Dear Next President,

In this year's presidential election there have been many controversial topics and the issue of whether college should be tuition free has been a popular one. On the one hand people say that college tuition should be free and on the other hand people say that college tuition should not be free. I think that college should not be free, for three main reasons. College is not for everyone, some students are not fully prepared for college, and tuition would increase rapidly.

According to Charles Sykes, the reality is that somewhere between 40 and 45 percent of students who enroll in college drop out. This statistic helps show us the myth that everyone needs to attend college. Sykes also says, Of the 1.8 million students assessed for college readiness in 2014, ACT found that only 26 percent met college-ready benchmarks in all four subjects (English, reading, math and science). This shows that college is not for everyone. Many people are not prepared for college and telling everyone that they need to go to college is setting up a lot of students to fail. Not only is college not for everyone but causing them to go and fail would also just be a significant waste of money. According to Sykes, about 48 percent of the class of 2010 work jobs that require less than a bachelor’s degree, and 38 percent of those polled didn’t even need high school diplomas, the report found. This shows that many people who do get a degree don't even end up getting a job which requires that degree or any degree at all for that matter and they are still stuck with a huge pile of debt they need to pay off.

People may say that they are dropping out because they don't have enough money but according to cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, 66% of students don't drop out of college for financial reasons. Many students drop out simply because they do not know how to study. Knowing how to study is crucial for college and can make or break your diploma. Instead of investing our money in giving students free college we could instead invest our money to help teach students how to study effectively and successfully.

Another reason why providing college for free is foolish is that the colleges would raise their tuitions for the government. This is known as the “Bennett's hypothesis”and according to Trey Miller, research increasingly suggests this would be correct. The Bennett’s Hypothesis states that college tuition is going up partly because of federal aid. The more money the federal government gives for student aid, the more rapidly tuition increases. In reality the colleges could make their tuition astronomical because the government is covering the bill and this could end up hurting the economy more than helping it.

In summary, I believe that college tuition should not be free.

From, Jered Holland

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