College costs are insane these days. It’s getting to the point where unless your last name is Bezos or Zuckerberg, a college education kinda feels like a pipe dream. One answer is FREE COLLEGE paid for by the government, which many liberals and even some conservatives are getting behind. But, “free” college really isn’t free. That money has to come from somewhere. Is free college really as good as it sounds?
TEACHERS: Get your students in the discussion on KQED Learn, a safe place for middle and high school students to investigate controversial topics and share their voices. https://learn.kqed.org/topics/25
Compared to just 30 years ago, students are now paying 129% more at private colleges and 213% more at public colleges. And the cost increase isn’t stopping anytime soon, due to increased demand, more available financial aid, and a lack of state funding. To pay for it all, most students have to take out loans. It’s become the largest form of personal debt in the country—larger than credit card debt and car loans! States like California, Oregon, and Tennessee are all beginning to experiment with some version of a free college program.
Supporters say that this kind of access to higher education helps the economy, strengthens our democracy and is critical to the health and success of future generations. But opponents of free college worry it will be too expensive to maintain, will increase taxes, and might persuade students who aren’t college ready to enroll but who then don’t make it all the way through to graduation, which would increase the already high college dropout rates.
How much more expensive is college now compared to 30 years ago?
The average cost of tuition and fees for the 2017-2018 school year was about $10,000 at public colleges and $35,000 at private colleges. That’s just ONE year of college! It wasn’t always like that. In 1987, in today’s dollars, a year at a public college cost around $3,200. At a private college, it was around $15,000. That means today, only 30 years later, students are paying 129 percent MORE at private colleges and 213 percent more at public colleges.