Hot Topic (1/24): Should Higher Education be Free?
A basic education is provided free of charge for young people in nearly all developed and democratic countries.
However, when it comes to university, or higher education, there are many different approaches taken. In some countries (such as Finland and Sweden) higher education is still free.
In other countries, higher education is purchased like any other service. In many countries (such as the UK and the USA), fees are charged to students but how much of the cost of education these cover varies greatly.
Often governments offer loans and financial support to help students pay these fees. However, more and more people want to go to university, putting student funding systems under pressure. The economic downturn has hit also government budgets very hard, raising tough questions about spending priorities.
As educational and economic changes occur, should Governments charge fees for higher education, or provide it for free?
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| Making students think about the cost of their education would make them think harder about what and how they study. Many students would wait until they were ready for university, rather than join straight after school because they have no better plans. This is why so many students drop out of university quickly (often wasting taxpayers’ money). It would also mean that students chose to study subjects that were actually profitable for them, and useful for society (e.g. Medicine or Engineering) – rather than just interesting or fun for them (e.g. Art History, or Film Making) but of no practical use to society when they graduate. | Attending university is probably the biggest decision most young people make for themselves, and most think very deeply about it. Students drop out of university for many reasons – often personal or emotional. If anything, adding a huge fee to the process of starting university would just increase the pressure on students and make any problems worse. Also, it is not clear that what makes money is necessarily the same as what is ‘good for society’. Nursing is very important for example, but very poorly paid compared to ‘marketing’. Do we really want to direct people away from such important jobs? And many subjects such as art may not be profitable, but still possess great cultural value which is important in other ways. |
Will kids become lazy and careless if higher education is free?
Or will they wait until they are ready and attend?
Would you pay taxes, to help pay for this?
How do you feel about this?
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I think if they made it free for students with a 3.5 GPA or higher it would increase competition and allow students who normally couldn't afford it. Then prorate it for the lower GPAs, like if a student had a 3.0 they would pay for a certain per cent. It would be an incentive to study faithfully. Maybe continue other income based practices. But I know that I was on my own at 18, my parents couldn't afford to help me even though FAFSA said they could. Make it so it takes the student's income into consideration. I joined the Air Force to pay for school. Perhaps a 2 year service requirement? Just a thought. It would give students some worldly experience and really earn the tax payers payment toward school.
Education, like healthcare and everything else, can and will never be "free" because somebody will always have to foot the bill. The question is misleading. If nobody is asked to pay for college, who do you expect will pay the teacher's salaries, the deans, support the infrastructure maintenance, etc, etc, etc ...? Your response might be "well, the government will pay for it" ... and where does the government get it's money? You nailed it -- taxes. The pie in the sky "let's let everybody have free college, free healthcare, free housing, free everything" is getting out of control. Nothing is FREE, everything is paid for by somebody. So the question becomes, who should pay for MY son's college education, for example -- him (via me) or you?
Quoting Renee21:I think if they made it free for students with a 3.5 GPA or higher it would increase competition and allow students who normally couldn't afford it. Then prorate it for the lower GPAs, like if a student had a 3.0 they would pay for a certain per cent. It would be an incentive to study faithfully. Maybe continue other income based practices. But I know that I was on my own at 18, my parents couldn't afford to help me even though FAFSA said they could. Make it so it takes the student's income into consideration. I joined the Air Force to pay for school. Perhaps a 2 year service requirement? Just a thought. It would give students some worldly experience and really earn the tax payers payment toward school.
And how do you propose to pay teachers for these "free" schools? How do you propose to maintain the infrastructure, supply materials, provide for all the other costs of higher education currently supported by tuition? Taxes? That will work for maybe one or two "cycles", as those who make no money get their kids a "free" education in order to get a good job only to find that their paychecks are robbed to pay for the next generation of "free" educations.
Oh, and by using taxes, you are now proposing that families who send their kids (or themselves) to Ivy League schools now have to not only pay for their own education but also for their neighbor's "free" education as well. How is that right?
Quoting hsteele:Perhaps making dropouts pay back the costs of their schooling if they choose not to finish would be a good idea. I think making state schools free would be a good idea, with private Ivy League schools remaining private.
NO it shouldnt be free, and frankly I am getting annoyed at those who want or say this should be free, that should be free. This attitude that YOU are entitled to EVERYTHING just because you WANT it or think you deserve it, is BS.
Worse yet, the attitude that as long as they don't have to pay for it, who cares where the money comes from or who DOES have to pay for it. I love how they throw the word "free" around while blissfully ignoring that somebody else will have to pick up the tab they want to drive up for their "free" stuff.
Quoting PestPatti:
NO it shouldnt be free, and frankly I am getting annoyed at those who want or say this should be free, that should be free. This attitude that YOU are entitled to EVERYTHING just because you WANT it or think you deserve it, is BS.
Eight Year Old Girl Given "Catastrophe Award" By Teacher
- Cafe GroupAdmin
on Jan. 24, 2010 at 12:00 AM