Should College Tuition Be Free?

• Author: Cuomo, Andrew M.
• Position: Debate

Going to college is very expensive in the United States. Tuition alone at a four-year school can run anywhere from about $10,000 at a state university to more than $40,000 at a private institution. And that doesn't include all the other costs students bear, for such things as housing, food, and books.

With tuition costs continuing to rise, lawmakers in some states have approved plans that allow residents to attend public colleges without paying tuition. Last year, New York joined other states, including Minnesota, Oregon, and Tennessee, in offering students tuition-free education. New York's governor and a New York Times columnist debate whether that's a good idea.

YES

In decades past, public education was society's great equalizer and the path upward on the ladder of economic mobility. And today, a college degree is the equivalent of what a high school diploma was 50 years ago--a gateway for many to take part in the American Dream. By 2020, more than 35 million job openings in the U.S. will require a degree from a two-year community college or above.

But for too many working- and middle-class families, attending college is either too expensive to consider or it saddles students with debt for decades to come. Over the past 30 years, the average cost of college has increased 1,120 percent. The result is that student debt has reached an astonishing $1.4 trillion nationwide, with students now graduating, on average, with upward of $35,000 in loans.

It's imperative that college is affordable for all, and New York is leading the way. Recently, New York became the first state in the nation to make our public twoand four-year colleges tuition-free for working- and middle-class families making up to $125,000 per year.

Reducing college costs isn't only good for students, it also makes good economic sense for the nation. That's because allowing all of the most talented Americans to go to college, regardless of their ability to pay, means the U.S. will have the best-trained workforce in the highly competitive global economy.

But simply making college tuition-free isn't enough. We also need to maintain the rigorous academic standards that made our public colleges great in the first place. In New York, admissions standards will remain high, college facilities world-class, and investment in faculty paramount.

For those looking to be successful in life, a college education is no longer a luxury. For the nation's continued economic prosperity, we need to...