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Should College Be Free? The Pros and Cons

Types of Publicly Funded College Tuition Programs

Pros: why college should be free, cons: why college should not be free, what the free college debate means for students, how to cut your college costs now, frequently asked questions (faqs).

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Americans have been debating the wisdom of free college for decades, and more than 30 states now offer some type of free college program. But it wasn't until 2021 that a nationwide free college program came close to becoming reality, re-energizing a longstanding debate over whether or not free college is a good idea. 

And despite a setback for the free-college advocates, the idea is still in play. The Biden administration's free community college proposal was scrapped from the American Families Plan . But close observers say that similar proposals promoting free community college have drawn solid bipartisan support in the past. "Community colleges are one of the relatively few areas where there's support from both Republicans and Democrats," said Tulane economics professor Douglas N. Harris, who has previously consulted with the Biden administration on free college, in an interview with The Balance. 

To get a sense of the various arguments for and against free college, as well as the potential impacts on U.S. students and taxpayers, The Balance combed through studies investigating the design and implementation of publicly funded free tuition programs and spoke with several higher education policy experts. Here's what we learned about the current debate over free college in the U.S.—and more about how you can cut your college costs or even get free tuition through existing programs.

Key Takeaways

• Research shows free tuition programs encourage more students to attend college and increase graduation rates, which creates a better-educated workforce and higher-earning consumers who can help boost the economy. 
• Some programs are criticized for not paying students’ non-tuition expenses, not benefiting students who need assistance most, or steering students toward community college instead of four-year programs.  
• If you want to find out about free programs in your area, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has a searchable database. You’ll find the link further down in this article. 

Before diving into the weeds of the free college debate, it's important to note that not all free college programs are alike. Most publicly funded tuition assistance programs are restricted to the first two years of study, typically at community colleges. Free college programs also vary widely in the ways they’re designed, funded, and structured:

• Last-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs cover any remaining tuition after a student has used up other financial aid , such as Pell Grants. Most state-run free college programs fall into this category. However, these programs don’t typically help with room and board or other expenses.
• First-dollar tuition-free programs : These programs pay for students' tuition upfront, although they’re much rarer than last-dollar programs. Any remaining financial aid that a student receives can then be applied to other expenses, such as books and fees. The California College Promise Grant is a first-dollar program because it waives enrollment fees for eligible students.
• Debt-free programs : These programs pay for all of a student's college expenses , including room and board, guaranteeing that they can graduate debt-free. But they’re also much less common, likely due to their expense.  

Proponents often argue that publicly funded college tuition programs eventually pay for themselves, in part by giving students the tools they need to find better jobs and earn higher incomes than they would with a high school education. The anticipated economic impact, they suggest, should help ease concerns about the costs of public financing education. Here’s a closer look at the arguments for free college programs.

A More Educated Workforce Benefits the Economy

Morley Winograd, President of the Campaign for Free College Tuition, points to the economic and tax benefits that result from the higher wages of college grads. "For government, it means more revenue," said Winograd in an interview with The Balance—the more a person earns, the more they will likely pay in taxes . In addition, "the country's economy gets better because the more skilled the workforce this country has, the better [it’s] able to compete globally." Similarly, local economies benefit from a more highly educated, better-paid workforce because higher earners have more to spend. "That's how the economy grows," Winograd explained, “by increasing disposable income."

According to Harris, the return on a government’s investment in free college can be substantial. "The additional finding of our analysis was that these things seem to consistently pass a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "The benefits seem to be at least double the cost in the long run when we look at the increased college attainment and the earnings that go along with that, relative to the cost and the additional funding and resources that go into them." 

Free College Programs Encourage More Students to Attend

Convincing students from underprivileged backgrounds to take a chance on college can be a challenge, particularly when students are worried about overextending themselves financially. But free college programs tend to have more success in persuading students to consider going, said Winograd, in part because they address students' fears that they can't afford higher education . "People who wouldn't otherwise think that they could go to college, or who think the reason they can't is [that] it's too expensive, [will] stop, pay attention, listen, decide it's an opportunity they want to take advantage of, and enroll," he said.

According to Harris, students also appear to like the certainty and simplicity of the free college message. "They didn't want to have to worry that next year they were not going to have enough money to pay their tuition bill," he said. "They don't know what their finances are going to look like a few months down the road, let alone next year, and it takes a while to get a degree. So that matters." 

Free college programs can also help send "a clear and tangible message" to students and their families that a college education is attainable for them, said Michelle Dimino, an Education Director with Third Way. This kind of messaging is especially important to first-generation and low-income students, she said. 

Free College Increases Graduation Rates and Financial Security

Free tuition programs appear to improve students’ chances of completing college. For example, Harris noted that his research found a meaningful link between free college tuition and higher graduation rates. "What we found is that it did increase college graduation at the two-year college level, so more students graduated than otherwise would have." 

Free college tuition programs also give people a better shot at living a richer, more comfortable life, say advocates. "It's almost an economic necessity to have some college education," noted Winograd. Similar to the way a high school diploma was viewed as crucial in the 20th century, employees are now learning that they need at least two years of college to compete in a global, information-driven economy. "Free community college is a way of making that happen quickly, effectively, and essentially," he explained. 

Free community college isn’t a universally popular idea. While many critics point to the potential costs of funding such programs, others identify issues with the effectiveness and fairness of current attempts to cover students’ college tuition. Here’s a closer look at the concerns about free college programs.

