You Hsieh Chen

Kilpatrick Lynn

ENGL 1010

Does college need to be free?

Is free college work for all student? Many people will take that free college is

a perfect policy for everyone who wants to go to college, or those low-income family.

But things that most people did not consider about, as long as the more people get into

college, the college degree will become just the same value with high school diploma.

Germany was the last country that has free college policy in Europe, these years,

German change their policy from free college into lower tuition, and there must

have some reason that make them to do that.

Bruckmeier, Kerstin, et al. Tuition Fees and the Time to Graduation: Evidence from

a Natural Experiment. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management

In this research experiment paper, the author take experiment to see if tuition

really effective the time that students graduation time. They apply this experiment in

some public universities of German federal states, and in these public universities

they ask student to pay the general tuition, and some of the universities student do not

have to pay any tuition on university. To see if tuition effect their graduation time.

After the experiment, prove that the students who has to pay the tuition will graduate

faster than students who does not have to pay.

The authors are people who care tuition problem nowadays. It is published by

Taylor &Francis. The audiences are person who cares about education policy and

management. Author use many examples to prove how the experiment goes, so that

seems logic to me.

 Before that, I always think that why government did not pay tuition for college

student, if they want student being success and get higher education they should set

the tuition free. But after reading this article, I feel that if student did not have to pay

any tuition for university, and student will only take that granted, did not take that

seriously, so I think charge some tuition will help student on study.

Marginson, Simon. The Worldwide Trend to High Participation Higher

Education:Dynamics of Social Stratification in Inclusive Systems.

Nowadays, there are one-third people in the world take higher education, which

is upper than high school, college, or university, and the rate is still increasing in this

generation. This kind of High Participation Systems also is the trend in some

middle-income and low-income countries. Although these countries have the high rate

of the higher education, but the quality of the education totally cannot compare with

those high-income countries. Some countries only want the HPS get higher rather

than care about the education quality, authors noticed that because they found that

even though the rate of the higher education increase very year in most of countries,

but those middle-income or low-income countries student did not enter the higher

level of social mobility. And in this article, the authors want to explore the

relationship between stratified social backgrounds and the stratifying structures in

HPS.

In this text, the authors are those people who cares about the economic

development of the whole world, and they eager to explore the relationship with the

higher education. Readers are those people want to know what happen with the

economic development nowadays, and why some people take the higher education,

but they cannot go to the higher level of the social mobility. This text is logic, cause

the author used many data to prove what they convey to readers.

Before I read this text, I always think that it is a good thing that everyone has the
chance to take higher education, but after that, I learn that it was not a good thing that

everyone take the higher education, even everyone has the experience of the higher

education, it does not mean that they have equal knowledge, I think that is the socials

realistic, people should find more solution to overcome.

Ellen Andersen, Pros and Cons of Tuition-Free College www.collegeraptor.com, 17,

Oct. 2017. https://www.collegeraptor.com/find-colleges/articles/affordability-college-

cost/pros-cons-tuition-free-college/.

In this article, Ellen take many example and tell the pros and cons, first is

tuition: free tuition is great for those lower-income students, but those money have

to come from somewhere, can we use the tax? Somebody may feel it is not fair for, so

students did not use. Second is student debt, most of America university student

have to pay their loan after they graduate, if they do not have to pay those loan, and

they can spend those money on somewhere else, but the con is most of student have

their first money management experience on their student debt, and if they do not

have that experience, they might not know how to make a budget. Third is student can

choose their major by their heart rather than their parents choose for them, or they just

want to find job to pay their loan, in other hand, if they do not have the pressure, they

will become lazy for their class. The last one is more and more people would able to

go to college, that is a good thing for everyone to have chance to get the higher

education, but on the other hand, the more people enter college, the higher diploma

they have to get to apply a better job.

The author, Ellen Andersen, is a professor in University of Vermont, and she

cares about how free college works, and she wants to tell people the pros and cons, to

letting people decide is that should be keep doing or should be stop. The audience are

those people who cares about the free college, they want to know more about which is

better way for students, or they could be governments stuff and want to know how
people reflect of free college. This text is logic for me, in this article, the author not

only say something about how great the free college, but also what is the policy lack

of.

Before reading this, I just noticed that free college could bring many benefits and

some student may waste this source, I did not think that much about loan, accurately,

in America many students choose loan to pay their tuition. Even though free college is

a really good policy for low-income student, but I think in many aspects, that should

correct a little bit, in that way can really bring benefit for more student.

