“Millennials are so entitled.” Older generations often tend to scorn adolescents and young adults when we dare to mention the difficulties of making it in today’s world. Although the unemployment rate has decreased since the end of the “Great Recession” of 2008, college-educated millennials are still making less money. Another factor that’s not making things any easier? Student loan debt. In 2010 the national amount of student loan debt reached $830 billion, surpassing even the total amount of credit card debt. When our parents and grandparents were growing up, many of them were able to pay for college with assistance from their families, perhaps a part-time job, or maybe a loan or two. But it seems those days have passed since 1985, the cost of college has skyrocketed by about 500%. For many young people, the decision of whether or not to continue their education depends on their bank accounts. A hot topic this election cycle has been the pros and cons of providing free tuition to public colleges. Here are a few of the misconceptions that surround the prospect of making postsecondary education free for America’s youth.
1. The United States can’t afford it. In 2015, the U.S. spent about $609 billion on military and defense, over 15% of its total budget. That’s more than the next 7 highest-spending countries combined. In comparison, roughly $102 billion was spent on education, only 2.67% of the budget. Although the many international conflicts we are involved in are of great importance, making education affordable for our citizens needs to be a top priority. As of 2012, the U.S. ranked 28th out of 65 developed countries in science, and 36th in math. For the “face of the free world,” those numbers are pretty dismal. Even worse? We don’t even make it into the top 10 for overall education. Making public colleges tuition-free would create a more well-educated workforce and populace. One proposal, the College for All Act, would require states to contribute financially, as well as implement very small taxes on Wall Street. The funds raised from these efforts would be able to pay for every student who is willing and able to attend college. With a simple redistribution of wealth, student debt could become a thing of the past. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
2. It will only benefit the cheap and the lazy. If you, like myself, grew up in a household where a college education was a reachable reality rather than a faraway dream, recognize your privilege. As of 2014, 46.7 million Americans were living in poverty. Unsurprisingly, minorities are disadvantaged the most. Black families with heads who graduated from college have 33% less wealth than white families with heads who dropped out of high school. 29% of Black students and 35% of Latino students who drop out of college do so for financial reasons. Lacking college degrees, black and latino youth face very high levels of unemployment. Tuition-free colleges would make the opportunity the get a degree equally open to students of all races, if they get the grades needed. The threat of exorbitant loans will no longer be a deterrent. If millennials are not saddled with crippling student debt, they are able to contribute to the economy more, through goods and services, which benefits everyone. So, no, it’s not about “free stuff’; it’s about giving everyone an equal opportunity to pursue higher education, no matter what their family’s financial situation may be.
3. It’s totally unrealistic. Wrong. Brazil, Germany, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, and Slovenia, just to name a few, all offer free or almost free college educations to both citizens and international students. Denmark practically pays their students to go to college, awarding them $900 monthly for materials and living expenses. It would seem the leaders of other developed nations are getting the memo quicker than ours. This is one trend the U.S. needs to hop onto the bandwagon and start following.
So what’s with the hold up America? Let’s start seriously investing in our youth. It’s only a matter of time until we’re running this country, after all.