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Posted: June 6th, 2022
Free Education
Free Education
Abstract
This research paper aimed to analyze the impact of free education on the enrollment and completion of higher education programs. Different states have implemented various programs covering the tuition fees for students falling in identified categories. Tuition remains an essential expense for a student to get an education, but it is prudent to note that it is not the only one. Stakeholders need to realize that the students must cover their meals, housing, and other necessities that other financial aids may not handle. Therefore, more resources need to be sought and exploited to ensure a streamlined experience for these students as they go to respective colleges and universities. The scope and structure of the free college programs determine the extent of aid that a student gains hence being a critical starting point on understanding what the respective students need.
Introduction
There has been widespread adoption of free education policies, especially for primary and secondary levels of education in both developed and developing countries. This is because education is considered the most fundamental right among all human rights global rights. Education makes up one of the prerequisites to numerous rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Abdullahi, 2013). Therefore, the different governments work to ensure that they provide resources that will see its citizens get a chance of getting an education, especially for the children coming from low-income families and communities (Duflo et al., 2019). One way these resources were exploited is to ensure that children get free and compulsory education in the initial stages.
Notably, even with the good intentions behind offering free education, concerns were raised on whether the free tuition increased the number of students being enrolled in the schools. As the politicians argue on eliminating the tuition fees for more Americans to go to college and get higher education certificates, they need to understand whether this push will affect the desired effect. This research will consider the present literature to understand whether free education and specifically tuition fees prompt the enrollment of more students into higher education programs to completion.
Discussion: The Implementation of Free Education for More Enrollment of Students
In the United States, all students are guaranteed a free public education through the 12th grade. Elementary and secondary education, which are generally considered K-12 education, is virtually universal. In 2014, over 50 million children had been enrolled in the public K-12 education program. The UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics indicated that these numbers translated to a net enrollment ratio of 93.7 (Loo, 2019). This meant that an estimated 93.7% of children eligible to join elementary and secondary schools got enrolled at their age-appropriate school level. Many of the students within the K-12 system study in public schools, with very few students getting enrolled in private schools in 2015/2016, mainly the Sectarian or parochial institutions. The minimum compulsory school age is variant in different states to range between 5 to 7 years, but most children generally enter kindergarten-aged five years. The primary reason why there is a difference in the mandatory starting age is the variant state education policy (Loo, 2019). Nonetheless, with the compulsory mandate and the provision of free education, many students get the chance to have to go through their K-12 education levels seamlessly.
These high enrollment and completion rates could predict that with free education within higher education levels, similar levels are to be expected. However, as politicians call for this implementation, they fail to acknowledge that higher education can be expensive, with tuition fees being a single part of the entire expenses (Ordway, 2020). Currently, many free-college and free-tuition programs adopt the “last dollar” to indicate that they cover solely the tuition amount remaining after the students’ grants, scholarships, and other financial aid money are considered. This structure means that the programs provide a limited financial benefit to the lower-income students, many students coming from low-income backgrounds will get various need-based financial aids that are primarily spent on tuition, which means that the students remain with very little or nothing needed to cover for the entire free-college program (Ordway, 2020). Notably, when the cost of tuition is covered first in the “first dollar” programs before other types of financial students, students are allowed to use the other aid money to cover other necessities. Generally, the local free college programs also target the different student populations. Others will seek to help students from particular geographical areas. In contrast, others are restricted to covering the high-achieving one or those taking courses full-time or meeting particular income level and work requirements. Generally, it is challenging to sort out each student’s needs who desire to get higher education as it requires a vast number of resources.