It Would Be Too Expensive

The idea of free community college has come under particular fire from critics who worry about the cost of social spending. Since community colleges aren't nearly as expensive as four-year colleges—often costing thousands of dollars a year—critics argue that individuals can often cover their costs using other forms of financial aid . But, they point out, community college costs would quickly add up when paid for in bulk through a free college program: Biden’s proposed free college plan would have cost $49.6 billion in its first year, according to an analysis from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Some opponents argue that the funds could be put to better use in other ways, particularly by helping students complete their degrees.

Free College Isn't Really Free

One of the most consistent concerns that people have voiced about free college programs is that they don’t go far enough. Even if a program offers free tuition, students will need to find a way to pay for other college-related expenses , such as books, room and board, transportation, high-speed internet, and, potentially, child care. "Messaging is such a key part of this," said Dimino. Students "may apply or enroll in college, understanding it's going to be free, but then face other unexpected charges along the way." 

It's important for policymakers to consider these factors when designing future free college programs. Otherwise, Dimino and other observers fear that students could potentially wind up worse off if they enroll and invest in attending college and then are forced to drop out due to financial pressures. 

Free College Programs Don’t Help the Students Who Need Them Most

Critics point out that many free college programs are limited by a variety of quirks and restrictions, which can unintentionally shut out deserving students or reward wealthier ones. Most state-funded free college programs are last-dollar programs, which don’t kick in until students have applied financial aid to their tuition. That means these programs offer less support to low-income students who qualify for need-based aid—and more support for higher-income students who don’t.

Community College May Not Be the Best Path for All Students

Some critics also worry that all students will be encouraged to attend community college when some would have been better off at a four-year institution. Four-year colleges tend to have more resources than community colleges and can therefore offer more support to high-need students. 

In addition, some research has shown that students at community colleges are less likely to be academically successful than students at four-year colleges, said Dimino. "Statistically, the data show that there are poorer outcomes for students at community colleges […] such as lower graduation rates and sometimes low transfer rates from two- to four-year schools." 

With Congress focused on other priorities, a nationwide free college program is unlikely to happen anytime soon. However, some states and municipalities offer free tuition programs, so students may be able to access some form of free college, depending on where they live. A good resource is the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s searchable database of Promise Programs , which lists more than 100 free community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

In the meantime, school leaders and policymakers may shift their focus to other access and equity interventions for low-income students. For example, higher education experts Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel published a book in 2021 titled "Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students." The book argues that policymakers should focus more strongly on college completion, not just college access. "There hasn't been enough laser-focus on how we actually get people to complete their degrees," noted Strempel in an interview with The Balance. 

Rather than just improving access for low-income college students, Strempel and Handel argue that decision-makers should instead look more closely at the social and economic issues that affect students , such as food and housing insecurity, child care, transportation, and personal technology. For example, "If you don't have a computer, you don't have access to your education anymore," said Strempel. "It's like today's pencil."

Saving money on college costs can be challenging, but you can take steps to reduce your cost of living. For example, if you're interested in a college but haven't yet enrolled, pay close attention to where it's located and how much residents typically pay for major expenses, such as housing, utilities, and food. If the college is located in a high-cost area, it could be tough to justify the living expenses you'll incur. Similarly, if you plan to commute, take the time to check gas or public transportation prices and calculate how much you'll likely have to spend per month to go to and from campus several times a week. 

Now that more colleges offer classes online, it may also be worth looking at lower-cost programs in areas that are farther from where you live, particularly if they allow you to graduate without setting foot on campus. Also, check out state and federal financial aid programs that can help you slim down your expenses, or, in some cases, pay for them completely. Finally, look into need-based and merit-based grants and scholarships that can help you cover even more of your expenses. Also, consider applying to no-loan colleges , which promise to help students graduate without going into debt.

Should community college be free?

It’s a big question with varying viewpoints. Supporters of free community college cite the economic contributions of a more educated workforce and the individual benefit of financial security, while critics caution against the potential expense and the inefficiency of last-dollar free college programs. 

What states offer free college?

More than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington State. The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education lists over 100 last-dollar community college programs and 16 first-dollar community college programs, though the majority are limited to California residents.

Is there a free college?

There is no such thing as a truly free college education. But some colleges offer free tuition programs for students, and more than 30 states offer some type of tuition-free college program. In addition, students may also want to check out employer-based programs. A number of big employers now offer to pay for their employees' college tuition . Finally, some students may qualify for enough financial aid or scholarships to cover most of their college costs.

Scholarships360. " Which States Offer Tuition-Free Community College? "

The White House. “ Build Back Better Framework ,” see “Bringing Down Costs, Reducing Inflationary Pressures, and Strengthening the Middle Class.”

The White House. “ Fact Sheet: How the Build Back Better Plan Will Create a Better Future for Young Americans ,” see “Education and Workforce Opportunities.”

Coast Community College District. “ California College Promise Grant .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Biden’s Free College Plan Would Pay for Itself Within 10 Years.”

Third Way. “ Why Free College Could Increase Inequality .”

Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “ The Dollars and Cents of Free College ,” see “Free-College Programs Have Different Effects on Race and Class Equity.”

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. “ College Promise Programs: A Comprehensive Catalog of College Promise Programs in the United States .”

The Pros and Cons of Free College Essay

Utopia in the sphere of education, the advantages of free college education, the disadvantages of free college education, works cited.

