Free Higher Education
Transcript: “If an education is available only to those who can afford it, if an education is a commodity to be purchased in the marketplace — in what sense can it really be called public?”(Bady). Agreement #2 Neither Yglesias nor Bady would have a problem with this because it is making college more affordable and is not taking away any money from faculty at universities. Agreement #1 Bady Collaboration Will Free Higher Education Make More People Go to College? Need an education to make a fair living. Statistics: 86.5% correlation between education level and yearly income 1937 15% high school students went on to higher education 1970, 26% middle-class workers had any kind of education beyond high school Today, nearly 60 percent of all jobs in the U.S. economy require higher education Yglesias Tuition Ceiling Aaron Bady & Matthew Yglesisa agree a college education was branded as commodity Free Higher Education Bady: YES! The reason people aren't going to college is because they cannot afford it. It is very important in today’s world to have higher education in order to be successful. While Yglesias sees many problem with this, Bady believes higher education should be free. Because they had some areas of agreement we were able to find a compromise that will please both parties to some degree. As mentioned above the compromise includes the creation of a lowered tuition ceiling, and increasing high school students’ knowledge of scholarships. This satisfies Bady’s concern of government intervention, and Yglesias’ want of student self-help. “A logical place to raise the money would be—tuition. After all, a college degree is a valuable commodity. And the kids in college are mostly from families with above-average incomes.” (Yglesias) Scholarships Lowered tuition ceiling would help to make pricing correlate to the consumer price index. Is a college degree really considered a commodity? Conclusion Is college really "public"? Disagreement #2 Works Cited ”Some toll roads are owned and operated by state governments and some by the private sector. But does the driver care who owns the road? I doubt it; the important thing is whether the road is free and open to all or whether it can be used only by those who can afford to drive on it. The same is true of public and private universities: A university is public only if those who need to use it can do so” (Bady). Yglesias: NO! While money may be a contributing factor, it is low test scores that are keeping low-income people from going to college. How Should the Government be Involved? Both Bady and yglesias agree higher education is being state controlled. Bady, Aaron. "Public Universities Should Be Free." Aljazeera. N.p., 19Nov. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Davis, Aaron. "D.C. Council, mayor spar over $100,000 scholarships for public school students." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. hanord, emily. "The Value of a College Degree." The Value of a College Degree. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Hewitt, doug . "Millions of dollars in scholarships go unclaimed." Examiner.com. examiner, 24 May 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. jaschik, scott. "Ceiling for Tuition Hikes | Inside Higher Ed." Ceiling for Tuition Hikes | Inside Higher Ed. N.p., 16 Feb. 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Korry, Elaine. "Making the College Scholarship System Work." NPR. NPR, 24 May 2005. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Pearson. "The Relation Between Educational Level and Income on StatCrunch." The Relation Between Educational Level and Income on StatCrunch. N.p., 9 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Yglesias, Matthew. "Three Problems With Making College Free." Moneybox. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Initial Thoughts Pros- More people could go to college It would make college less stressful Cons- Degrees would become less valuable Could be seen as wasteful if people did not complete their degrees Opposing Arguments Aaron Baady For free higher education Post-doctoral at the University of Texas and teaches African Literature Matthew Yglesias Against free higher education American Economist, political blogger, and Harvard graduate Introduction Yglesias: Higher education should not be the government's first priority. Education should be addressed in the following way: preschool, community colleges, high-poverty elementary schools, high-poverty high schools, four-year college Disagree because it would cut down faculty and staffs’ pay. “I agree with Bady that there's an important sense in which the best-known public institutions of higher education aren't public. But it isn't that they aren't free. But schools that only let you in if you have high SAT scores—whoever owns them and whatever they charge—aren't public in this sense.” (Yglesias) Disagreement #1 Agree because it allows help from the government for the students Statistics: $100 million annually goes unawarded The U.S department of education conducted study says average scholarship award was found to be $2,815” Bady: The government should provide free higher