Public Higher Education

Education is a right, not a privilege. The fact that students in the United States have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to further their education is absurd. Societies cannot grow and succeed without higher education and that it the main reason it should be free. Many countries, such as Finland and Norway, have free higher education to all citizens.

With the prices that students, myself included, many young people choose not to attend college. Fortunately for me, my mother is paying it all for me but without her, who knows what I would be doing right now. Many students do not have that luxury and therefore avoid college all together because they do not want to be buried in debt. It is hard enough to get a job after college. Students should not have the burden of thousands of dollars in debt hanging over their heads. I always hear, "Stay in school. You'll make a better salary after you get a college degree." That is true, however, many students do not want to make the commitment to pay back thousands of dollars when they aren't even sure if they will get a decent job after college.

Making students pay for their education is ludicrous. Just wait until tuition fees are so high that only the rich can go to school. We are getting closer and closer to that every time tuition goes up. I can't even imagine what the country will be like when only a small percentage of people can afford higher education.

Typically, college graduates do make more that high school graduates so why not give everyone in this country a chance to better themselves? Everyone, as a human being, has the right to education and the right to make their life better. Free public higher education would secure those rights. The price of tuition needs to be drastically lowered or gotten rid of all together to give all Americans the quality higher education that they deserve.