A college is a facility giving people access to receiving higher education. Today, most jobs require a degree, and individuals without it have fewer employment opportunities. A good education has become a necessity for society as it opens many paths for building a career and making a living. During the last decades, tuition fees have significantly increased due to this demand, which made education impossible to receive for millions of people. There are multiple debates about whether the government should guarantee free higher education to all the people. Proponents of this initiative assert that it would allow more students to receive a good qualification according to their interests and, in its turn, it would contribute to the improvement of the economic situation. However, many experts are concerned with the idea of such a utopia as people studying for free tend to show worse attitudes than those who pay for their education. Moreover, subsidizing free colleges becomes a burden on the taxpayers.

Education is an essential part of human life as it allows receiving new skills and knowledge to become qualified in a certain sphere. The main purpose of education is to prepare individuals for the challenges of adult life. In the ideal world, there are two basic aims of training: working and sustaining good relationships, while in reality there are still problems with both of these aspects of life. On the contrary, in Utopia, schools would be designed by specialists, caring about the main problems of people both at home and at work, and building the training on the basis of this information. In Utopia, education considers virtue and moral values to be the most important as it helps to control the behavior of its citizens within the existing social structure (More). A special committee would also have to decide on the subjects to be studied by students, depending on their needs for future life, and would include self-awareness classes and training aimed at sustaining relationships with others. The education in the Utopia would be holistic, free, and targeted at everyone, making it possible for all the people to receive equal opportunities, not depending on their race, gender, or social status.

Widening of the workforce and the improvement of the economy

The existence of free colleges in the United States and the idea of making education without charge for everyone have caused numerous debates. Proponents of this initiative state that it serves as an opportunity for more people to receive a qualification as more than 60% of jobs require post-secondary education. From this perspective, giving people a chance to become specialized in a certain area allows them to climb the social and financial ladder, which has a positive influence on the state of the country’s economy. In addition, the idea of free college “equates to accessibility and attainability, often these new programs only remove obstacles for students, or the families of students, who are already highly likely to obtain a college degree” (DiMartino 259). Numerous studies have shown that more than a half of new students who enrolled in free community college programs were coming from low-income families, and would not be able to receive a degree without this aid. Those students showed good results and later received more employment opportunities.

Moreover, free access to various educational options for all people would widen the labor market by increasing the number of trained specialists. In its turn, it would help industries to hire and train qualified personnel with a wide range of skills. In addition, free education would also help to improve the country’s economy as it would allow students to receive a degree without collecting debts, which are being returned for the next years. It would permit people to be ready to earn and invest instead of thinking about paying off debts, which would have a good impact on the economy. For example, in Tennessee, according to the estimations, student loans significantly decreased in the first year of their program. From these perspectives, the availability of free colleges helps to improve the economy of the country as it allows people, who do not have resources for receiving a good education, to become qualified.

Liquidation of injustice

Another reason supporting the idea of making education free for everyone is its contribution to the liquidation of injustice. According to Bill Haslam, who was the first governor to sign a document about making community colleges in the American state of Tennessee free, it helps to fight inequality as people receive similar opportunities due to this initiative. The standard educational system, requiring payment from students, makes it impossible for many individuals from low-income families to afford to receive a degree due to high tuition costs. People confirm that their concern about the financial side interferes with their goals. According to the statistics, “nearly 60 percent of respondents said they worry about having enough money to pay for school, while half are concerned about paying their monthly expenses” (“Financial Stress Prevents College Students from Graduating”). Due to this inequality, numerous individuals do not have a chance to make contributions to society. According to multiple studies, the counties, which have already offered free educational programs, prove that injustice has declined there, while the rates of graduation have increased. From this perspective, free tuition can contribute to the solution to the situation with societal inequality.

Focus on careers

Numerous studies have shown that many students cannot focus on their studies and future careers because they are concerned with financial issues as they struggle to find means for paying for their education. Many individuals have to find a job to earn enough money to allow receiving a degree, which leads to worse performance due to the lack of time and emotional resources. There is also a growing rate among student loans for education, which leads to people thinking about returning debts instead of making a career and contributing to society. The reason for this phenomenon is that “the increasing use of debt, as a way of paying for higher education, shifts risk to individuals and away from the government” (Glater 1580). It may become a serious obstacle as “high debt load increases the risk for college dropout” (Houle 67). In addition, according to experts, educational facilities of the future should not only provide training in the chosen sphere but help people to become better at managing their resources and make wiser borrowing decisions. From this perspective, making education free would allow students to be more focused on their studies.

Worse attitudes of students

The opponents of the initiative, aimed at making colleges free for everyone, find several problems, which represent serious disadvantages of the idea. According to their opinion, students, who are not charged with a payment, demonstrate less commitment and worse attitudes to the training process. The team at the University of Michigan organized an experiment, during which they contacted low-income, high-achieving students and told them they had four years of free tuition and fees (Sacerdote). This guarantee led to an increase in the number of students “who enrolled at the University of Michigan by 15 percentage points” (Sacerdote par. 9). Moreover, those, who use educational services for free, show less commitment to the process of learning and often become a burden for teachers as they tend to demonstrate bad behavior patterns, a lack of discipline, and interfere with the training process. It happens as they have no stimulus to take full advantage of the opportunities offered to them by colleges. Such students are often interested only in picking up a better degree, which would guarantee them a well-paying job. This attitude leads to the appearance of more inefficient specialists who cannot make a contribution to society.

