The increasing amount of student debt in the United States is not only frightening but it is becoming a dangerous scenario to the future economy. “Student debt nationwide totals almost $1.3 trillion — up 350 percent since 2005” (Price, 2016). “Experts say total student debt has risen in part because more students have attended college in this decade than ever before” (Price, 2016). This would mean that enrollment rates at higher education institutes are increasing and more millennials are graduating college. This may sound great; however, more millennials are becoming slaves to student loan payments. One can foresee a hazardous economy to develop from this debt crisis. The idea of having free tuition at higher education institutions may sound like a great solution to tackle student debt issues; however, there are many factors and effects to consider. Many may begin to question how will the institutions be funded and what socioeconomic effects will it create? Many may also question, will it break the social class barriers or generate a greater divide?
Current U.S. Trends
There have been many proposals and attempts of free tuition policies in the United States; however, they have not achieved any national policies. Glancing at a smaller scope of free tuition policies in the U.S., there have been a few proposals for two-year community colleges to be tuition free such as In North Carolina. “In 2015, North Carolina attempted to join Tennessee, Oregon and Minnesota in launching a tuition-free community-college program, but a bill failed to make it out of committee” (Maurer, 2016). Glancing at a larger example, in New York, there is the Excelsior scholarship program offering free tuition to New York's public colleges and universities (Chen, 2018).
Challenge: Graduation rates
When considering these trends, the U.S. looks at other free tuition models across the globe. This semester I primarily focused most of my research with the German higher education system, which is one of the major countries that seems to be the model to compare too. When considering free tuition, there are those who fear that having free college studies will bring a decrease in graduation rates due to young adults starting their higher education with no financial risk to themselves (Eisenstadter, 2016). According to Price (2016) “European studies have found that students who pay more in tuition exert greater effort and are more likely to graduate on time...Germany also found that free tuition led students to extend their time in college, with some becoming “eternal students””. In my opinion, I can see this as becoming a problem that can happen in the United States as well. In my own experience coming straight from high school and into middle school, many students like myself were unsure what they wanted to do career wise and enrolled in higher education with a scholarship. I observed other students, like myself, enrolling in any program that sounded promising without necessarily thinking it through since there were no financial repercussions to face. Many students ended up not taking their studies seriously and not pursuing completing the rest of the degree after they were cut off from financial aid. This personal observation only reflects what is happening in other countries across the globe.
Challenge: Admission standards and Privatization
Another concern that many others have about free tuition is the affect it will have on the admission standards of the public institutions. Many fear that public institution will raise their admission standards so there is not a decrease in the value of the degrees as well as decreasing the influx of students enrolling. For example, “European countries hold down government costs for free tuition by limiting admissions at their higher education institutions. Germany, for instance, begins placing pupils in educational tracks by age 10” (Price, 2016). In a way, this is a good concern to consider; however, I believe there are too many options currently in higher education currently in the U.S. that would counter this challenge.
This challenge also ties into the current growing trend of privatization of higher education. Many may see that having free public higher education can combat the growth of privatization and its prestigious allure that makes students go into student debt. Free tuition for public universities is a major concern in the private sector as they anticipate a huge detour of students straying away from their school and running to the free options. I would have to say that in my opinion, I do not see this affecting the private sector as long as they can keep marketing their old reputable prestige. The top elite private universities have enough money in donor funds and endowments to make their institution tuition free; yet they do not choose to be tuition free. According to Chen (2018), once the excelsior scholarship was initiated many feared it would lower enrollment rates for private universities; however, numbers show that universities near the excelsior program schools have not dropped in enrollment and that some have even increased in enrollment.
Thoughts
Overall, I do not think free tuition is the greatest solution to reduce student debt by itself. As we see in other countries, free tuition can generate other problems such as higher dropout rates, and higher admission standards. I feel there should be a combination of many things to target this problem. I am more favorable towards free community colleges as I believe it can reduce the student debt crisis in the least harmful way. I would argue that free tuition for two-year institutions can tackle the dropout rates for the senior colleges, as those who transfer into senior colleges will be more serious on completing a four-year degree, as there may not be a chance they are getting a full free ride for a BA or BS degree. Free two-year college degrees can also give both the private and public institutions the same competition to recruit students and they will be more of an even chance at enrollment. Free tuition for two years can cut the average student debt in half since the students are only paying for last two years of their studies in a four-year program. Having students enroll in a two-year institution can give the students a test run in higher education and they can then begin to plan where they would want to go from there.
References
Chen, D. W. (2018, February 17). Despite Free Public Tuition, Private College Bids Are Up. New York Times, p. A18(L). Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A527876404/AONE?u=cuny_baruch&sid=AONE&xid=88195d0a
Eisenstadter, I. (2016). Free tuition is not the solution. Barron's, 96(22), 33. Retrieved from http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.remote.baruch.cuny.edu/docview/1792372968?accountid=8500
Maurer, K. (2016). Disagree on free: College sans tuition could halt student debt. Business North Carolina, 36(9), 22.
Price, T. (2016, November 18). Student debt. CQ researcher, 26, 965-988. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/
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