University education should be free

Apologies for my absence in the previous round, this will be my opening arguments. Premise: Economic disparity increases poverty Economic disparity (or income disparity) is defined as "The difference between the incomes of the richer and poorer parts of society. The more unequal the distribution of wealth in an economy, the greater the income disparity" A country with higher rates of economic disparity will tend to have a larger lower class, no matter the general wealth of the population. This being because since lower classes have less, this means the wealth of the country in general would be more concentrated on the upper class, Hence, increasing the poverty rate of the country regardless of the collective GDP. This can be seen in the United States. The following is graph of the US poverty rate from 1960 until 2010: http://1.bp.blogspot.com... As of 1979 (when taxes were at their lowest) this saw the increase in the US poverty rate. (Assertion of this premise is necessary for my next argument). Argument: Free Tuition reduces economic disparity A main reason deterring people from going to University or other forms of post-secondary education revolves around cost. As many potential students are unable to afford the tuition of the university. By being unable to access Universities, a large number of job opportunities are shut from them. A lack of a better job than leads to a lack of a lower income, The correlation between post-secondary education and higher incomes can be seen in the graph below: http://www.ccl-cca.ca... A lower income, combined with a lack of education then leads to the inability to pay for any possible education, hence leads to poverty and an inability to escape said poverty. Or in other words the "Cycle of poverty" (https://learningequality.org...) With Free tuition, it is possible for low-income students to access universities and have acess to far better job opportunities. As a result, this lowers the gap between the upper classes and the lower classes. This can be seen when comparing the US with various other countries with Free (or Subsidized tuition). In the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) there universal to free tuition for post-secondary education and healthcare, along with no tuition fees students are received a monthly grant to help cover living expenses. While yes taxes are much higher in the Nordic countries the populace is more educated and economic disparity is much lower, leading to a stable economy. And since this would lead to a higher income on average, it therefore compensates for the high tax rates. Compared to the U.S where students are going into more and more student debt. As of mid-2000"s the average American student debt is above $24k. This would lead to greater economic disparity as less people are able to access any form of post-secondary education (as previously mentioned). In November 2012 the U.S. Census Bureau said more than 16% of the population lived in poverty, including almost 20% of American children, up from 14.3% (approximately 43.6 million) and in comparison to Sweden whose poverty rate was 3.7%, one of the lowest in Europe. And this is all despite the fact that The U.S is over 30 times larger than that of Sweden (Swedish GDP as of 2013: $557.9 billion USD. American GDP as of 2013: 16.8 trillion USD) In conclusion, Economic disparity increases poverty, and Free Tuition reduces economic disparity, hence decreasing poverty. Sources: 1.lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=income-disparity 2.http://higheredstrategy.com... 3.https://en.wikipedia.org... 4.http://1.bp.blogspot.com... 5.http://ftp.iza.org... 6.https://learningequality.org... 7.https://en.wikipedia.org... 8.https://www.google.ca... 9.https://www.google.ca... 10. http://www.inequalitywatch.eu...