Is it time to rethink college education?

According to this graph by the College Board Organization, the amount of total dollars borrowed for school loans (with adjusted inflation) is more than double the amount it was 20 years ago, and at one point in 2010 it was that amount triple. Now it looks like the amount is going down, but that is not cause by more affordable education. An article by the National Center for Education statistics shows that actual student enrollment has also decreased in that time. Link

As the cost for college increases along with the total outstanding student debt that as reached over one trillion dollars. The effect of government Pell Grants continue to decrease. In 1980, a Pell Grant would cover 70 percent of tuition costs. Whereas today, that number has reached as low is 35 percent. Why has investing in an educated youth become lower and lower on the list of our collective priorities?

By making college more accessible and affordable, we would increase the amount of students enrolling in college and in turn increase the amount of college graduates. These college graduates become higher earners and generate more revenue for the economy to thrive. This graph shows that a person with a bachelors degree makes twenty thousand more per year compared to a high school graduate. A masters degree gives potential for even more. A higher amount of government assistance could very well pay for itself many times over as a more densely educated population takes over the workforce.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp

The number of high school graduates that continue their formal education has began to decrease. An analysis done by the American Council on Education points out that between the years of 2008 and 2013, the percentage of students that have enrolled in college has dropped by nearly 3 percent. The more troubling figure shown is that low-income student enrollment has dropped by over 10 percent. Though the exact reason is unclear right now, I think it is because the price tag for a diploma has become so far out of reach for a lot of our countries youth.

Though free education is not a cure all for the countries economy, though our economy was in a lot better financial standing 20 and 30 years ago when college was affordable to the majority. Some of the benefits being talked about with free education are; An educated workforce would be in less need for other government assistance like welfare, food stamps, WIC, etc. Students can focus on their studies through out school, and also on building a life after gradating, without the knowledge of a crippling amount of debt waiting for them. And students that would have never applied to school for fear of cost and failure could then attend college, and possibly be the low income student who finds the cure to cancer.
https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/should-college-be-free.asp

Can we afford to make college education free? While the richest companies in the world are receiving huge subsidies and tax breaks, those same companies are being bailed out after causing economic crisis, and our military budget is expanding. Some people seem to think that providing a college education is out of reach. Bernie sanders released a 6 part plan to implement free college tuition, and the way he planned to pay for initiative is to impose a tax on wall street transactions. If the taxpayers pay to bail out wall street, it’s only right that wall street returns the favor.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/

Most everybody can agree that elementary and high school education is an essential part of our society. It is important to us as a whole that we have an educated work force to have an positive impact on our economy. The world is progressing and the need for higher education is becoming very important to tackle the worlds tougher issues. For primary education, the benefits far outweigh the costs. For college education, the benefits will do the same.

Because the benefits outweigh the costs, college education should be treated no different than any other of the countries priorities, and granted to any citizen. Whether it be social security, military, tax breaks, or any other governmental spending meant to be best for the people. I hear a lot of the older generation say that they don’t want to have to pay for my college education. That’s when I rebuttal with I don’t want to pay into their retirement since I don’t know if it will ever benefit me in the future.

There are more than enough examples of other countries throughout the world that offer tuition free education to their citizens, and there are even countries that offer the same to foreign students wanting to attend. Of course, successes vary and these countries have a higher cost of living. But most of them also have a high standard of living and they’re making an active effort to help improve the lives of their countries people.