Free education is typically translated to paying tuition fees, which are considered the essential expense for education. Tuition is, however, not the only highest cost for many students that attend public colleges and universities, which are the school targeted mainly by the free college plan. The meals and housing usually are more costly than the in-state tuition at public institutions. The tuition and fees cost $3642 on average as per the Nation Center for Education Statistics in the community colleges. The off-campus housing and meals cost $9962 on average in a similar year for the community college students who were also not living with parents or guardians (Ordway, 2020). The costs were more costly for the public four-year institution, especially the state universities. At the institutions, the in-state tuition and fees were average $9044. The students paid an average of $10680 for the on-campus and food, while $8683 was paid for the off-campus ones and not living with no family (Ordway, 2020). These costs demonstrate that the free education programs being offered may guarantee one’s access to a class. Still, they fail to consider how these individuals get to fend for their other expenses. Offering free education goes beyond paying tuition and offering programs to handle the other necessities.
One of the initial programs that focussed on providing free education by paying tuition and mandatory fees for the graduates from public high schools in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was the Kalamazoo Promise. The state enrolled students in two or four-year public institutions. According to Andrews et al. (2010), the Kalamazoo Promise program pushed the respective high school students to look into the broader range of public colleges than they could have done if the fees had not been paid. More students sent in their college entrance exam scores to the more selective public universities. However, the researchers noted a difference in how students from lower-income backgrounds responded compared to higher-income backgrounds. The students from families earning less than $50000 annually were more likely to send the test scores to Michigan State University than those from higher-income households. The former group was less likely to send the scores to the local community college, which is a less expensive option to prefer highly-priced and more selective institutions.
Pluhta & Penny (2013)m also conducted similar research on a similar program introduced by a Community College in the Pacific Northwest. Their study found that the number of high school graduates applying to the college increased tremendously after the program was launched. Before the launching,m less than 10% of the graduates would apply. However, the program prompted more students to apply, and many of them being enrolled in college. The students who had received free tuition were also more likely to take the second semester of the class than those who did not receive the overall costs being relatively low. Since many of the students received government grants or aid covering the overall cost of the tuition, many of the students did get enough to carry them through the course.
Notably, the study by Cohodes & Goodman (2014) indicated that there is a little net benefit when it comes to providing free tuition for the higher education levels. They analyzed the John and Abigail Adam Scholarship that covered tuition of public colleges for the Massachusetts high school graduates that earned the predetermined test scores. The research would find that while the scholarship did improve college enrollment, it prompted many high-achieving students to attend the lower quality public institutions leading to depressive college graduation rates. While the program is bringing in more students, the level and quality of degrees churned out reduce remarkably. The study found that there were at least 200 lesser college degrees annually from the Massachusetts high school graduates. This illustrates that the state could be spending extensive money amounts for a lower net benefit or even net harm to the students.
Conclusion
Despite the improvements in offering free education, especially for the higher education levels, studies have indicated that the potential of these programs is limited, “free college” is not enough solely to ensure that students enroll and complete the spot secondary education successfully. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the programs are ineffective. Instead, more considerations are required to ensure students have a seamless experience while getting their higher education certificates. The findings from the researchers demonstrate that a simple, universal, and generous scholarship program will considerably increase educational attainment among American students. Also, they find that a simple universal scholarship will aid students from different backgrounds to bring in more benefits to society. Therefore, it is prudent that the programs receive more support to handle the other necessities of the targeted students.
References
ABDULLAHI, A. M. (2013). Impact of the free primary education policy on quality of education in public primary schools in Mombasa County, Kenya (Doctoral dissertation).
Andrews, R. J., DesJardins, S., & Ranchhod, V. (2010). The effects of the Kalamazoo Promise on college choice. Economics of Education Review, 29(5), 722-737.
Cohodes, S. R., & Goodman, J. S. (2014). Merit aid, college quality, and college completion: Massachusetts’ Adams scholarship as an in-kind subsidy. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(4), 251-85.
Duflo, E., Dupas, P., & Kremer, M. (2019). The Impact of Free Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana.
Loo, B. (2019, April 16). Education in the United States of America. WENR. https://wenr.wes.org/2018/06/education-in-the-united-states-of-america
Ordway, D. (2020, November 20). Offering ‘free college’ and free-tuition programs: What the research says. The Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/education/free-college-tuition-research/
Pluhta, E. A., & Penny, G. R. (2013). The effect of a community college promise scholarship on access and success. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 37(10), 723-734.
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