Kim 1

Minwoo Kim

Professor Gabrielle Turgeon

UWRT 1101-003

18 February 2017

Why the Government Should Make Public Universities Free

In the United States, a lot of students decide to get higher education whether it is

associate degree, bachelors degree, or masters degree. Some students decide to go public

university, and other people decide to go private university. In the process of attending

universities, it requires to pay tuition. Although there are differences how much it is, it is

expensive to who are not making enough money. Because of many reasons such as student debt,

making people have more stable lives, the government must make public universities free.
The first thing I want to talk about is the situation that majority of student experience.

After graduating high school, there are different paths that student can make. Some goes to serve

military for several years, some decides to just get a job and possibly get higher education later,

and some decide to take higher education right away. Despite the choices that student can make,

not every student is able to afford university tuition. They apply for federal grants, university

scholarship program, and those who need more money have to take a loan. Until 2016, Two-

thirds of American college students graduate with college debt, and the United States has over

$1.2 trillion of student loan debt with 7 million borrowers in default (College) which means still

lots of people even after graduating college for years struggle from debt. If student does not have

enough money to pay college tuition, either his parents have to pay for it or he has to take a loan

unless he takes a break and get a job to earn money.

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Now I want to talk about the actual college tuition in the United States and compare it to

tuition of the other countries universities around the world. In the year of 2016-2017, the

CollegeBoard says that the tuition and Fees are $3,520 for public two-year in-state college and

$9,650 for public four-year in-state college. According to the website Studying in Germany,

college students in Germany are not required to pay tuition fees. It continues to say that From

October and on, every federation is required to abolish tuition fees and offer free higher

education to native and international students alike (What Does It Cost to Study in Germany).

Besides the Germany, many other countries have virtually free higher education system: Norway,

Sweden, and Finland. France does have college tuition fees but it is only few hundred dollars.

Surprisingly, not only advanced countries have free college tuition, but also countries like

Mexico and Brazil have virtually free college tuition. I described the tuition system as virtually

free higher education because though the tuition is free or cost few hundred dollars, students still

have to pay for things to live there like housing, resources etc.
For people in the America who just graduated from highs school, the college tuition is

expensive unless they have been working since when they were in high school. No one would

expect a high school senior to have nine-thousand dollars. Because of this, most of them would

ask for their parents to help them paying college tuition, which creates more problems. It will be

great for those who have parents that are making enough money, but unfortunately, not everyone

has that kind of parents. Especially for those who have parents that are earning poverty line, they

have to rely on federal grants, school scholarship program, and loans.

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Work Cited

"College Access and Affordability: USA vs. the World." Value Colleges. Value Colleges, 01

Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <www.valuecolleges.com/collegecosts/>

CollegeBoard. "Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2016-17." Average

Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2016-17 - Trends in Higher Education -

The College Board. CollegeBoard, 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

<trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-published-

undergraduate-charges-sector-2016-17>

"What Does It Cost to Study in Germany." Study in Germany for Free. Study in Germany, 31

Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <www.studying-in-germany.org/what-does-it-cost-to-

study-in-germany/>.