Kim 1

Minwoo Kim
Professor Gabrielle Turgeon
UWRT 1101-003
18 February 2017
Free Education for the Poor
In the United States, many students decide to get higher education whether it is an

associates degree, bachelors degree, or masters degree. Some students decide to go public

university and others decide to attend a private university. In the process of attending

universities, school requires them to pay tuition. Although there are differences in how much it

is, education is expensive to those who are not making enough money. The United States

government must make higher education free for students who are on the poverty line because

they have a right to receive higher education and should not be limited by the financial problem.
Although not every student has same experience when they enter university, this is what

many students usually experience in the United States. After graduating high school, there are

different paths that students can take. Some go to serve in the military for several years, some

decide to just get a job and possibly get higher education later, and some decide to take higher

education right away. Despite the choices that students can make, not every student is able to

afford university tuition. They apply for federal grants, university scholarship program, and those

who need more money have to take a loan. Until 2016, Two-thirds of American college students

graduate with college debt, and the United States has over $1.2 trillion of student loan debt

with 7 million borrowers in default which means a lot of people, even after graduating college

for years, still struggle from debt (College). If students do not have enough money to pay college

tuition, one or both parents have to pay for it or he has to take a loan unless he takes a break and

get a job to earn money.

To know the difference about how other countries policy on school financing, the

universities in the United States are compared to that of other nations. In the year of 2016-2017,

the CollegeBoard says that the average tuition and fees in the United States are $3,520 for public
 Kim 2

two-year in-state college and $9,650 for public four-year in-state college. According to the

website Studying in Germany, college students in Germany are not required to pay tuition fees. It

continues to say that From October and on, every federation is required to abolish tuition fees

and offer free higher education to native and international students alike (What Does It Cost to

Study in Germany). Besides the Germany, many other countries have virtually free higher

education system: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and more. France does have college

tuition fees but it is only couple hundred dollars which could be described as virtually free

education. Surprisingly, not only advanced countries have free college tuition, but also countries

like Mexico and Brazil have virtually free college tuition. The phrase virtually free used in this

context means that there is tuition fees but it only requires few hundred dollars. When one look

at the tuition of the United States and tuition of France, the number one see is $3000 to $300.

This is huge contrast especially to people who have low income because the amount they have to

pay has ten times difference.

For people in the America who just graduated from high school, the college tuition is

expensive unless they have been working and saving money since they were in high school. No

one would expect a high school senior to have nine-thousand dollars. Because of this, most of

them would ask their parents to help them pay college tuition, which creates more problems like

parents taking private loan and affect the credit issue. It will be great for those who have parents

that are making enough money to afford college tuition, but unfortunately, not everyone has that

parents may need to step in. Especially for those who have parents that are earning on the

poverty line, they have to rely on federal grants, school scholarship programs, and loans.
To make the comparison that was about the United States and those countries which have

free higher education easier to understand, this is the process of European countries making their

higher education free. The total tax wedge of Germany in 2014 was 49.3 percent and United
 Kim 3

States total tax wedge was 31.5 percent, and many countries mentioned in previous paragraph

that has free higher education had higher tax rate than that of United States. Germany abolished

tuition fees by enforcing it very gradually and dual education model. According to website

Affordable Schools, Dual education is simultaneous instruction and training of students at

vocational school in one of 356 apprenticeships with private corporations that follow strictly

regulated federal standards to teach students theories and skills necessary to proceed in their

desired vocation (How). Although Germany definitely maintains a higher tax rate than the

United States, not all of their tax money goes into education (Wesley). By looking at this fact,

some of the tax payer will say that the tax money that they have to pay will be too expensive.
Here are few solutions that are suggested. To counter the argument about tax rate being

increased, the solution of this problem will be making college tuition free for students who

cannot afford it. This means not every single student needs this program from government which

could lead to saving much more money for government. Because Germany has absolutely free

college for every student even to international students, it is understandable why Germany has a

high tax rate. Also, redistributing tax money is another solution. According to the article from

CreditLoan, the United States total yearly budget on military is 19.3 percent, while Germany

only has 3.3 percent. Because United States is a bigger country and has more population, the

definite number difference in terms of spending money will be even larger, and Germany spends

9.5 percent of the budget to education which is roughly three times bigger than what it spends on

military budget (Wesley). The solution should not follow exactly to Germanys policy on higher

education because Germany and United States definitely have many different circumstances.

What the solution that is more suitable to United States should be spending little less on other

budget cost and brings that budget money to education so the government does not have to

increase the tax rate by large amount.

 Kim 4

Nearly seven-million students attend four-year public universities in the United States

(Seth). Although this is a large number, the government is providing grants to many students

regardless of whether it is public or private or four-years or two-years. If the government only

helps students who are in poverty line and goes to four-year public school, the budget that

government has to spend will decrease by a lot than providing financial aid to everyone who

applies the Pell Grant. Also, this is the better way to get financial help than applying the Pell

Grant to government each year because not only college is free but also students are guaranteed

to have access to this policy. According to article that is about students getting financial help

from government stated Students from households in the bottom income quartile make up just 3

percent of enrollment at the nations most competitive colleges, the report said. But 72 percent of

enrollment at these colleges is comprised of students from the wealthiest quartile (Fain). This

proves that students have more access or broader choice if one has wealthier family. By allowing

students not to worry about financial issues, they are given more opportunities to study, but also

improves higher education itself as well by accepting talented students to university.

Many students are smart enough to go to universities that are very competitive, while not

being able to because of financial issues. The government should at least stop this to have better

education system for the country. College degree is especially important to people nowadays.

Although people know the importance of college degree, many of them still cannot pursue that

path because of financial issue. The government must make the college tuition free for those who

cannot afford one.

 Kim 5

Work Cited
"College Access and Affordability: USA vs. the World." Value Colleges. Value Colleges, 01

Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <www.valuecolleges.com/collegecosts/>

CollegeBoard. "Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2016-17." Average

Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2016-17 - Trends in Higher Education -

The College Board. CollegeBoard, 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

<trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/average-published-

undergraduate-charges-sector-2016-17>
Fain, Paul. "High-achieving, Low-income Students Remain Rare at the Most Selective

Colleges." High-achieving, Low-income Students Remain Rare at the Most Selective

Colleges. INSIDE HIGHER ED, 16 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

<https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/12/high-achieving-low-income-

students-remain-rare-most-selective-colleges>.
"How Germany Made Higher Education Free." Affordable Schools. Affordable Schools, Web. 23

Mar. 2017. <http://affordableschools.net/germany-free-education/>.

Jackson, Abby. "'Free' College in Europe Isn't Really Free." Business Insider. Business Insider,

25 June 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. <http://www.businessinsider.com/how-do-european-

countries-afford-free-college-2015-6>
Seth. "STATS | College Enrollment Statistics." Statistic Brain. Statistic Brain, 03 Sept. 2016.

Web. 07 Mar. 2017. http://www.statisticbrain.com/college-enrollment-statistics/

Wesley, Daniel. "How Countries Spend Their Money." CreditLoan.com. CreditLoan, 20 Sept.

2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://www.creditloan.com/blog/how-countries-spend-their-

money>.
"What Does It Cost to Study in Germany." Study in Germany for Free. Study in Germany, 31

Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. <www.studying-in-germany.org/what-does-it-cost-to-

study-in-germany/>