Free Community College

College is one of the major markers for success in the modern hiring market. If you want a high-paying job, a degree is often required to even apply, let alone stand a competitive chance. Yet the people who need these social advantages the most, those born to disenfranchised families and communities, often can’t pay for the exorbitant prices of colleges. This creates a cycle of poverty and privilege, where those who are already afforded opportunities from their birth continue to move up in hierarchical structures, while those who weren’t as fortunate find upward mobility increasingly difficult. This poses a threat to the structure of our society and needs to be rectified.

But there is debate on how to reduce this class disparity. While drastic measures may be needed to eliminate the gap, less extreme solutions can be taken to mitigate short-term effects, and provide some support to people who need it. One of these smaller-scale propositions involves making community colleges, local two-year public universities, entirely free. This would make a level of higher education more accessible to all.

Already community college is a popular choice, namely because of its low price point. Of undergraduate students, 42 percent attend community colleges(College Board, 2016). Eliminating the cost entirely would allow even more to attend and attain the benefits that college can provide.

This accessibility allows for a few changes in social structure. First, intellectual development would become more widespread throughout classes. College is often praised as an environment for growth in those who attend. Commonly, this is seen as standard to higher class communities, and college is held in good esteem. Free community college would allow all to learn the rhetoric required to understand intellectual jargon and participate in academic discussions. In addition, college is of cultural significance. It’s often seen as a “coming of age” time, where young adults are allowed to explore their interests, personalities, and social circles. College provides a great opportunity for one to develop their sense of self. Depriving those without the means to afford inflated college prices of this major cultural area of development is unethical.

Second, this would reduce employment inequities. Higher education tends to correlate with higher income, as demonstrated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Career Outlook(Torpey, 2020). Therefore, more education across the board would lead to higher income. Furthermore, the same census describes that among associate degree holders, the unemployment rate is about 2 percent higher than those with only a high school diploma. While 2 percent might not seem like a significant difference, when compared with the massive population of the US, free community college could help millions of people.

A common objection to expanding publicly funded education is that it would cost too much in taxes, as the average cost of community college is $7,460(Hanson & Checked, 2022). But this isn’t entirely true. It’s important to address the fact that college is an unregulated market. With more reliance on degrees in the job market, not going to college can compromise one’s ability to survive comfortably. Therefore, it has a very high demand. But college isn’t limited by supply in the same way many other products are, instead it only requires properly trained professors and a place to facilitate learning. Because of this, students need to go to college, and institutions can set whatever price they want. The necessities of education likely cost significantly less than the cost of tuition.

It’s also important to remember that the US already funds 12 years of education for all children. An extra two years isn’t a significant increase from our current infrastructure.

So providing free community college doesn’t come at a significant additional cost, and provides more accessibility to all the advantages that college brings. Social development, economic security, and intellectual development are all locked behind the expensive paywalls that college institutions build in their self-inflated market of education. Let’s separate education from business, and provide everyone with free community college.

Resources-

College Board. (2016). College Board Research Research brief April 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/trends-community-colleges-research-brief.pdf

Hanson, M., & Checked, F. (2022, January 21). Average cost of Community College [2022]: Tuition + fees. Education Data Initiative. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-community-college

Torpey, E. (2021, June). Education pays, 2020 : Career outlook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2021/data-on-display/education-pays.htm