Increased burden on taxpayers

Another reason, used by the opponents of the idea, is that this system shifts the financial burden from students to taxpayers and the government cannot subsidize all of them to guarantee people with equal educational opportunities. From this perspective, experts estimate that making colleges free for all the population is impossible due to its devastative impact on the economy. Subsidizing post-secondary educational facilities is expensive for the government. Investing in the sphere of education for everyone would mean that the government would have to reduce the military budget or the support of a number of other industries. It would mean that the country’s security would become less efficient and many companies, deprived of money, would suffer and, probably, would stop existing. From this perspective, making the initiative available to everyone can lead to a financial crisis and only worsen the situation.

The arguments against the idea of making colleges free can be simply rebutted with the help of specific measures. One of the solutions to the problem of the lack of commitment among students is to involve testing of their abilities before granting them access to an educational facility. Many institutions in the United States already have this requirement for their candidates. For example, colleges in Chicago demand the participants of their programs providing free tuition opportunities, to earn at least a “B” average. The practice of evaluation of students before accepting them to the facility has proven its efficiency as it allows granting options for receiving free education only to those who are ready to take full advantage of them. It leads to an increase in the quality of educational services and contributes to the growth of the number of well-trained specialists.

The government can also reconsider the financial issue as the importance of higher education is obvious for everyone and the system of free-of-charge admission has proven its efficiency in many states, as well. It is especially important today as the world is suffering from the pandemic, which has impacted all the spheres of life, including education. The situation has also demonstrated the need for training opportunities for everyone. Individuals require various options for obtaining new skills and knowledge, which can guarantee them an ability to make a living and to sustain the country’s economy, regardless of their race and social status. There are numerous measures, which can be undertaken by the government, including revaluation of its spending in different sectors and introducing policies, which would help to cope with organizations and individuals, who avoid paying taxes. These measures would help to find funds for subsidizing the sphere of education, which would provide all people with an opportunity to receive a degree and become efficient.

In conclusion, free colleges are a good initiative aimed at helping students, especially those who come from low-income families and cannot afford to receive a degree. The program allows more individuals to receive a good education and become qualified in the chosen sphere. Such a system provides people with more employment opportunities, allowing them to make a contribution to society. It also helps to fight the problem of injustice as it gives equal opportunities to all people. Moreover, the initiative stimulates the improvement of the economy as it helps to widen the workforce and receive more good specialists. However, there are several arguments used by the opponents of the idea, claiming that students, who are paid for, demonstrate less commitment and poor discipline, causing problems to teachers. Moreover, the financial perspective also interferes with the concept of nationwide free access to colleges as the government cannot subsidize all of the facilities and it would increase a burden for taxpayers. Nevertheless, there are ways for coping with these problems as there is a strong need for educational opportunities for all people, not depending on their race, gender, and social status.

DiMartino, Lauren A. The “Free College” Illusion: How State Tuition Support Programs are Widening the Opportunity Gap . Georgetown Journal on Poverty, Law, and Policy , vol. 25, no. 2, 2018, pp. 258-301.

“ Financial Stress Prevents College Students from Graduating. What Can We Do? ” Scholarship America , 2019.

Glater, Jonathan D. Student Debt and Higher Education Risk . California Law Review , vol. 103, no. 6, 2021, pp. 1561-1614.

Houle, Jason N. Disparities in Debt: Parents’ Socioeconomic Resources and Young Adult Student Loan Debt . Sociology of Education , vol. 87, no. 1, 2014.

More, Thomas. Utopia . A Norton Critical Edition. Translated and Edited by Robert M. Adams. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992.

Sacerdote, Bruce. Opinion: Here’s the Downside of Making Community College Free . MarketWatch, 2020.

• Tuition-Free University Education: Argument Against
• Two Opposite Worlds: "Utopia" and "1984"
• “The Best State of a Republic and the New Island Utopia” by Sir Thomas Moore
• Validity of a Non-Speech Dynamic Assessment of Phonemic Awareness
• The United States Student-Loan Debt Crisis
• The Issues of Student Loans in United States
• Prejudice and Discrimination Among Students
• Why Students Should Not Be Allowed to Use Their Cellphones in Class?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Is free college a good idea? Increasingly, evidence says yes

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, douglas n. harris douglas n. harris nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy , professor and chair, department of economics - tulane university @douglasharris99.

May 10, 2021

• 10 min read

In just a few short years, the idea of free college has moved from a radical idea to mainstream Democratic thinking. President Biden made free college one of his core campaign planks , and one that the first lady has been promoting for years. In his recent address to Congress, the president also signaled that he is ready for legislative action on a scaled-back version of the idea as part of his American Families Plan .

Two weeks ago, the nonprofit College Promise (CP)—led by Martha Kanter, who served as President Obama’s undersecretary for education—also released a proposal that will influence the free college debate. (Full disclosure: I previously advised the Biden campaign and presently advise CP, but have received no compensation for these efforts.)

In today’s polarized environment, the free college idea stands out for its bipartisan support. A majority of self-identified Republicans has supported the notion of free college in some polls. In fact, one of the first such statewide programs was put in place by Bill Haslam, the former Republican governor of Tennessee. While this could go the way of Obamacare, which faced strong GOP congressional opposition despite the law’s origins with Republican Mitt Romney, free college seems different. Biden’s latest plan only applies to community colleges, which focus on career and vocational education of the sort Republicans support, as opposed to universities, which many Republicans view as hostile battlegrounds in a culture war.

