Free College Tuition: A Curse in Disguise
By: Tatiana Vila-Ferreri
Staff Writer
Washington has been talking about passing an initiative to abolish tuition in colleges.
Tuition has been the dread of students for as long as it’s been around and highly contributes to the ever-growing list of reasons people have to not attend college.
In May 2018, Gov. Jay Inslee signed off on a law that would lower the cost of tuition or even rid it completely. TThere is always something for every student. his initiative was specifically for low income families that would not be able to attend college otherwise.
Many students find such approaches to the issue of tuition to be crucial. To most, tuition should be free, or at the very least reduced for those in lower income families. “[Free tuition] sounds great for students,” said Lance Simons, a 16-year-old Running Start student at Green River College. “Lots of students struggle with student debt.”
However, is that solution so cut and dry? Is it so easy to approach this sort of issue with the idea it could possibly help everyone?
Free tuition is a lovely idea in hindsight. To attend college for a minimal or non-existent price is an American dream come true. But what does abolishing the cost of tuition mean for the rest of the college? There is a flaw that lies within this thinking: a fear that, without the support colleges get from tuition, there is no saying that the quality of tools and resources will be the best it can be.
Students greatly need these sorts of options; testing centers, equipment to check out, libraries to borrow books from, and these all only exist due to the support that the price of tuition offers. Who’s to say that this necessary quality will remain with the absence of tuition?
“In an ideal world, it’s a good solution to make education accessible…with the caveat to maintain the quality [of the college],” said Professor Sarah Dillon Gilmartin, director of the Green River College arts department.
It becomes a lesser-of-two-evils kind of situation. Is it preferable to pay a lot of money, breaking your bank and placing you in loan debt, or going to the mercy of scholarships and financial aid? Or is it more convenient to embrace the idea of minimal or no tuition, but deal with the probability of having to cut costs on items that the college needs to have?
To clarify, there is nothing wrong with the idea of free tuition in colleges. It would benefit so many people and would open new doors to those who never would have gotten a fighting chance for their education otherwise.
It brings to the table a very real problem, which is the accessibility to education for those who cannot afford to go to college.
However, the anxiety lies particularly in how free or reduced tuition would affect the rest of the school, and how it could be approached without diminishing quality.
To obliterate tuition is a start, but it isn’t the most ironclad of solutions when it comes to maintaining the school’s current quality of life, and certainly should only be applied depending on the student.
“If a student comes from a less advantaged or undeserved community, they should have free tuition and those that come from wealthier backgrounds should pay tuition,” said professor Brazell Carter, a history professor at Green River College. “Tuition plays a key role in paying for vital services, which is why tuition should be applied based on real economic conditions a given student and his/her family comes from.”
Ultimately, free tuition is an issue that needs to be worked on thoroughly before it is actively implemented in student’s lives. Once Washington finally has the accessibility to free tuition, it could possibly make the college experience for thousands of students much simpler.
An optimistic view on America’s tution problem could be the answer that student’s and senators’s are looking for. Hopefully future generations will no longer have to face this heavy-hitting problem and able to go on with their lives and not be held back.
