Coinciding with the 2016 presidential election is increased focus on the rising cost of college. The cost of college has outpaced inflation over the last two decades, and many families are feeling the pinch. Many Americans are looking to other systems, such as those practiced in Germany, of socialized education and wondering why college is so prohibitively expensive. For those reasons, leftist politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and even President Obama himself have offered up free community college as a solution. The president’s words on the topic “That’s why I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college – to zero.” are bold (Obama citation). However concerns about the cost of this type of …show more content…
According to the Hechinger Report, a non profit organisation that covers education inequality, “Universities and colleges have an unexpected new problem: competing with free community college” (Marcus, The Unexpected Reason Some in Higher Ed Fear Free Community College). It’s simple market pressure, private schools can no longer afford to charge as high tuitions when competing with new, more robust community colleges. Despite the fact that many students who would not otherwise have gone to college anywhere will apply to free community colleges, in the same article Josh Keniston, research director at the enrollment management firm Eduventures estimates that many “would be drawn from the pool of prospective applicants to four-year institutions.” This means students transferring to four year universities from community colleges would also enjoy benefits, as well as students in higher education nationwide; as costs are reined in. Free tuition will improve enrollment, graduation rates …show more content…
The economic impact for taxpayers is also enormous, every $1 spent on public community college programs provides $6.80 in benefits. Free tuition for community colleges creates better communities socially as well; “savings related to reduced crime, lower unemployment, and increased health and well-being across the U.S. amounts to $46.4 billion” (Where Value Meets Values: The Economic Impact of Community College, 9). Every dollar spent on community colleges during 2012 contributed to society a total value of $25.90 in benefits (Economic Impact Fact Sheet, 1). Other social ills are all combatted by the increased educational attainment that a free community college program provides. A 2004 study by the National Institute of Health noted that “those with the lowest level of education were most frequently heavy smokers, heavy drinkers, physically inactive, and obese”(Taylor and Francis, 2004). Though correlation does not imply causation, it stands to reason that increased educational attainment and opportunity may reduce the incidence of these types of habits. Increased education also reduces crime. The positive externalities in crime reduction that educational attainment prompts account for 14-26% of the public money spent on higher education; which is to say up to a quarter of our investments in education are made up for in safer communities and lower law