As a current college student and a voter in the upcoming election, this research question brings much interest to me. I knew little about this idea beforehand but as the presidential debates have continue and the talk of higher education comes in, the topic of "free" tuition at colleges or universities has become very prevalent. It has sparked my interest and the want to know more of the situation. This affects me because I am a college student paying for my education, which is very important. I went to public school my entire life not having to pay for a private school but having to pay taxes to support my school district. I am interested to see if paying tuition will still be present in the future for either when I am still in college or when I will provide for my children. Although, it doesn't affect me because I do not need any loans to be receiving an education. Fortunately, my parents are able to financially support my tuition. With personal experience, I think that college is something that requires hard work and it should not be something that is sort of "handed" to you. My qualifications as a college student, learning how to finance myself, and being a voter give me great credibility. I have been successful in school and have the ability to absorb the information on the topic and manage to create a successful research paper about it. 

In "The Problem Is That Free College Isn't Free," the main claim is the title, that "free college" is not "free." Yes, tuition itself would be free for the people attending college, but the costs are shifted from the students to the taxpayers. People don't understand that with free tuition coming into play, that the citizens will be the ones paying for all of these people who want to go to college. The author uses evidence from various other articles and also includes information from the American Council on Education and the National Center of Education Statistics to provide further information to support his claim. Andrew P Kelly, the author, is the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform and a resident scholar in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, giving him credibility to write about this topic. His experience from research on higher education, innovation, financial aid, and the politics of education policy could also give him bias due to his knowledge and where the information is from. 

The second source, "Clinton And Sanders Promise 'Free' College Tuition At Democrats' Debate" provides information from the debate on the talk about higher education. Maureen Sullivan's major claim is a summarization, noting that there were not any questions about elementary or high school education. The author gives direct quotes from the debate to reinstate ideas and inform those who did not watch.  Her evidence was straight from the debate so it is factual and can read what the candidates mentioned. Maureen Sullivan, has worked in organizations around the world including Washington DC, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida, and South Africa. She later moved to Hong Kong and then back to the United States with her husband and children. She worked on her children's school board making her very involved and aware of education, making her credible to write about this because of her experience with the different places she has worked.

The author of "Why Free College is Necessary" states that college should be free but she gives the opposed side to that in order to state her opinion at the end, providing the information on what 'free' college would really mean. She uses Obama's plan and quotes him on it, giving evidence in support of her writing. What was most interesting was that she thinks it might not be the tuition costs holding people back from but the cause being cultural and social barriers. The author, Tressie McMillian Cottom, is a professor of Sociology and an associate at Harvard, who earned her PhD with a case study of political economy of for-profit colleges in the era of financial US higher education and is publishing a book on this. She has great credibility because it shows a sociologist perspective that people not attending college is based off of social issues and not the costs of tuition. 

The question's answer could go in different ways due to many contrasting opinions of higher education, including others from various social classes. The first and third sources are both argumentative and disagree with each other. Andrew Kelly believes free college would not be free and does not think it should be made this way, while Tressie Cottom imagines college should be free even though she doesn't believe the attendance in college is due to tuition costs. These sources helped me to see many different ways that this topic could go. I don't think tuition should be free and that there should be hard work involved in order to get the things you want. I acknowledge other perspectives but I suppose that people need to supply for themselves and work for their goals in order to be successful. In regards to my research question, it could be changed or reworded. The reason being that it could be less straightforward and show more opinion or controversy to grab the reader's attention. 
