Running head: Tuition Free College

Tuition Free College

University of Texas at El Paso
Mauricio S. Polanco

Tuition Free College

Abstract
This following paper discusses tuition free college with four different research questions
to get straight to the issues that are plaguing the United States regarding this issue. The paper
includes other societies that have socialistic tendencies such as European countries and discusses
if their decisions are positive or negative in nature. As well the paper examines the United States
and its leaders along with a couple of experts. By the end of this paper the reader will have a
thorough understanding of this issue with the four unbiased questions that are being presented.
Keywords: Tuition free college, socialist, capitalism, leaders.

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Research Questions

1. What are the leaders of the United States doing about implementing a plan about Free
College for citizens of the United States?

2. Who are the people that are for tuition free college, who are the ones that are against it,
why or why not?

3. What are the controversies surrounding tuition free college?

4. How would the nation be affected by executing this type of plan?

Tuition Free College

In the United States of America there is more people currently incarcerated than in higher
institutions of learning at the present moment. The United States has the highest incarceration
rate among the first world countries, which begs the question why and how this is possible if the
United States is the land of opportunity and the home of the American dream. Perhaps the people
that are incarcerated decided have a life a crime rather than an education because they could not
afford and education. In this following paper, the things that will be discussed is the advantages
and disadvantages of a tuition free college if this type of plan is implemented.

(No author, 2015)

1. What are the leaders of the United States doing about implementing a plan about Free
College for citizens of the United States?
The United States is one of the few first world countries that does not provide free college, let
alone tuition free college to its own citizens. In recent years, there has been debates about
making colleges tuition free among leaders, such as Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary
Clinton. However, there are colleges of different statuses in the United States that have applied
tuition free colleges to some extent that are Alice Lloyd College, Antioch College, Barclay
College, and Berea College. These colleges have best reputation at least for academics as the best
in the nation.
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The President of the United States, Barack Obama announced recently in January 2015
that he plans to provide at least two years of free college tuition for community colleges around
the nation. The plan is called the American College Promise (Dash, 2015). His plan does
include the federal government to assist state and local governments in order to help nine million
students a year, approximately. However, in order for someone to be included in Obamas plan,
the citizens have to meet certain requirements such as, Must be enrolled at least half-time, Must
maintain a 2.5 GPA (Grade Point Average), Must make steady progress towards completion, and
Cannot have a AGI (Adjusted Gross Income)above two hundred thousand dollars (Dash, 2015).
When President Obama announced his plan in January 2015, he was met an enormous amount of
opposition from members of his own party and the Republican Party. Obamas plan has been
seen as incomplete, ill-targeted and dead-on-arrival in the Republican-controlled Congress.
(Dash, 2015). To the defense of the Republicans, President Obama has not mentioned how he
would accomplish his plan or to leave this as his legacy as other presidents have before in the
past. Bernie Sanderss plan is to make all colleges tuition free in his run for presidency at the
moment, but he has not actually explained his plan in order to accomplish this. Sanders has
explained that he would raise taxes for all but, he would raise the taxes even more for the elite of
the United States that are simply called the one percent. The elite in America pay so little in taxes
compared to the rest of her citizens that Warren Buffet stated that he still pays less in taxes than
his secretary. Warren Buffet is worth approximately 66.7 million dollars in 2015, yet he says he
pays less in taxes than his secretary, clearly there is something wrong that Sanders wants to fix.
Hillary Clinton suggest that the United States needs to help college students further, that way
when they graduate they wont have to pay a mountain of debt. Clinton has not stated either how
this will be accomplished. Both Clinton and Sanders are currently the Democratic candidates

Tuition Free College

running for presidency in the 2016 election. For now the public knows that Clinton and Sanders
both plan to raise taxes in order to make colleges tuition free, but their plan is extremely vague
and obscure to say the least. There is increasing talks of tuition free college in Congress thanks to
the current front runners supporting to make it possible in the future.
While the leaders of the United States decide that this is the right course of action for its
future, they are losing young and bright minds to other countries with more opportunities such as
Germany. Making the United States fall behind with every moment they hesitate in order to
figure out what they are going to do. There is close to five thousand American students in
Germany due to the fact that Germany has decided to waive their tuition fees to their citizens and
international students. At the same time, the total student debt in the US has reached $1.3
trillion (850 billion) (Strasser, 2015).
2. Who are the people that are for tuition free college, who are the ones that are against it,
why or why not?
The growing opposition in the public grows as each day passes. In the United States when
the public speaks, every politicians listens tremendously carefully. Citizens are saying that the
country should have little federal government involvement in the matter of State Rights
(Bidwell, 2015). Politicians follow suit as shown by this quote.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Senate
education committee, said the "right way" to expand Tennessee's model for free
community college is to leave it to the states, and that the federal government
should instead work to simplify the application process for federal financial aid
and increase support for Pell grants by making them available year-round.

