Around the early 15th century, colleges start to emerge throughout the United States. College continues to evolve in various ways such as going from strictly male dominated to producing some of the most successful women in the world. Colleges started out being for people of the Caucasian race only, then the historically black college and universities were founded, and eventually public and private institutions were desegregated all together. Another big change with colleges has been tuition. Starting off, colleges made tuition free but just open to the wealthy individuals. However, in today's society, college tuition has since increased to thousands of dollars. It has become more of a trend for students to enroll into college after graduating high school. Unfortunately, many students have not had that opportunity or sadly declined the option of going to college due to the tuition prices. Many individuals often sacrifice their quality of higher education because they cannot afford the institutions that are considered "good colleges". Often times it is found that students will acquire thousands of dollars in student loans just to graduate college. Those who find themselves in this position are usually the lower class individuals that are struggling to make ends meet. The struggling students are the same individuals that are working hard after college to pay back their student loans with low supporting salaries. Wealthier families and more established people usually don't have a problem with the tuition prices. College should be free because so many students are deprived of the chance to gain a higher education. Making college free will help stop the reoccurring issue of students being overwhelmed with student loan debt. 

Presidential candidate, Bernie Sander's proposed a simple solution to obtaining free college tuition in the upcoming years. He suggests that the federal government present $47 billion dollars for the cost of public college tuitions and the state government will also cover $23 billion dollars of the free tuition policy ("Bernie Sanders"). This is a very well balanced plan so that the federal and state government both share the responsibility of providing free tuition for the public institutions. 

Although most people like free things in life, many people do oppose the idea of free college. "The Case Against Free College" by Matt Bruenig argues against free tuition because Bruenig feels that it would only benefit the wealthy people. He states that 

"[g]iving extra money to a class of disproportionately well-off people without securing any reciprocal benefit to poor and working-class people who so often do not attend college, all while valorizing the college student as a virtuous person individually deserving of such benefits, would be at worst destructive, and at best, totally pointless (Bruenig 114). 

This argument centers around the financial situations of each the social class entering college. The article makes it a point to express how college would nearly loose its value by becoming a "welfare handout". The argument is based off the fact that not only would people not be as motivated to enroll into college but the lower class won't people benefit as much financially.  Free college would allow the wealthy individuals to continue to get richer by saving their money from sending their children to school. Bruenig offers that "[t]he goal of free college should not be to help students per se, but instead to bind them to a broader welfare benefit system" (114).  The text allows readers to see why Bruenig is more supportive of increasing the welfare system of student grants, scholarships, subsidized housing and various other forms. 

The author of "Bernie's Bad College Idea", Kevin James, uses his argument to express how he doesn't feel that free college would be beneficial. He questions "would free college make higher education more efficient, more innovative and higher quality" (James). James questions whether making college free would increase or decrease the quality of the education in public colleges. The concerns stem from the thought of college resources diminishing due to fee tuition this is could lead the decline of the quality of higher education. The text highlights more possible downs fall such as students not being pushed enough toward success and entrepreneurship. 

Catherine Hill has her own opinion on why free tuition is not a good idea. She believes that free tuition would cut down on the amount of resources a college provides which coincides with the same concern Kevin James had as well. Hill would rather focus on the price of college than making it free all together. She also views free tuition as a plan that will eventually cut down need-based financial aid which will do more harm than good for the lower income students. Although Hill does not support free tuition, she does believe that the federal and state government should provide more funding for the need-base financial aid. This would help cover books, and room and board. Even though Hill presented her opinion against free tuition, she did propose an alternative solution to the problem in the best interest of the students.  

Although there are some questionable approaches to free college tuition, it is still a good policy to adopt very soon. There are ways that some students do receive free tuition. For example, some students use the GI Bill from their parents being in the military and others are already in the military. However, every student should have the opportunity to have free tuition. Ethically it would be good to alleviate the pressure and financial stress of the average lower class college student. There are so many students struggling with subsidized and unsubsidized student loans just so that they can make it through college. For a great deal of people, college is the only opportunity to provide themselves with a better life. College is the stepping stone to many opportunities such as the start of a person's career and networking to build a brand. Providing free public college tuition would motivate students to take advantage of the opportunities that some of them have never been given before. This does not replace the admission process however, but it makes the financial part of college easier after acceptance. 

Barry Malone is the author of the "Student Loan Debt" article that is supportive of free college. The text highlights one of the major issues of college tuition, student loans. Malone states how the "U.S. student loan debt now tops $1.2 trillion, with more than 40 million borrowers owing on federal and private student loans" (20). This shows how the rate of student loans have continued to increase at an escalating speed. Student debt has continued to be a reoccurring issue for college students because many of them are given loans to pay the rest of their semester tuition. Malone provide tips for those who already have loans or may be acquiring loans soon. Those tips include avoiding private loans, high interest rates and various other things. Student loans hinder the student after graduation because of the amount of time it takes to pay them back. This also plays a role in students' developing credit score. By making public colleges free, it will alleviate the extremely high rate of student loan debt and allow students to save their money once they graduate college and obtain a job. 

