I always wanted to go to college. I knew that in order to be in the field that I wanted to be in, going to college would be the first step in the arduous quest into medicine. However, when I saw my bill for this semester and thought about all the loans I had already taken out. I couldn’t help but think about how backward this all was. How I was offered a mere $5,500 towards an almost $26,000 bill each year. How I’d spend most my adult life paying this debt off. How all I wanted was to learn and eventually contribute to society in a meaningful way, but how it felt like I was selling myself. Then I thought about the people who wanted to go college but simply couldn’t afford it. It got me angry.
The concept of free college isn’t a new one. In fact, many countries around the globe offer tuition-free colleges. Colleges were at some point tuition-free in the United States. So how were colleges able to be tuition free?What makes today different? Can we use this old model now?
College Then
Up until the 1960s, state universities were tuition-free. In 1862, the Morrill Land-Grant was passed (under President Abraham Lincoln). This allowed for states to create universities and colleges that would be accessible to all* Americans. During this time, only a small percentage of students actually went to college. So the states were able to the foot the bill and college remained largely free. However, as the population grew, the amount state funding received by colleges was not sufficient, and they started to charge tuition. And it’s been that way ever since.
What can we learn from this? Well, if colleges receive adequate funding they may be able to be tuition free for students. This means that today’s federal and state governments need to make the proper allocations of funding. I won’t go into detail of all the ways the government could cut spending to be able to spend more on higher education, but some of the more feasible and realistic ways would be to get corporations to pay their fair share of taxes ( no more tax breaks or at least reduced ones) and increasing the tax rates for America’s wealthiest millionaires and billionaires.Another option would be to divert the money spent on student financial aid toward making universities tuition-free.
The Challenges
If it was as easy as I explained it, universities wouldn’t have had to start charging tuition in the first place.
We might not be able to afford it. Having a population of mostly college educated individuals would do wonders for the economy and society. That’s why many believe college should be free. But, we need to be realistic. Free college isn’t free. What students and parents would have been paying for college would have to shift to taxpayers. The cost of attendance at schools won’t change, which is the main reason why college is so expensive. The cost of attendance has been steadily increasing over the years. Making universities tuition-free might mean the government may be pouring billions into a never-ending hole.
If we could afford it, would it happen? The biggest hurdle to establishing would be getting congressional approval and then to get compliance from all 50 states. In Senator Bernie Sanders College for All plan, The federal governments would provide 67% of the funds necessary to make tuition free at all public colleges and universities. The states would have to cover the remaining 33%, this can be difficult for states that are already strapped. They may not want to adopt the plan as a result.
So is it possible? Certainly, we’ve already seen some states create tuition-free colleges. New York’s Excelsior being the only one to offer tuition-free four-year universities. It’s clear that enacting tuition-free programs, will be dependent largely on the state.
Free tuition-free college is great and it’s obvious that it would benefit many students who never thought attending college would be a reality. But tuition-free doesn’t mean the price tag to your education is zero.
When you look at your bill for the semester. The largest expense is usually your housing and meal plan. Tuition-free college wouldn’t cover these expenses. While parts of Sanders plan would make sure that public colleges meet 100% of the financial needs of low-income students including living expenses. But where does that leave the middle class? Those whose families earn too much to qualify for financial aid but earn too little to pay for the full cost of college. Well, I don’t really know. Sander’s plan would make student loan interest rates much lower. But middle-income students would still be taking out the same amount of loans as before.
Overall, tuition-free college is definitely more complicated than what most would think. Although efforts to make tuition-free college in several states, it will still be a long and arduous journey for it to be a reality in all 50 states.
*At this point in history, African Americans were still considered slaves so this term obviously doesn’t include African Americans.