In other words, any conversation about college is a pretty elite one even if the word “free” is right there in the descriptor. Given all of these factors, free college would likely benefit only an outlying group of students who are currently shut out of higher education because of cost-students with the ability and/or some cultural capital but without wealth. (“Non-traditional” students are classified in different ways depending on who is doing the defining, but the best way to understand the category is in contrast to our assumptions of a traditional college student-young, unfettered, and continuing to college straight from high school.) How and why they go to college can depend as much on things like whether a college is within driving distance or provides one-on-one admissions counseling as it does on the price. Neither would it address the changing social milieu of higher education, in which the majority are now non-traditional students. It would not address the cultural and social barriers imposed by unequal K–12 schooling, which puts a select few students on the college pathway at the expense of millions of others. It means figuring out implicit rules-rules that can change.Įliminating tuition would probably do very little to untangle the sailor’s knot of inequalities that make it hard for most Americans to go to college. It means navigating advanced courses, standardized tests, forms. It takes cultural and social, not just economic, capital. It is also that going to college is complicated. But the problem isn’t just that college is expensive. Why aren’t more people going to college? One obvious answer would be cost, especially the cost of tuition. Even with such a broadly conceived category, we are still talking about just half of all Americans. That category includes everything from an auto-mechanics class at a for-profit college to a business degree from Harvard. population has “some college” or postsecondary education. But let’s get a few things out of the way.Ĭollege is the domain of the relatively privileged, and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future, even if tuition is eliminated. The national debate about free, public higher education is long overdue. This article is part of Dissent’s special issue of “Arguments on the Left.” Click to read contending arguments from Matt Bruenig and Mike Konczal.įree college is not a new idea, but, with higher education costs (and student loan debt) dominating public perception, it’s one that appeals to more and more people-including me.
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