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The opposition to tuition free college that does raise legitimate concerns whether they
should or even why support free college. As everyone knows there is two sides to every story.
Some Americans fear that the United States government already intervenes too much in the
affairs of states and of its citizens lives. Those Americans state that the United States is a
capitalism economy not a socialist economy in nature.
Politicians are listening to their constituents saying that some states are unable to bear the
financial burden of some programs, let alone a tuition free college program. "Most states,
including Alabama, are already stretched far too thin, and it would be unlikely they could bear
the financial burden," (Bidwell, 2015). Even some associations for higher learning are stating
that making institutions of higher learning free, will make it harder for colleges to observe and
teach each individual student and now just making them a check in a box. They argue the basis
of quality over quantity. However, there is truth to their arguments that raises concerns for
leaders in the future of how this plan should be regulated and enforced. Possibly even if tuition
free colleges be enacted in the first place. Furthermore, most people that are against tuition free
college are citizens that come from an older generation that have a mentality that people should
pull themselves up from their own boot straps, rather than everyone help that certain individual.
There is nothing wrong with this mentality, this has been a part from American culture and
competition in everyday life creating incentives and better business for the United States. Also,
the average American does not want an increase in taxes when taxes are already high enough and
people find it difficult to pay their bills and feed their families.
However, not all of the public have opposition to this particular policy, the minority of
the public support this type of plan. The people that support college free education are normally
teenagers and young adults that are going to go and attend college or are in college at the

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moment, which is an enormous benefit for them to make colleges free. While the younger
generation will benefit in the future with tuition free college, they will also have to support the
plan as they get older and start contributing to the younger generation. Other individuals that
support tuition free college are intellectuals that see the benefits in having a more educated
population that will be able to contribute to society to a broader extent. Even Thomas Jefferson
thought that an educated public was the best option and future for the United States.
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States: It is safer to have the
whole people respectably enlightened than a few in a high state of science and the
many in ignorance. Jefferson felt that a real democracy requires an educated
populace, who can better participate in the issues of the day (Collegerank, 2015).
The individuals that support this type bill look to other first world countries in Europe as
an example that have higher education free such as, France, Germany, Norway, Greece, and
Brazil. However, while they do have education free or almost completely free, they do not have
the same factors as the United States. The United States is its own country where most of the
countries named above would be able to fit easily into the United States. Simply put, the
countries that offer free education are a fraction of the size of the U.S. which makes their issues
easier to handle than in a larger and a more diverse country.
Whether this plan is feasible depends on the public and the leaders of the United States.
The fact remains that there are families that cannot pay for the rising education in the country for
their children. Those children have to make the tough decisions of trying to get scholarships,
grants, financial aid, student loans, or even join the military of the United States in order to
attend and afford college.

Tuition Free College

This paper interviewed a man that will remain anonymous at the persons discretion. This
man will be named Omar to make the reading easier to process. Omar was born and raised in
Chicago, Illinois to an extremely poor family, he is the youngest of five siblings. Omar grew up
in an area that has reputation for violence and poverty, despite the odds he did incredibly well in
his years of education. Omar was fortunate to graduate from high school and attend college, he
was able to get financial aid, but it did not cover the full cost of his university. Although, Omar
did exceptionally well in high school and received a couple scholarships, it was still not enough
to cover all of the cost of attending an institute of higher education. Omar was forced to get
student loans that added to his already stressful life of education. Omar was told that the interest
rate for his loan would be about three to four percent and that after he graduates he will receive a
six to twelve month grace period for him to pay off his loan. Omar now has a family and all of
his loans are paid off, however he stated that if he had access to free education just like he did in
from kindergarten to his senior year in high school, his life would have been drastically easier,
rather than have to worry about a huge debt before he started working and how his career would
be able to pay for it. Omar stated that he struggled to pay for four years of college and he ended
up paying six to eight years for an education instead of the four he attended (M. Polanco,
personal communication, Oct 30, 2015).
3. What are the controversies surrounding tuition free college?
While some states in the United States have made leaps forward to make colleges tuition free,
they have been met with certain controversies that cannot be forgotten to be addressed.
"Consider California community colleges, with the lowest tuition in the nation and
waivers for low-income students, Cochrane wrote. "The result? Federal student aid