Mike Konczal expresses his support of the free tuition policy through his article, "Generation Debt". Konczal explains the new trend of the public institutions by saying 

"As public support dries up; schools are increasingly forced to compete for rich students who can afford to pay high tuition. Campus life then becomes organized around a consumerist model that is more likely to meet their needs, and becomes less about fostering relationships and opportunities among the broader student body" (119). 

This shows how the lack of funding can impact a campus overall. College campuses can tend to become bias toward their highest pay social class which decreases the satisfaction of the other college students. Having the lack of public funding for a college can make it not inclusive to everyone's needs and opinions. He approaches the topic also through discussing the how student loan debt has submerged the current generation of present and past college students. Konczal made it a point to write about the effects student loans can have on a student in the long run. Some of the effects include the prolonging of someone getting a house or car because their debt has tarnished their credit. The student loans are not just a temporary thing that a student has to deal with; it follows them well into the progression of their life. The text shows how damaging loans can be to a student. However free tuition can alleviate that problem for future students to come. This will allow college graduates to leave college without debt. Without debts after college, students can find a stable job to buy themselves a home, car, or any other necessity of life. Konczal's expression helps progress the importance of the growing issue of student debt post-college. 

Many try to claim that there will not be enough funding for every public institution to be free for students. Adam Davidson disagrees and feels as though the government has more than enough funding for this policy. He states the public colleges tuition increases are "being driven largely by state governments' unwillingness or inability to raise per-student financing" (Davidson). This provides the one of the central issues on why tuition is so high for students. Student funding in the forms of grants, scholarships, and other various ways have decreased over the years while tuition increase due to this direct correlation. This helps people understand why tuition is being raised. Because of the lack of college and student funding, free tuition need to be put in place. 

Bernie Sander's free tuition gained a lot of support, especially from the YouTube channel artist, The Young Turks. The host John Iadarola and Jimmy Dore uses their web series on a global video-sharing website to express their support of Bernie Sander's policy. In agreeance with Adam Davidson, Dore strongly feel as though the government have more than enough funding to put the free tuition policy into place ("Bernie Sanders"). Iadarola agrees with his co-host and goes on to say that the country would much rather but a billion dollars in bombs and other expensive war weapons rather than fund a billion dollars in college tuition ("Bernie Sanders"). This logic is very true for the United States because the government is very quick to fund a war that resulted in no weapons being found (the war in Iraq) but then suddenly the money disappears when the topic of college tuition if brought up. It is not fair to the students and citizen of America that their own country will not fund their college tuition. 

The article "How to Make America's Colleges Tuition Free" explains ways that public college could be free without people paying more in taxes. The money the government funds in work-study, grants, and tax benefits for all colleges can just be funded to public colleges only. This will decrease the need for loans but not abolish them all together. The students will only have to cover their room and board and any other additional fees the public colleges require. The process would require a limit on transferring students so that students who attend a private institution will not try to overflow public colleges. Although this article is not presented through a well-known or trusted website, the information is supported with statistics and substantial facts to improves its credibility. 

Lawrence S. Wittner wrote the article entitled "Why Tuition-Free College Makes Sense" which say that "[t]he major argument for free public college and university education is the same as for free public education in general:  like the free public elementary and high schools already existing in the United States, free public higher education provides educational opportunity for all" (Wittner). This logic compares public colleges to the public education system and put them on the same scale by saying that they both are public institutions and provide education. However, they both are not free to students. According the text "Last year, the average annual cost for undergraduate tuition and fees at public colleges and universities was $9,139 for state residents and $22,958 for out of state residents" (Wittner). As it is shown that it is a $13,189 difference in the in and out of state tuition. Prices of that nature is what cause students to settle for a lesser quality in state rather than their dream school out of state. If private colleges see that public colleges are tuition free and start losing students because of it, then they might lower their tuition prices as well (Wittner). 

Bernie Sanders write in the Washington Post about his extensive view on free college tuition. He says that "it would take a minimum wage worker an entire year to earn enough to cover the annual in-state tuition at a public university" (Sanders). This puts many things in perspective about how much tuition really cost and how hard some people have to work to cover their tuition. Sanders informs the readers that the student loan debt of $1.3 trillion is more than credit card or auto loan debt. Countries overseas have tuition free colleges which appeal to some U.S citizens who take their education to these countries. Sanders believes that this policy will overall strengthen our country and a democracy and strengthen our economy. 

Overall free tuition is not unattainable as those who oppose the policy betray it to be. Many individuals agree that one of the main causes of increased tuition is because of the lack of school and student funding by the government. The federal and state government have been lacking in supplying money for the need-base financial aid. This is return leads to individuals acquiring student loan debt to finish paying for school or some individuals not going to school at all. However, by requiring the federal and state government to increase their funding to public colleges, more students will be able to go the college. By making college tuition free, it motivates current students to come to college and past students to return to college. The overall debt for student loan is extremely too high. This would cut down on the need for student loans as well. The elementary, middle, and high school portion of the public education system is free and so should public colleges. It is important that every student feels the need to want to continue their education after graduating from high school. Too many students are feeling deterred away from high education because they cannot afford it. If more individuals push their state government officials to do something about college funding, then it will eventually lead to the federal government making a difference too. Education for all students is important regardless of race, ethnicity, or social class. It is up the citizens to fight for the change in public colleges and for their successful futures. 