Max Page and Dan Clawson, Its Time to Push for Free College

http://www.nea.org/home/62740.htm

In this article, authors tell reader that there are many benefits to push free

college. Couple decades ago, high school become necessary, and they think that

college is the necessary in this generation, they think that it is good for everyone and

the whole society. What they said is compare with high school graduate student,

college graduate students have lower ratio for smoke and crime. Maybe students have

expensive loan have to pay right after they graduate from college, just because they

want to go to college, authors think student should not have the pressure to afford

these loans to limit them choose of job. Authors think that now is the right timing to

push free college for all student.

Max Page and Dan Clawson are professors of architecture and sociology,

respectively, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, they also are co-authors of

The Future of Higher Education. The audience are those people want free college be

pushed soon, or they have the same idea with authors. I think the audience could be

anyone who interesting in free college topic, either they agree or disagree the free

college policy, they can just try to understand what people think. This article is logical

for me, they not only tell people what they think, they also try to think why people
disagree this.

I know that there are many benefit to push free college, that can let those low-

income family have equal chance to enter college, enjoy college life. But as the

college become the same value with high school, people will want to pursue higher

education diploma, then the same thing will happen in graduate school, and so on.

In conclusion, free college policy is a totally good way to help students, I do

really want to see how it goes in the future, I also want this policy can be push in

many place, but I think before that, the policy still has some sides should be revise. Of

course once a new policy be publish and will get some approvals and also some

exceptions, but in that way government can revise that better, to bring more benefit

for more people.

Nowadays, college become more and more common, and there is more and more

college graduate cannot find job right after they graduate. In that way, people will try

to take the higher education for getting a job easier, that says, some of job are found

base on your education background, as you take education you have to pay tuition, in

other words, does the speed that you find job base on tuition that you pay for college?

In my opinion, as what most people do, people do not cherish free stuff as

important as what they have to pay, I cannot be one hundred percent sure that all the

people do that, but at least I can say most of people are like that, take those free things

for granted, the free things mean that you do not have to pay or effort anything in

order to get that. But my friend got different opinion from me, and it change my
opinion more or less, she told me that, if you do not have food, you are thirsty to died,

and someone just gave you water, will you not cherish water? If you know how does

that feel about having nothing, you will cherish what you have now.

Bruckmeier Kerstin, author of Tuition Fees and the Time to Graduation:

Evidence from a Natural Experiment. they did an experiment to see if tuition affect

students speed for finish their education. And the result of the experiment displays

that if they have to pay tuition that student will finish faster than those students do not

have to.

I do agree what Kerstin said in their experiment, and I believe most of people are

the same with the result of the experiment, but if free college because of those people

and stop running, it is totally not fair for those people are eager to having higher

education. I believe those people that want to enter college but due to family income

background and hinder their dream, will take free college as the biggest grace from

the society, and they will try hard to feedback and make the society having better

future.

I think college is important for this generations kid, cause in this generation high

school become and more and more countries want to push children to take higher

education, in that way, that can let children have more knowledge in the future.

Marginson Simon, author of The Worldwide Trend to High Participation Higher

Education: Dynamics of Social Stratification in Inclusive Systems. He found that

many countries want to have higher rate of college graduate, that may mean their

country has better education system than others. But that does not work on those low-

income country, as they just want their HPS being higher, they will abandon the

purpose of education, and does not care about the quality.

Ellen Andersen, author of Pros and Cons of Tuition-Free College, she points

out that money is a huge problem of free college, including where those tuition from,

student debt, and the most important is competitiveness in the future.

Max Page and Dan Clawson, the authors of Its Time to Push for Free

College, in their opinion, they found that college graduate have better manner of

everything, and lower ratio of crime, what they say were in college students are able

to learn more knowledge. As this high competitiveness generation, it is the right time

to push free college.

Works Cite

Bernie Sander, Make college free for all. 22. Oct. 2015,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-america-needs-free-

college-now/2015/10/22/a3d05512-7685-11e5-bc80-
 9091021aeb69_story.html?utm_term=.5f5afd0115d2

Bruckmeier, Kerstin, et al. Tuition Fees and the Time to Graduation: Evidence from

a Natural Experiment. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, vol.

37, no. 4, Aug. 2015, pp. 459-471. EBSCOhost, doi:

10.1080/136080X.2015.1056596.

Ellen Andersen, Pros and Cons of Tuition-Free College www.collegeraptor.com, 17,

Oct. 2017. https://www.collegeraptor.com/find-colleges/articles/affordability-

college-cost/pros-cons-tuition-free-college/.

Marginson, Simon. The Worldwide Trend to High Participation Higher

Education:Dynamics of Social Stratification in Inclusive Systems. Higher

Education (00181560), vol. 72, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 413-434. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1007/s10734-016-0016-x.

Max Page and Dan Clawson, Its Time to Push for Free College

http://www.nea.org/home/62740.htm