Opinion — All Students Should Be Allowed to Attend Community College for Free
Lately, there has been a lot of debate over whether community college should be free to all students, or whether tuition should still be required. Opponents and detractors of this proposal have spared in op-eds, and the issue has been picked up by prominent politicians, with Joe Biden promising to enact 2 free years of community college in his election in 2020, although action has stalled. However, I believe that the answer is clear: community college tuition should be free for all students. The benefits of free community college far outweigh the costs, and these benefits predominantly help those who need it most, and not those at the top.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, when a student attends community college, they earn an average of $8,000 extra per year than students who only receive a high school diploma. This money quickly adds up. Over a 40-year career, a student who went to community college will earn an extra $320,000 from a student who does not attend college at all. This doesn’t even include students who use community college as a launching pad for further education, which many do. This extra money earned is then funneled into the larger economy, where it benefits all of us. In the end, the benefits to the economy heavily outweigh the meager cost to the government for providing community college tuition, which averages $15,000 over two years.
Furthermore, these benefits are mostly realized by the students who need them. In our current system, kids whose families have higher incomes can pay for community college or four-year college tuition. This allows these students to achieve the additional income and the benefits associated with it. However, students who cannot afford college admission are left in the dust. Our current system only makes wealth inequality, which is already a massive problem in our society, even worse. On the other hand, making community college free for everyone will allow every student a chance to succeed, especially those who can not currently afford the high upfront costs associated with college education. Therefore, having free community college can be a tool to solve wealth inequality.
Opponents of free community college and other methods of helping students pay off college debt argue that making college free is unfair to those who don’t have a college degree or worked hard to pay for college. However, this argument is misleading for several reasons. First, adding money to our economy has benefits for everyone, and also increases the government’s tax revenue, enabling it to spend more money into the economy. Additionally, anyone can get a degree at a community college. Therefore, making community college free benefits anyone who wants it, not just a select few. Enabling other people to become successful is only a selfish argument, and is not a legitimate reason to oppose free community college.
Free education for K-12 has been remarkably successful in helping everyone learn what they need to be successful. However, twelfth grade is an arbitrary cutoff date, and high school does not fully prepare students for a specific career. We don’t need to have an arbitrary cutoff date. Instead, we can make community college free for everyone. If we do this, we can all reap the benefits. For these reasons, it is the duty of our government to provide free community college to every person who wishes to attend. There is no reason for our society to forego an easy and obvious opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people. There is no reason we should continue to exacerbate wealth inequality. If this is true, then there is also no reason to oppose making community college tuition-free for all students.
Sources:
Stobierski, T. (2020, June 2). Average Salary by Education Level: Value of a College Degree. Northeastern University. https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/average-salary-by-education-level/
Data on Community College Grads Who Earn Graduate Degrees | Inside Higher Ed. (n.d.). Www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/11/02/data-community-college-grads-who-earn-graduate-degrees
Average Community College Tuition Cost (2018–19). (2019, April 29). Communitycollegereview.com. https://www.communitycollegereview.com/avg-tuition-stats/national-data
Mandel, B. (2022, June 14). Student loans forgiveness a slap in the face to millions. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/student-loans-forgiveness-slap-face-millions