But I am less interested in the politics than the evidence of effectiveness. I have studied college access for many years and run two randomized control trials of financial aid , which produced some of the first causal evidence on free college in Milwaukee. Two years ago, Brookings released the first installment of the Milwaukee work, which I carried out with a team of researchers. Since then, we have collected more data and learned more about how students responded over time. Below, I summarize our just-released study (co-authored with Jonathan Mills), compare our results to other financial aid programs, and then discuss implications for the Biden and CP proposals. Consequently, I conclude that the evidence increasingly favors free college and “open access aid” more generally.

What Did We Learn in Milwaukee?

I developed The Degree Project (TDP) in 2009 as a demonstration program in partnership between the nonprofit Ascendium (then known as the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates) and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). TDP offered all first-time 9 th graders in half of MPS high schools $12,000 for college as “last-dollar” aid. Students could use the funds for college if they graduated from high school on time with a GPA of 2.5 and a class attendance rate of 90%. Also, as is the norm with free college programs, students had to fill out the FAFSA and have at least one dollar of unmet need. The aid could be used to attend any of the 66 public, in-state, two- or four-year colleges in Wisconsin. Ascendium provided up to $31 million to fund the grant and, as the main program administrator, sent regular letters to remind students about the program and its requirements. The organization also worked with school counselors to support students becoming eligible for the funds and preparing for college.

TDP was announced to students in the fall of 2011. Using anonymized data, we then tracked students’ high school, college, and life outcomes for eight years, and we recently received data extending through when students were roughly 22 years old. As a rare randomized trial, we could estimate the effects by comparing the control and treatment group outcomes. Here is what we found:

• For students who met the performance requirements, the program increased graduation from two-year colleges by 3 percentage points . This might seem small, but the denominator here is comprised of low-income 9 th graders. Half of the control group did not even graduate from high school, let alone college. The effect amounts to a 25% increase in two-year degrees.
• The framing and design of the program as free two-year college changed student decisions in ways consistent with what free college advocates suggest. The $12,000 maximum award amount was selected because it was sufficient to cover tuition and fees for a two-year college degree. The fact that TDP made two-year college free, but only reduced the cost of four-year college, was clearly communicated to students. This appears to explain one of our main results: Student enrollments shifted from four-year to two-year colleges. This is noteworthy given that students could use the funds at either two- or four-year colleges. In fact, students likely would have been able to use more of the $12,000 if they had shifted to four-year colleges. The only plausible reason for shifting to two-year colleges is that they were really attracted to the idea of free college.
• The “early commitment” nature of the program had some modest positive effects on some high school outcomes . Students learned about TDP in their 9 th grade year, giving them time to change their high school behaviors and college plans. Although it did not improve high school academic achievement, we find that TDP increased college expectations and the steps students took to prepare for college. TDP recipients also reported working harder because of the program (even though this did not show up in the academic measures). This highlights the fact that free college might also help address not only college-going rates, but the long-term stagnancy in high school outcomes.
• The merit requirements undermined the program’s effectiveness . Though the 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance and other requirements were arguably modest, only 21% of eligible students ended up meeting them. So, they ended up excluding many students. We also tested the two main ways that the merit requirements could have been helpful: (a) merit requirements might provide incentives for students to work hard during high school and better prepare for college, and (b) merit requirements might target aid to students who respond to it most. We find no evidence of either benefit. While students did work harder (see point [3] above), this appears to be due to other elements of the program, not the merit requirements.

Overall, these results suggest that aid is most effective when it is “open access”—that is, aid with early commitment and free college framing, but no merit requirements.

What about the evidence beyond Milwaukee?

Our study also reviews other research on financial aid, including federal aid, state merit aid programs, and the newer “promise scholarship” programs that mimic free college. Our study is not alone in finding that financial aid improves student outcomes. In fact, the vast majority of the most rigorous studies find positive effects on college attendance and college graduation. Given the strong average benefits of college, we can expect follow-up studies to show effects on employment earnings, voting, and other outcomes.

What about the costs? Open access aid is more expensive to be sure. More students receive aid and the aid levels per students are larger than traditional financial aid. Is it worth it? Our analysis suggests it is. We carried out new cost-benefit analyses of multiple programs, including TDP, but also other actively studied programs in: Kalamazoo, Michigan; Knox County, Tennessee; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and one statewide program in Nebraska. We also used estimates of the average effects of aid taken from prior literature reviews. All of these programs pass a cost-benefit test. That is, the effects on college outcomes, and the effects of college outcomes on future earnings, is much larger than the cost to the government and society as a whole. Moreover, it appears that benefits-per-dollar-of-cost are at least as high with open access aid as with more restricted programs. This means that open access aid provides greater total benefits to the community as a whole.

Back to the Free College Proposals

What do these results mean for President Biden’s and CP’s proposals? The table below provides a side-by-side comparison. The main difference is the level of detail. This reflects that the CP plan was designed to align with, and flesh out, the Biden campaign proposal. Perhaps the only substantive difference is that the CP proposal (and the Milwaukee program) includes private colleges. The Biden campaign documents exclude private colleges, though the American Families Plan just says “free community college,” signaling alignment with the CP plan. Both proposals are clearly in the category of open access aid.

