Argumentative Essay: College Should Be Free

Are you thinking about going to college? Well, there are some things to know about it first, including tuition cost.

In the United States, college is not cheap. The average tuition can cost anywhere from $10,000-70,000, and that usually doesn’t include the cost of necessities like food. This causes a lot of people to either not go to college at all, or they aren’t able to finish it. Besides, the problem isn’t getting any better. Student debt has increased, student enrollment has dropped, and the unemployment rate in the U.S during 2020 was at 8.3%. All of these issues could be solved with this solution. College in the United States should be free because it would decrease student debt, give everyone an equal opportunity to attend, and lower unemployment rates. 

Free college tuition would solve the increasing problem of student debt. According to procon.org, “If tuition is free, students will take on significantly fewer student loans. Student loan debt in the United States exceeds 1.5 trillion. 44.2 Americans have student loan debt, and 10.7% of those borrowers are in default. The average 2016 graduate owed $37, 172 in college loans.”(“Free College Top 3 Pros and Cons” para. 4). There are too many people in the United States still suffering the effects of college debt. Most people that go to college would have been better off not attending, which isn’t the way it should be. 

In addition to decreasing student debt, free college would give everyone an opportunity to attend. According to Driscoll, “A college degree helps raise the standard of living by preparing students for jobs that pay better salaries, which in turn provides more tax revenue and personal fulfillment”(Driscoll para. 4). Going to college can get you better jobs that pay more, and in turn, will be beneficial in the long run.

Furthermore, college would help to lower unemployment rates exponentially. According to the text, “College graduates earn $570,000 more than a high school graduate over a lifetime, on average, and they have lower unemployment rates.”(“Top 3 Pros and cons” para. 12). This quote explains that college graduates have a high advantage in the workforce, and have much lower unemployment rates. Also, going to college makes employers more inclined to hire you, and shows them that you have put in extra time to your education. This makes you more valuable to them. 

Even though free college would solve these problems, like any argument, there are people who disagree. Some people believe that college will still be very expensive, even if you take away the tuition cost. According to this article, “College costs have increased for a number of reasons unrelated to tuition, including fancy dorms, amentities like lazy rivers and climbing walls, student services(such as healthcare), athletics, increases in administrative personnel, and cuts in state funding.”(“Top 3 Pros and Cons'' para. 24). These people say that college tuition is not the only cost that students have to pay, and that making that free would still not solve the problem. However, even if student debt is not completely eliminated, it would still help the issue. It would be better for a college student to be $5,000 in debt compared to $30,000 in debt. 

In the United States, people should not have to save money for their entire lives to go to college, and probably still be in debt once they graduate. We should make college free for all people, and college should be praised. It should be a privilege, not a drawback in the financial part of life.