Why College Students Shouldn't Pay for Education

Baum, S., Ma, J., & Payea, K. (2013). Education pays 2013. 

The College Board

In this article, the authors asserted key ideas why college students should not pay for education. To begin with, education is vital for individual life and society. College education attainment helps reduce disparities across demographic groups, ensuring improved access to those who can benefit imperatively. Compared to high school graduates, college students are expected to earn enough at the age of 36 and give back to society. 

Baum, S., & Payea, K. (2004). Education pays 2004.  New York: The College Board . 

The authors highlighted that college students should not pay for education because of broader personal and societal benefits. According to the article, higher education is associated with a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. After students have graduated, they contribute more to the public, particularly to the public treasury, something that positively enhances equity and efficiency of the society. There are also other benefits such as civic participation such as volunteer work, blood donation, and voting correlated with a college education. 

Rolfe, H. (2001).  The Effect of Tuition Fees on Students' Demands and Expectations: Evidence from Case Studies of Four Universities . London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research. 

Rolfe argued that college students should not pay for college education for the reason that they have numerous demands and expectations that have been given little attention. For instance, with the accumulation of student debt, they graduate and have no future employment promise. Simultaneously, the costs for demands are high, which forces students to take part-time jobs instead of using educational resources such as suites and libraries for studies. 

Connor, H., Dewson, S., Tyers, C., Eccles, J., Regan, J., & Aston, J. (2001). Social class and higher education: Issues affecting decisions on participation by lower social class groups. 

Connor et al. (2001) articulated that despite the expansion in student numbers to join colleges, those from lower social class families are not represented at all. According to the authors, college students should not pay for education as the decision affects lower-class backgrounds. For equality and equity, college education should be free as it positively impacts society and widens the workforce. 

Hershbein, B. J., & Hollenbeck, K. (2014). College Costs: Students Can't Afford Not to Know. 

College education is associated with immeasurable costs, which are not transparent, unlike a mortgage or TV transparency. Because of this burden, students shouldn't pay for college education, for the benefits of attending college are somewhat variable and uncertain. In the same parallel, the authors highlighted that college is becoming unaffordable as student debt payments to future incomes are not manageable. The latter students may face challenges to accessing opportunities, something that widens their socioeconomic divide. 

References 

Baum, S., & Payea, K. (2004). Education pays 2004.  New York: The College Board . http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.461.2565&rep=rep1&type=pdf 

Baum, S., Ma, J., & Payea, K. (2013). Education pays 2013.  The College Board . http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Special/ses15/commdocs/Education%20Pays,%20The%20College%20Board.pdf 

Connor, H., Dewson, S., Tyers, C., Eccles, J., Regan, J., & Aston, J. (2001). Social class and higher education: Issues affecting decisions on participation by lower social class groups. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4621/1/RR267.pdf 

Hershbein, B. J., & Hollenbeck, K. (2014). College Costs: Students Can't Afford Not to Know. 

https://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=externalpapers 

Rolfe, H. (2001).  The Effect of Tuition Fees on Students' Demands and Expectations: Evidence from Case Studies of Four Universities . London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.143.4006&rep=rep1&type=pdf