Who Should Pay for College - Essay Example

Who Should Pay for College? Many Americans believe that society benefits from having college-educated citizens, so they think the government should make education affordable by using taxpayer money to help pay for it. However, other people believe students should be responsible for the majority of their college costs, especially when there is not enough money to pay for other services. This paper analyses above claims with the help of personal examples and observations. Better citizens are always an asset to nations because of their abilities to contribute heavily to the nation building process.

Education helps the good citizen building process immensely. Under such circumstances, it is logical to argue that the responsibility of giving education to the public is the duty of a nation. If that is true, there is no point in arguing against making education free. It should be noted that India like emerging countries are currently developing rapidly because of their immense educated manpower resources. America like countries is currently struggling because of the shortage of skilled manpower.

For example, majority of the nurses working in American hospitals are from overseas countries. Same way, majority of the American IT jobs are currently outsourced to countries like India because of the lack of availability of IT professionals in America. All these examples clearly point towards the necessities of making more educated and skilled people in America. According to Rajesh Gandhi (2009), “Higher education is fundamental right for a decent livelihood” (Gandhi). Higher education is an expensive act in America now.

The recent recession destroyed the financial backbone of many families. I belong to an ordinary family and I know very well how the recent recession caused financial troubles in my family. My parents forced to cut down all unnecessary expenses to escape from the recession. My ambitions for higher studies would also be in danger, had I failed to get some scholarships from the government. There are plenty of youths who failed to go for higher studies because of financial problems. It is difficult for an ordinary American youth to afford the expenses of college education without financial assistance from the government in the form of educational loans or scholarships.

All these facts clearly suggest that it is better to make education free in America. Taxpayer’s money can be made use for making the education free since educated people contribute to the society in one way or another. On the other hand, there are plenty of arguments against making education free in America. Plenty of people are of the view that financial assistance for education should be stopped. This is because of the fact that the government failed to allocate enough money to infrastructure developments because of their increased spending in the educational sector.

Moreover, many of the educated youths from America are currently going abroad for better opportunities. Thus, America is not benefiting from the expenses they made for the education of youths. Under such circumstances, critics believe that the government is wasting money in the educational sector by giving subsidies and scholarships to the youths. In their opinion, education should be considered as a personal act. In my opinion, any spending made in the educational sector may not be a waste under any circumstances.

Government can avoid people going abroad for better prospects with the help of some amendments in the existing laws. Government can make mandatory services for a particular period of time in America for the youths who sought financial assistance from the government during their studies. Works CitedGandhi, Rajesh. “Higher Education Should Be Made Free”. 2009. Web. 09 April 2012.