, there would be a rise in taxes that would profoundly hurt this country.

"Senator Sanders proposed to use a combination of federal and states funds to make public

colleges tuition free"(Josephson 3). The money that would be used to pay off free college would

increase the taxes by 37%(Marcus 4).1Families who are struggling with income, that can barely

afford to send their kids to college, would most likely become poor and have to fight to put food

on the table for their family much less send their kids to college.2 "Obama has struggled to gain

support in Congress for his $60 billion tuition-free proposal for community colleges" (Douglas).

1 Logos-Persuade using reason, stating taxes would increase 37%.

2Pathos- Appealing to emotion saying that families could become poor.

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This is a good thing, because that is too expensive to pay and hurts the school with no incoming

tuition. With taxes increasing it would hurt the American people hurendusly. Those who have

their own business would get hit hard from the rise in taxes. The rise in taxes would affect the

competition and inevitably destroy small businesses. Along with businesses, those who have

retired and saved money from their passed working would also be affected by the tax increase

from free college tuition. With that, the tax increase that would occur would hurt the American

population from making low income families become poor to hurting small businesses compete

against other businesses.

For example, an argument can be made that free college would help repair historic

inequities. Americans are in a world full of discrimination and poverty, but people live in

America. Americans are all equal and have the same opportunities. It is up the to the student,

whether they are African American or white, to push themselves to make better of themselves.

65.9% of students go to college while the other 34.1% do not take the extra step, both white and

black students. That 34.1% of students can hold the cure for cancer, but they have to want to see

what they are capable of and that is where college comes in. If it is mentioned that an African

American family could not afford to send their kids to college, there is also a white family in

America that cannot afford to do the same, but that is why they have scholarships and grants.

Competitive athletes get scholarships and want to play at the next level, which is collegial.3

Along with athletes, highly educated students get scholarships and that is why students need to

work hard in high school whether it is sports or education.4

3 Epitheton-Adjective used to characterize a person, thing, or something. Using competitive

to characterize athlete.

4 Epitheton-Adjective characterizing a person, thing, or something; educated characterizes

students.
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Nevertheless, a rebuttal can be made that a more educated population would have

economic and social benefits for the country. If more students were living up to their potential

and going to college the United States could be made even greater. The world that we live in now

is lazy; we need to work harder and take the extra step before we get economic and social

benefits. Kids grow up surrounded by technology and that is what they rely on now. They need to

grow up and go to college and get a job as well as be happy for the rest of their lives. Everything

with money and going to college, all comes back to what you do in high school and college

choice. If you push yourself in high school you will not have to worry about money. If you select

a reasonable college with a good tuition you will also not have to worry too much about tuition.

Students need to do what is best for them and what will make them happy, but they need to work

a little harder to be successful in achieving what they want. To conclude, the students of United

States need to push themselves and strive to get into college before they can make the economic

and social benefit for the country.

Lastly, the school itself and the professors that work there will be lose an important

source of income. "Universities contend that they are blocked from an important source of

revenue"(Josephson). With student's tuition not coming in, how will the school afford to get new

supplies and technology for their students to use? The money that is brought in is to help the

students that are attending the college. Bringing instruction to students, student services, and

academic support. If it came down to it and there was no tuition, students would have to strictly

rely on their families income or however they are obtaining their money. "Many states slashed

their higher education budget. Some critics question how the money would be raised to pay for

free college"(Josephson 2). With this being said, cutting the higher education budget will affect
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the "gifted" students and hinder their learning. Along with the "gifted", other students who want

to push themselves with their education will also be affected by the cut in budget. Even with the

school not getting money; the professor's who teach the students will also get hurt with the

budget cut if the school is not getting money. If professors got a budget cut they will want to

work for another school. As a result, they can get paid higher if any. Overall, the school will hurt

from not getting tuition. Whether it is hurting the students with their education or the teachers

that are trying to help the students for the rest of their lives.

In conclusion, college tuition should not be free due to the rise in taxes that would occur

as well as the professors and school not getting revenue. The tax increase would hurt the

American population financially. Making families have to scrap money to get by or inevitably go

poor. Along with the tax increase, the school or professors that work there would take a budget

cut. Not having that source of revenue would affect the school's student instruction, student

services, and academic support. In the long run, the loss of student support from the school

would vastly hurt the students attending the college in their education. The professors that work

their would either get laid off or take a big budget cut. With that being said, professors will want

to look somewhere else to work to make more money. The professors that get laid off will have

to find another college to work for. One that would hopefully did not get a severe budget cut due

to the free college tuition. This all is only a few of the many reasons why college tuition should

not be free.
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Work Cited

Douglas-Gabriel, Danielle. "White House launches $100M competition to expand tuition-

free community college." Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2016. World History in Context,
link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A450532843/WHIC?u=pl1949&xid=5354bb63. Accessed 16 Mar.
2017.

Josephson, Aelia. "The Pros and Cons of Free College." (2016): 1-4. Web.

Marcus, Jon. "How Free College Tuition in One Country Exposes Unexpected Pros and
Cons." (2016): 1-13. Web.