The topic makes parents’ of high school students cringe. They see it right before their eyes: Thousands and thousands of dollars in debt piling up for their children and never ceasing, like a flowing river.  The piles of paper with costs and expenses encoded on them, taunting parents with every penny they hand over.  However, this will be the course of action for most high school students, because college is almost a necessity if a well-payed job is desired later in life.  The subject, undergoing a significant amount of scrutiny and controversy, remains a nagging presence to people in the United States. Currently, tuition, books, and boarding have become so expensive that debt will remain a burden for students and their families years after they graduate from college. Due to these compelling reasons, college expenses must be under control. State colleges and universities should offer free education to certain people or heavily subsidized for students due to the accruing amount of debt that develops for students.

The debt an innumerable number of students accrue after college would decrease significantly if tuition is free or subsidized. Although inflation has occurred, college tuition, and fees have vastly outpaced it and have risen 439 percent from 1982 to 2009 (Student Loans). Combined tuition, board, and fees round out to $20,234 for all institutions in 2012-2013. In 2002, however, the price was just $15,262. That is about a $5,000 increase in simply 10 years (Fast facts). Now, students have no choice but to pinch their pennies and pass through college watching their money every inch of the way. Furthermore, colleges focus on things other than accessibility for all people and high tuition fees. For example, in 2013, Oregon spent $68 billion dollars on a new football facility (Manfred). Instead of using that money to help pay for underprivileged students, they decided to improve the already sufficient football facility. Only 20 percent of all college students come from low-income families (Lindenmeyer).  The percentage of students from low-income families could rise with additional support from colleges and the government. Lastly, a simple solution exists to help students get a handle on college debt: loans awareness. In a selected institutional survey, 73 percent of students did not know how to determine if they qualify for lower interest loans. Forty-eight percent did not know who provides their loans, and 47 percent did not know the interest on their loans (Survey). However, loan awareness cannot lessen the price of college tuition for students. Nevertheless, if students were to be educated about loans, the amount of debt could notably decrease in the future. Regardless, tuition becoming free, or significantly reduced, would rid families of many problems they face.

Albeit the conclusive evidence that making college tuition free or heavily subsidized increases U.S. Citizens’ taxes significantly, many reiterate that making tuition relatively inexpensive would enable many Americans to a higher education. In truth, decreasing college tuition by a significant margin would in fact escalate Americans’ taxes; however, the amount of people that would have access to college, that did not before, would benefit the United States in every aspect of life, and the benefits would outweigh the added taxes considerably. Additional people with degrees would translate to more people with jobs, potentially improving the economy and the standard of living for Americans. In 2012, 62% of students from low-income families with high school graduates were going to college. In that same year, 90% of wealthy students were going to college (Luhby). The gap between those two percentages is too large, and it would close dramatically with a reduction in college tuition.

As a result, making tuition free or subsidized would be the right thing to do simply because it could broaden the access to a higher education for a larger cross section of society. Students would not have to watch every penny; students and their parents would not have to worry about the debt that would follow college, and students would have the potential to allocate their money more effectively. The high cost of college tuition prevents many bright students from attending college, so why not discard tuition and make college more accessible?

Works Cited
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Lindenmeyer, Kriste. "Higher education without access fails our nation." Diverse Issues
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Luhby, Tami. "Rich Are 8 times Likelier to Graduate College than Poor."CNNMoney. Cable
News Network, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Manfred, Tony. "Oregon's New $68-Million Football Facility Is Like Nothing We've Ever Seen
In College Sports." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 31 July 2013. Web. 15 Nov.
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"Student Loans." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing 
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"Survey Shows Borrowers Are In The Dark When It Comes To Their Student Debt." PR        
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