There are numerous similarities between these provisions and the Milwaukee program that my team and I studied. All three programs make two-year college free (or nearly so) for all students without income requirements and through early commitment of aid. All three require the FAFSA and high school graduation. Importantly, unlike both the Biden and CP proposals, the Milwaukee program had merit requirements, which undermined its success. This is partly why our evidence is so relevant to the current debate.

Some might wonder why the president has scaled back the proposal to just free community college. This reflects that the idea of free college—even the “scaled back” version—is such a marked departure from past policy, especially at the federal level. Free community college alone would still be arguably the largest shift in federal higher education policy in the past half-century.

Caveats and Concluding Thoughts

We cannot make policy from evidence alone, but it can and should play a key role. Sometimes, policy ideas have such limited evidence of effectiveness that it is difficult to make any plausible case for a large-scale, national program. In other cases, there is enough promise for pilot studies and competitive grants to establish efficacy. With free college, we seem to be well beyond that point. In addition to decades of results on general financial aid programs, we have a growing number of studies on state and local programs that all show positive evidence—the “laboratory of democracy” at work. The idea of a large, federal free-college program therefore has more and more credibility.

A decade ago, it was not at all obvious that this is what the evidence would show. There was really no evidence on free college programs when we started this project back in 2009. Also, there were good reasons to expect that such a large increase in aid would suffer from “diminishing returns”—the idea that the next dollar is less effective than the previous one. This could have made free college more costly than the benefits could justify. Now, we know better.

I do still worry a bit about other factors and challenges. For example, the above analyses can only capture the immediate effects of financial aid, yet a federal free college program is such a marked departure in policy that it could alter political and market forces operating on higher education in unpredictable ways, perhaps even lowering college spending and quality. Also, if the proposal remains focused on community colleges, then this will shift students out of four-year colleges and into colleges that currently have very low completion rates. There are also other ways to increase college affordability and access that do not require free college (e.g., increased Pell Grants and income-based loan repayment), some of which target funds more narrowly to the most disadvantaged students. And there are many details to be worked out as the president’s allies in Congress try to generate sufficient support without (a) sacrificing core principles, or (b) creating new problems that can arise when grafting new federal programs on to widely varying state contexts.

Still, it is not often that an idea comes around that addresses a widely acknowledged problem and has both research support and a fair degree of bipartisan political support. The stars seem aligned to make some form of national free college a reality. The more evidence we see, the more that would seem to be a step forward.

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College & Careers

Tuition-free college is critical to our economy

Morley Winograd and Max Lubin

November 2, 2020, 13 comments.

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To rebuild America’s economy in a way that offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead, federal support for free college tuition should be a priority in any economic recovery plan in 2021.

Research shows that the private and public economic benefit of free community college tuition would outweigh the cost. That’s why half of the states in the country already have some form of free college tuition.

The Democratic Party 2020 platform calls for making two years of community college tuition free for all students with a federal/state partnership similar to the Obama administration’s 2015 plan .

It envisions a program as universal and free as K-12 education is today, with all the sustainable benefits such programs (including Social Security and Medicare) enjoy. It also calls for making four years of public college tuition free, again in partnership with states, for students from families making less than $125,000 per year.

The Republican Party didn’t adopt a platform for the 2020 election, deferring to President Trump’s policies, which among other things, stand in opposition to free college. Congressional Republicans, unlike many of their state counterparts, also have not supported free college tuition in the past.

However, it should be noted that the very first state free college tuition program was initiated in 2015 by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican. Subsequently, such deep red states with Republican majorities in their state legislature such as West Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas have adopted similar programs.

Establishing free college tuition benefits for more Americans would be the 21st-century equivalent of the Depression-era Works Progress Administration initiative.

That program not only created immediate work for the unemployed, but also offered skills training for nearly 8 million unskilled workers in the 1930s. Just as we did in the 20th century, by laying the foundation for our current system of universal free high school education and rewarding our World War II veterans with free college tuition to help ease their way back into the workforce, the 21st century system of higher education we build must include the opportunity to attend college tuition-free.

California already has taken big steps to make its community college system, the largest in the nation, tuition free by fully funding its California Promise grant program. But community college is not yet free to all students. Tuition costs — just more than $1,500 for a full course load — are waived for low-income students. Colleges don’t have to spend the Promise funds to cover tuition costs for other students so, at many colleges, students still have to pay tuition.

At the state’s four-year universities, about 60% of students at the California State University and the same share of in-state undergraduates at the 10-campus University of California, attend tuition-free as well, as a result of Cal grants , federal Pell grants and other forms of financial aid.

But making the CSU and UC systems tuition-free for even more students will require funding on a scale that only the federal government is capable of supporting, even if the benefit is only available to students from families that makes less than $125,000 a year.

It is estimated that even without this family income limitation, eliminating tuition for four years at all public colleges and universities for all students would cost taxpayers $79 billion a year, according to U.S. Department of Education data . Consider, however, that the federal government  spent $91 billion  in 2016 on policies that subsidized college attendance. At least some of that could be used to help make public higher education institutions tuition-free in partnership with the states.

Free college tuition programs have proved effective in helping mitigate the system’s current inequities by increasing college enrollment, lowering dependence on student loan debt and improving completion rates , especially among students of color and lower-income students who are often the first in their family to attend college.

In the first year of the TN Promise , community college enrollment in Tennessee increased by 24.7%, causing 4,000 more students to enroll. The percentage of Black students in that state’s community college population increased from 14% to 19% and the proportion of Hispanic students increased from 4% to 5%.

