One of the drawbacks of free college education is that it is not free in reality. Free education is funded through taxpayer dollars. This shortcoming is a matter of labeling; that is while a person may not be given an invoice for or their child's "free" education, they will pay for it over the course of their life by a small chunk of every paycheck they receive. Thus, one can visualize free education as something that they pay for (Sam 1).
Free college education means that each person pays higher taxes so as to enable the government to make available this opportunity. Individuals who do not make use of this opportunity will also be required to pay taxes meant for something that they will not gain from (Christy 1).
There is a rapid growth in university numbers, and this means that a great pressure is being placed on the resources of a university. Seeing that the government is fighting to sustain public spending, it is likely that university education and research might suffer, causing the country’s education to fall behind other nations. If universities are able to charge students, this will assist to uphold standards, the quality of teaching, as well as the reputation of the country’s universities but if college education is free then it would be difficult to achieve all that; thus, poor quality education is offered (Tejvan 1).
According to Sam (1), government financial support is not always sufficient for the best learning environment. Free college education leads to an increase in the number of students enrolling into colleges. Many colleges are concerned with the class sizes. Large classes are less favorable to learning when compared to small classrooms, since; in small classrooms the teacher can focus more on each child. However, the facilities and staffing needed for this are not always made available in the budget of those schools publicly funded
When college education is offered for free, it means it is federally funded. According to Christy (2), there exist specific guidelines that the institution along with the teachers ought to follow if federally funded. This puts restrictions on academic freedom, as well as a teacher’s ability to teach what he or she considers is best for the scholars to be taught. The American Association of University Professors asserts, "Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition." Thus, with government taking part, the academic freedom might suffer.
When a person pays for his or her education, he or she values their education more since they will have to study harder because they paid their tuition, as well as expenses by themselves. When college education is offered free of charge, it may persuade students to become lazy in their studies. Hence, the free education program will negatively influence the students (Tejvan 2). Free education might also encourage illegal immigration. For example, in the Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S.202, the Supreme Court struck down a statute in states that denied the funding for education to children who were illegal immigrants. This can encourage cross-border illegal immigration.
Higher education may perhaps act as a signal to managers that graduates are very competent. As a result, those individuals who achieve a degree wind up with a relatively high income. Thus, if they financially profit from studying at a college, it is maybe fair those individuals pay part of the cost (Tejvan 2).
.
Works Cited
Christy, Lively. The Cons of Free Education. Ehow.com, Web 4 March 2014.
Sam, Grover. The Disadvantages of a Free Education. Ehow.com, 3 March 2014. Web 4 March
2014.
Tejvan, Pettinger. Should University Education be Free? Economicshelp.org, 3 Jan 2014. Web
4 March 2014.