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application rates, even among low-income students, have been notoriously low, and parttime enrollment rates sky-high. 'Free tuition' is not a panacea." (Bidwell, 2015).
From the quote the audience can gather that the residents in California are not using the
resources that are available to them, so then why should the citizens of this country be for a type
of plan that will not even be used by the mass public. Others can read this quote as, it is possible
that the residents of California have no knowledge of this program and that is why people need
to advocate for tuition free colleges across the nation. Nevertheless, the fact is that Californians
are not taking advantage of the program.
The controversies of this particular issue are vast and rightfully so for both sides. For the
most part of the citizens of the United States say, people reap what they sow, quoting religious
texts since America is for the most part a religious country. On the other hand people also say
that they should help others in order from to be religiously good as in help thy neighbor. Other
controversies are if the United States raises taxes where will the citizens draw the line on how
high taxes will be raised. Also the people of the states clearly state that this country is capitalistic
in nature and should never be socialistic or even have any socialism in place. However the other
side can counter by showing history and facts, during the Great Depression President Roosevelt
introduce socialistic programs to help its citizens from starving and creating jobs in order for the
people not to revolt. Even so tuition free college is not a life or death situation to that extent and
should not be treated as such. The people that are for tuition free college state that the
government should limit how much it spends on the military and downsize it in order for the
possibility of kids to go to college rather than war. However, the other side might say that if the
U.S. does reduce military spending that they are clearly showing the world that they are weaker
as a country. Either way people draw hard lines that will most likely never be crossed. Every

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argument that is made for or against tuition free college can be countered with an equally good
argument in a debate that is civilized nature.

4. How would the nation be affected by executing this type of plan?

No one knows how tuition free college would affect the country or economy of the United
States. Some experts say that by making the decision to execute this plan will cost America
approximately sixty billion dollars but in the long run it would be a wise investment. Other
experts say that with the economy being unstable at the moment, with the collapse of Greece,
and the fluctuation of Chinas market and the United States barely pulling out of a recession after
years of being in a recessive state, the plan is not timed properly. However, the past shows that
the people of a nation that has an educated populace would be and is better for the economy but,
perhaps the timing is off and timing is everything in life.
Nevertheless, the United States can take their lessons from the expanse of other nations
demise or their prosperity with tuition free college. However, it is important to take lessons from
others, it is important to note that the United States is completely different than other countries in
the sense of size, customs, its citizens and education.
Scotland enacted a law supporting tuition free college in Beginning in 2001, tuition fees
were abolished, and college graduates had to pay 2,000, around $3,000, to the Scottish
government the year they graduated if they were earning at least 10,000, or $15,000, per year
(Nelson 2015). However, Scotland decided to get rid of paying back the government in 2008,
which led to college to be completely free and students decided to start studying degrees that
lacked a good salary since they didnt have to pay anything back to anyone anymore. Resulting

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in a more slowed economy in Scotland, researchers are still deciding if Scotlands decision is a
benefit or more hurtful in nature.
No matter what the outcome of the decision that the leaders of the United States make
concerning tuition free colleges is, the nation will be affected. Now, at the present moment the
leaders or the nations experts do not know the positive or negative effects that their decision will
hold. However, there will be a time where in the future historians will be able to tell if the nation
should have turned to tuition free college to advance the nation into a more intellectual playing
field or to a more stable economy.
Perhaps at the end of this paper the audience can conclude or at least think of other situations
that colleges should not be entirely free but, should be at least affordable without people walking
down an auditorium with a mountain of debt along with a piece of paper after four or five long
years of hard work. The decision is a truly difficult one to make in the future of elections that are
coming up. However, education has always been seen as power that contain knowledge. There is
a possibility that with cheaper means of education, the population in prisons might decrease.
Children and teenagers might end up seeing education and hard work to a road of success if they
know for a fact that they could afford the education.
Only one thing is sure and that is time will tell with our current leaders exiting their office
and new leaders will come in power to affect change either positive or negative.

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REFRENCES
Bidwell, A. (2015). 'Free Tuition' Plans Don't Solve the College Cost Problem U. S. News.
Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/06/free-tuition-plansdont-solve-the-college-cost-problem
Bidwell, A. (2015). Critics Pan Obama's Community College Plan. U. S. News. Retrieved from:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/01/09/critics-pan-obamas-communitycollege-plan
Collegerank (2015). Retrieved from: http://www.collegerank.net/tuition-free-college/
Dash, S (2015). A Guide to Obama's Free Community College Plan. Huffington Post. Retrieved
from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-dash/a-guide-to-obamas-freeco_b_6801726.html
Jackson, A. (2015) 'Free' college in Europe isn't really free. Business Insider. Retrieved from:
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-do-european-countries-afford-free-college-2015-6
Nelson, L. (2015) What Scotland learned from making college tuition free. Vox. Retrieved from:
http://www.vox.com/2015/10/22/9592460/college-tuition-free-scotland
Ostendorf, C (2015). The problems Obamas free community college plan wont fix. Retrieved
from: http://theweek.com/articles/534050/problems-obamas-free-community-collegeplan-wont-fix
Polanco, M (Oct 30, 2015) Personal Communication.
Sheehy, K. (2015). Obamas Free Community College Plan: What Students Need to Know. Parttime and nontraditional students would benefit from the plan, if it becomes a reality. USA
Today. Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/education/community-

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colleges/articles/2015/01/16/obamas-free-community-college-plan-what-students-needto-know
Strasser, F (2015). How US students get a university degree for free in Germany. BBC News.
Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678
Untitled Illustration (Nov 1, 2015) Retrieved from:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxHjCxXCMAEBl18.jpg
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