Students who attend community college tuition-free also graduate at higher rates. Tennessee’s first Promise student cohort had a 52.6% success rate compared to only a 38.9% success rate for their non-Promise peers. After two years of free college tuition, Rhode Island’s college-promise program saw its community college graduation rate triple and the graduation rate among students of color increase ninefold.

The impact on student debt is more obvious. Tennessee, for instance, saw its applications for student loans decrease by 17% in the first year of its program, with loan amounts decreasing by 12%. At the same time, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications soared, with 40% of the entire nation’s increase in applications originating in that state in the first year of their Promise program.

Wage inequality by education, already dreadful before the pandemic, is getting worse. In May, the unemployment rate among workers without a high school diploma was nearly triple the rate of workers with a bachelor’s degree. No matter what Congress does to provide support to those affected by the pandemic and the ensuing recession, employment prospects for far too many people in our workforce will remain bleak after the pandemic recedes. Today, the fastest growing sectors of the economy are in health care, computers and information technology. To have a real shot at a job in those sectors, workers need a college credential of some form such as an industry-recognized skills certificate or an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

The surest way to make the proven benefits of higher education available to everyone is to make college tuition-free for low and middle-income students at public colleges, and the federal government should help make that happen.

Morley Winograd is president of the Campaign for Free College Tuition . Max Lubin is CEO of Rise , a student-led nonprofit organization advocating for free college.  

The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. Commentaries published on EdSource represent diverse viewpoints about California’s public education systems. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our  guidelines  and  contact us .

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Genia Curtsinger 2 years ago 2 years ago

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make … Read More

Making community college free to those who meet the admission requirements would help many people. First of all, it would make it easy for students and families, for instance; you go to college and have to pay thousands of dollars to get a college education, but if community college is free it would help so you could be saving money and get a college education for free, with no cost at all. It would make it more affordable to the student and their families.

Therefore I think people should have free education for those who meet the admission requirements.

nothing 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like colleges shouldn’t be completely free, but a lot more affordable for people so everyone can have a chance to have a good college education.

Jaden Wendover 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think all colleges should be free, because why would you pay to learn?

Samantha Cole 2 years ago 2 years ago

I think college should be free because there are a lot of people that want to go to college but they can’t pay for it so they don’t go and end up in jail or working as a waitress or in a convenience store. I know I want to go to college but I can’t because my family doesn’t make enough money to send me to college but my family makes too much for financial aid.

Nick Gurrs 2 years ago 2 years ago

I feel like this subject has a lot of answers, For me personally, I believe tuition and college, in general, should be free because it will help students get out of debt and not have debt, and because it will help people who are struggling in life to get a job and make a living off a job.

NO 3 years ago 3 years ago

I think college tuition should be free. A lot of adults want to go to college and finish their education but can’t partly because they can’t afford to. Some teens need to work at a young age just so they can save money for college which I feel they shouldn’t have to. If people don’t want to go to college then they just can work and go on with their lives.

Not saying my name 3 years ago 3 years ago

I think college tuition should be free because people drop out because they can’t pay the tuition to get into college and then they can’t graduate and live a good life and they won’t get a job because it says they dropped out of school. So it would be harder to get a job and if the tuition wasn’t a thing, people would live an awesome life because of this.

Brisa 3 years ago 3 years ago

I’m not understanding. Are we not agreeing that college should be free, or are we?

m 2 years ago 2 years ago

it shouldnt

Trevor Everhart 3 years ago 3 years ago

What do you mean by there is no such thing as free tuition?

Olga Snichernacs 3 years ago 3 years ago

Nice! I enjoyed reading.

Anonymous Cat 3 years ago 3 years ago

Tuition-Free: Free tuition, or sometimes tuition free is a phrase you have heard probably a good number of times. … Therefore, free tuition to put it simply is the opportunity provide to students by select universities around the world to received a degree from their institution without paying any sum of money for the teaching.

Mister B 3 years ago 3 years ago

There is no such thing as tuition free.

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Should College Be Free?

The Democratic Party is split over whether you should have to pay to get a degree.

By Spencer Bokat-Lindell

Mr. Bokat-Lindell is a writer in The New York Times Opinion section.

This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I believe we should move to make college affordable for everybody,” begins a new, subtweet-y campaign ad from Pete Buttigieg that started airing in Iowa on Thanksgiving.

The mayor of South Bend, Ind., was not only promoting his plan to make public college tuition-free for families earning up to $100,000 a year. He was also drawing a stark, if implicit, contrast with his competitors Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who have made eliminating tuition for all students at public colleges (and for Mr. Sanders, at trade schools and apprenticeship programs as well) a core issue of their candidacies.

“There are some voices saying, ‘Well, that doesn’t count unless you go even further — unless it’s even free for the kids of millionaires,’” Mr. Buttigieg continues in the ad. “But I only want to make promises that we can keep.”

The debate: Every American is entitled to a free K-12 education. But in many countries around the world , that right effectively extends to college as well. Should the United States follow suit?

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Rich kids should have to pay for college.

Critics of free public college, including Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, argue that it’s a wasteful, even regressive, idea, since students from families wealthy enough to afford tuition would disproportionately reap the benefits. That’s because kids from higher-income families are more likely to attend college and lower-income students on average pay less in net tuition.

