Humoud Aladawni
ENG-200
Free education for all
In today’s America, college education has increasingly expensive despite many attempts
to lower that cost. Our founding father Abraham Lincoln, signed into law the Land Grant
College Act, laying the groundwork for the education system that is accessible and affordable to
all Americans. However, the current cost of college education has been on a rise for the last 45
years. Abraham Lincoln’s enactment notwithstanding, the education system is becoming more
complex for student’s from low income backgrounds to face an uphill task in raising adequate
funds for college fee. In her article, Keith Ellison-US rep. for Minnesota fifth congressional
District- highlights that the cost of college education has rose 1,200% more since 1978. At the
same time, student debt from educational grants is the single biggest form of debt owed by
Americans. These hefty debts compounded with hiked tuition fees leaves student’s starting off
their life already stuck in debts. Hundred and fifty years are gone since Abraham made the
pledge. It is the right time to make education free for all Americans.
I chose to write on this as it has direct impact to my college education. Just before
college, I was enthusiastic of taking on my degree program and living my college life.
Unfortunately private education was very expensive and I had no scholarship to sign up for.
Also, I did not meet the requirement to complete my education in the public University. I found
no other options beside going towards another career path that does not require a college degree.
I was offered some help from one of my family member, it was a generous offer that I couldn’t
refuse, but I had to postpone the idea until I receive proper work experience. I managed to make
a career for myself else where. After few years I am back at a University and it is something I am
very proud of.
Why I care about the subject? It is because I believe that free education is something that
needs to be a right for every individual. I believe it is for the better of the society, the more
educated people the more we find solutions to the problems and issues facing the society.
Nevertheless, I believe for the much less fortunate students, the effects of the loans are much
more detrimental. I pitch in my support for a free education initiative that would serve students
with much flexible loan programs, and the tuition fee much adjusted to meet the concept of
affordability. I believe that this initiative would one day be actualized and students would have
an easy times learning with no serious financial worries.
Subsidized education would encourage quick career progress and business idea as
students won't struggle with debts after schools. There clear indication that debt burden young
labor force is responsible for the slow progress on the economy. The idea of having subsidized
education isn’t just made to make education in every state accessible, rather serves a strong pillar
to a nation that invests in its own young generation. When job prospects walk around with debts
before the get their first cheque, it only means that they would spend money that would have
been invested in business in paying loans. Debt burden individuals are less motivated to find
work, as they face the downside of having to part with huge portions of their hard-earned wages
in serving the loans.
Students have found it harder, especially to the low-income students of color, to buy
mortgage, start a family, and invest in business. To alleviate this gruesome situation, there is a
need for the federal government to partner with their state government counterparts and establish
policy that helps bring down the cost of education to all Americans. This strategy could include
among others; increase funding to schools that scrap or lower their tuition fee; direct federal
investment to lower cost of education. In exchange to this strategy, the states would resolve
towards making re-investments back into the higher education. All the public college institutions
that would benefit from the program would be expected to make those adjustments by scraping
on lowering tuition fee to manageable amounts.
I also have a strong believe that once the tuition fee is lowered to acceptable range,
American colleges and universities would experience a boom in admissions, and that alone
justifies the need to make adjustments onto the cost of education. It would have been a good
strategy if the state governments would work on programs aimed at giving education subsidies to
those from low-income backgrounds. In exchange, the student’s would ledge to make
investments and work within the state as a way of giving back to the program. This way, those
who have benefited from the programs would be at ease churning in donations to a designated
state kitty for funding higher education.
As good as the program to alleviate students of the burden surrounding college education
there lacks no stabling blocks and critics of such a move. For many years, the Republican side of
politics has been advancing rhetoric’s that aim at cutting government funding on welfare
programs. The Donald Trump administration believes that this strategy would invite foreigners
to take advantage of the program to their own benefits. President Trump and other Republicans
have not gelled well with the issue of illegal-immigration, which they say is mostly facilitated by
the free services financed by citizens through taxes. Over the course of his successful 2016
campaigns, Mr. Trump promises to scrap the DACA program which allows foreign students to
be able to buy more time to study and land job under work permits.
The main argument driven by those conservatives is that the federal government will be
account for unnecessary expenditure in promoting free education for all. However, this argument
is weak and lacks any sensible, if not logical, reasoning behind it. Firstly, the students who study
and eventually work in the US without citizenship pay taxes in one or another way. That way,
they directly contribute to the funding of their states and federal budgets. Secondly, DACA isn’t
a safe haven for hardened criminal or people whose intention is to hurt America, rather they are
dreamers who would have succeeded elsewhere if it were not for their financial hardships.
It is safe to say that the issue of education has been politicized for long. The high cost of
college education is not only shunning away students from low-income backgrounds, rather it
shuns bring minds that could have made the next biggest tech-innovation. I strongly condemn
any attempts that would ensure that students are further burdened with loans. The Trump
administration and the perpetrators of similar policy to outdo foreigners wish to learn at the best
schools, should know that only bridges build lasting peace and prosperity, but not isolation and
overcharging their own people. Knowledge is a universal concept that cannot be held inside
anyone’s pockets, but it becomes only better when shared (Tooley & Dixon, 2005).
Free education would not only alleviate financial burden being laid on students, but also
reflect on the foundations of our nation under the pledge the founding father, Abraham Lincoln.
Moving forward, I have faith and hope that education would transform to a universal idea, upon
where societies will have to set aside adequate funds towards covering all the costs’ related to it.
Lastly, I would like to relate my case to the concept of global economy. I think in the near future
the world would have a shared economy, where every individual can have access to education,
paying job, and better quality of life. I rest my case.
References
The Argument for Tuition-Free College [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://prospect.org/article/argument-tuition-free-college
Tooley, J., & Dixon, P. (2005). Private education is good for the poor: A study of private schools serving
the poor in low-income countries. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.
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