Pros and Cons of Free College

Pros and Cons of Free College

The advantages include increased access for everyone, especially those without financial capabilities to meet college fees. It also offers an opportunity for many young people to choose a career path following successful graduation (Collier, Mishra, Houston, Hensley & Hartlep, 2019). The increase in professionals increases competition and innovation in the market, thus improving the quality of services and products reaching the people. College education improves a person’s quality of life as they can critically think through diverse life problems and offer substantial solutions to existing issues (Facione & Gittens, 2016). Lower education levels, therefore, translates to small problems becoming significant issues to such uneducated societies.

The cons, on the other hand, include increased government expenditure on higher learning which translates to higher tax rates on the ordinary people—thus increasing the cost of living for the people which might also lower their living standards to meet the substantial cost of living. At the same time, free college means increased congestion in colleges and lower numbers of lecturers per group of students (Collier et al., 2019). Such an outcome might lower the quality of education and therefore have lowly qualified graduates taking professional roles which might reduce the quality of services delivered. Many graduates will also lack positions in their preferred professions as their number outshine those of the employers. Students might, therefore, feel like they wasted their time in college and should have focused on other disciplines.

Although free college comes with far-reaching effects, the pros of the technique significantly outweigh the cons. keeping youths in colleges helps keep them away from social vices such as crime and drugs, among others. It also creates a platform for the integration of cultures, thus creating a highly tolerant society. It also creates an opportunity for innovation and excellence in other fields which becomes a success for the learners and the country in the long run.