By the numbers: Sandy Baum and Alexandra Tilsley at the Urban Institute estimate that more than a third of the total subsidies required for universal free public college would flow to students from families earning $120,000 or more, who already tend to enjoy better K-12 educations.

Ms. Baum and Ms. Tilsley write in The Washington Post:

A national free-tuition plan would provide disproportionate benefits to the relatively affluent while leaving many low- and moderate-income students struggling to complete the college degrees that many jobs now demand . Ironically, free-tuition programs would exacerbate inequality even as they promise to level the playing field. … A progressive educational policy should offer much more narrowly targeted help for students.

“Pete Buttigieg’s college affordability plan is actually the most progressive”

“Universal Free College Would Be a Regressive Scandal”

Higher education is a public good, and public goods should be universal

Supporters of free tuition say that talking points about free-riding “millionaires and billionaires” are misleading — not least because millionaires and billionaires are far less likely to send their children to public universities.

A different crunch of the numbers: Mike Konczal, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, estimates that families within the top 1 percent of the income distribution would capture 1.4 percent of total spending on free college — slightly regressive in relative terms, but arguably not an exorbitant price to pay for the 98.6 percent of spending that would benefit everyone else. And crucially, supporters say, under the Sanders and Warren plans, that spending would be financed by raising taxes on the rich.

But Jordan Weissman contends in Slate that to quibble about the relative progressivity of different college tuition funding proposals is largely to miss the point. For many proponents, universal free public college is part of a broader political vision to establish higher education as a public good that everyone buys into, like the fire department or library.

The entire policy agenda of the social-Democratic left is based on the idea that simple, universal government programs are generally better than means-tested benefits, because letting everybody enjoy nice things like higher education for free or cheap creates buy-in for a robust welfare state, whereas programs for the poor are easily targeted for cuts.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York pursued this line of thought in a Twitter thread :

Another angle: The notion that the children of millionaires and billionaires shouldn’t have access to free college, some critics say, rests too comfortably on the assumption that wealth is and will continue to be transferred seamlessly from generation to generation — itself a regressive feature of the American class system. That assumption also doesn’t account for the reality that some wealthy parents may wield their financial power to coerce and even abuse their college-age children .

Free public college may not work

Eliminating tuition at state schools would bleed them dry, writes Noah Smith in Bloomberg. The rub, he argues, is that most public universities receive much of their funding from state governments, and many state governments don’t want to increase their education budgets — in fact, they want to cut them. Mr. Smith writes :

If even Vermont’s government won’t pony up the cash, who will? Those on the socialist left seem to believe that the federal government will step in, but this seems overly optimistic given decades of cuts to every major spending item except health care. As soon as a Republican administration or Congress gets into power, federal education spending would be under threat .

The result, Mr. Smith says, would be an era of painful austerity for both students and staff.

The emphasis on college is misplaced

College, free or otherwise, should be lower on the national political priority list, writes Matt Bruenig, the founder of People’s Policy Project.

Defending the value of education for education’s sake is one thing. But Mr. Bruenig sees the issue as a largely economic problem, to which free public college is an inadequate solution: Both its supporters and its opponents seem to accept the premise that a traditional higher education is the only avenue to a limited number of middle-class jobs. But most Americans don’t go to college, he says, and “pushing more and more people through college will not automatically transform all the jobs into good ones.”

Rather, Mr. Bruenig writes :

We should as a society designate ages 18-24 as the attachment zone during which all paths into a career are fully supported by public benefits and services. Students get their free school. But, under the exact same umbrella, nonstudents get their free vocational training, subsidized apprenticeships, in-work subsidies, public jobs, and whatever else it takes to ensure a lasting labor force attachment. That would be a program that is actually in fitting with the ideals of universalism.

Do you have a point of view we missed? Email us at [email protected] . Please note your name, age and location in your response, which may be included in the next newsletter.

MORE PERSPECTIVES ON FREE COLLEGE

“Tuition-Free College Could Cost Less Than You Think,” writes David Deming. [The New York Times]

“For poorer families, even ‘free public college’ isn’t free if only tuition costs are covered,” writes Tiffany Jones. [The New York Times]

David Leonhardt explains his idea of “the best version” of free college . [The New York Times]

Students 13 and older sound off on whether they think college should be free. [The New York Times]

WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

Here’s what readers had to say about the last debate: Sweet Potatoes Are Overrated. Turducken Is Performative.

In response to last week’s headline, I received a note from Judith Butler, the queer theorist and scholar whose work developed the concept of gender performativity :

To Spencer Bokat-Lindell, I very much appreciated your piece on Turducken as performative Turkey, but wanted to caution against the association of ‘performative’ with fake. The term gained meaning through J.L. Austin’s theory of speech acts. There he gives the example of legal performatives such as “I sentence you” or “I pronounce you man and wife.” In those cases the speech act makes something real happen in the world. Someone goes to jail or two people get married. Similarly, in Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, a title that appears to echo in your interesting piece, assemblies form and act, sometimes exemplifying the very principles for which they call. They bring about a reality, or seek to, but they are not producing a falsehood by virtue of their performativity. Although some take performative to mean ersatz , that is not the main meaning of the term in speech act theory or its queer theory appropriation. Such a construal suggests that performative effects are not real or are the opposite of real. But they can be, under certain circumstances, one way of bringing about a reality. In any case, I enjoyed your piece.

Spencer Bokat-Lindell is a writer for the Opinion section.  @bokatlindell

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