Remember when you sat down to figure out if and how you were going to pay for that degree of yours? Well your kids may be looking at higher costs and even more competition when it comes to finding a job after their education is complete.
Obama announced on Friday, Jan. 9 his proposal making the first two years of community college free. The White House says it could save the average community college student $3,800 a year. The average cost a year for a two-year public in-state college is $3,131 according to the “College Board.”
The program will obliterate the value of hard work that are instilled in those working for their education at the cost of the nation’s money today and the workforce tomorrow.
The program is estimated to cost around 34 million dollars a year according to the “Weekly Standard,” with the federal government paying 75 percent of it and states paying the other 25 percent.
This will not work.
After high school, students face a few options. One, they can attend a college that they are accepted to base upon their performance and apply for scholarships and aid. For the most part, students will receive the grants and aid that they need.
Second, they can pay a fraction of the normal college fees and attend a community college for two or so years. Many students in Florida nowadays choose this option in order to transfer to his or her dream university. In Florida if you have your associates degree, you are automatically granted admission to any public Florida university. Having just graduated high school, I have seen this a lot.
With both of those options, young people work hard to pursue the life they want. Loans, grants, scholarships and tons of work-study programs make it possible for nearly everyone to receive some form of education; it’s left in the hands of the civilians.
Ever heard of the phrase “you’ll get out what you put in?” Young people, and even a few from the older crowd, are giving and sacrificing a lot for an education to make their lives better, and they are gaining from that.
If college educations become free, why would teens and young adults work hard in high school? We would obliterate that drive.
In Florida specifically, this program would open a window to those who wish to be handed a degree. If people are handed a free associates degree, they could go to the University of Florida and study side-by-side with students who dedicated their lives to their education and worked hard to be there. You would have people burying themselves in debt working for the same degree as someone who will be paying for half of the degree that they didn’t academically qualify for from the beginning.
An educated workforce is a prosperous one, but with that comes a hard working force. We cannot instill the idea that you will be handed what you need to get that job into the youth, especially at the expense of the taxpayers wallet.
The average full time student in the U.S. receives $12,740 in aid along with $7,110 in grants. The rest comes down to hard work for scholarships or working.
Those who work for the bare minimum through high school and their free two years of college do not deserve a free degree nor a chance to attend some of the most prestigious schools in the country.
