Public college education in the United States should be tuition-free.

Thank you for accepting, and hopefully we can have an interesting, lively, and informative debate My first contention is that the government has an obligation to the taxpayer. I will first discuss social contract theory. The government of the United States arouse out of the public signing of a social contract, in which members of society forgo some of their rights as present in the state of nature in order to foster more optimal outcomes for the whole of society. This contract can be most clearly seen through the United States constitution, particularly in the preamble, which promises to "promote the general welfare." These more optimal outcomes can take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, the enactment of civil rights, the provision of public goods, etc. The government therefore has an obligation to uphold this social contract by fostering more optimal outcomes for the whole of society. I will next discuss the provision of public goods. One important mechanism that upholds the social contract, upholds the public welfare, and creates legitimacy in a government is the provision of public goods. These public goods, like national defense and infrastructure like roads, are necessary for those in a democracy to exercise their natural rights and civil rights as granted by the state. Essentially, these public goods are those that are non-rival and non-excludable, that foster optimal outcomes, and are necessary for rights protection. Education, as will be warranted later, is an important mechanism for citizens to access all of their civil and natural rights, and is unparalleled in fostering the public good, in a multitude of fashions. Therefore, the state has an obligation to its citizens to provide such a good, regardless of cost, practicality, and other factors. However, under the status quo, the word public has taken on another meaning; if you listen carefully, you can hear the social contract tearing. Taxpayers pay for public colleges and universities; yet, due to the nature of colleges now, many cannot access them. This is a direct affront to the idea of "public" and a disservice to taxpayers who pay for these colleges. Creating a system paid for by the taxpayer, but that is only accessible by those taxpayers with sufficient funds, is a direct example of the government neglecting its duty to its taxpayers. My second contention concerns equality of opportunity. One of the most important ideas behind the founding documents of the United States, especially the Constitution, is equality of opportunity. While the government does not have an obligation to ensure equal results at the end of the day, it does have a responsible to ensure all citizens have equal access to programs necessary for them to achieve their maximum potential. I will first discuss the idea that the status quo is income-discriminatory. As is common knowledge, a university education in the United States is often grossly expensive, to the point of being prohibitive. Due to this high cost, many of the poor and middle classes are unable to access education fairly. Education is a public good in the United States, indeed, a liberal, Western democracy, one that must be provided to foster governmental legitimacy, because it fosters the public good and allows access to rights. We see this manifested through free, compulsory K-12 education, which is funded by the taxpayers in order to foster the public good. The line between high school and college is arbitrary and dangerous; we see that the government has an obligation to educate its citizenry, but, for some reason, the United States stops this after high school. By continuing this arbitrary distinction and making college tuition extant, the United States is deliberately and tangibly restricting education to those who cannot afford it. Allowing the status quo to continue deliberately and tangibly violates the standard of equality of opportunity, as outlined in the nation"s founding documents. In fact, this policy of charging tuition encourages inequality by restricting access to an important resource necessary for economic and personal fulfillment. I will next discuss the idea that the status quo tangibly restricts rights. As previously stated, a college education is unattainable for many of the poor and middle classes who seek it due to prohibitive costs. This lack of access is a direct affront to the complete access of first amendment rights and complete engagement in the democratic system. In fact, this lack of education, and its prohibitive cost, is a direct tax on rights and benefits. In order to access economic well-being and rights, as mentioned earlier, citizens must pay this tax. Thus, those who cannot afford a college education are doomed to a lesser economic class and lower personal fulfillment, through no fault of their own. This is unacceptable in the United States, as it deliberately violates various sections of the Constitution and contradict founding principles of the United States. My third contention will concern the importance of education. I will first discuss the private benefits that education can confer. A college education has many benefits to the citizen, benefits that foster public good by increasing the welfare of each citizen that receives this education. These private benefits can, essentially, be grouped into two areas: personal and economic. Personal benefits include the idea that learning, for its own sake, is an important experience; it fosters personal growth, both through responsibility and mental capacity. These benefits foster a sense of happiness and knowledge in the individual citizenry, and accrue into increased happiness, discourse, and even quality of government, across society. The clich" "knowledge is power" is the tagline of this line of thinking; indeed, more education empowers citizens to make responsible decisions and fosters a sense of fulfillment in each person. I will next discuss the idea that, across a society, education has many important impacts, which will be further warranted later. These include increasing the quality of a democracy by fostering knowledge of politics and the electoral system, increasing the quality of life through fostering innovation and technology, and increasing the economic well-being of its citizenry. Another important societal benefit includes decision-making; college educated citizens tend to have higher voter turnout, lower rates of teenage pregnancy and drug use, and higher rates of financial literacy. Since all of these foster more optimal outcomes for citizens, and since education is a public good that provides access to these rights and benefits, the government has an obligation to provide college education. My fourth and final contention concerns economic impacts. I will first discuss innovation. Education fosters innovation through increasing the education and knowledge necessary for technological growth to occur. This has two main impacts: economic growth and increased quality of life. Increasing technology directly results in lives saved, which the government has an obligation to do, and outcomes bettered. This leads to economic growth. Due to this increased innovation, along with the increase in college degrees among both the general populace and among the poor, economic growth will increase. Innovation will lead to an increased GDP per capita by fostering technological jobs that are higher paying and that create products that can demand more from the marketplace. Increasing college degrees generally will lead to higher wages and higher standards of living for the general population. More college degrees among the poor will lead to increased economic equality, thus eliminating deadweight losses and fostering a healthier and more stable economy. I will next discuss the elimination of student-loan bubble. Since a college education is so expensive, many students are forced to take out massive student loans to pay for it. These massive student loans have a negative effect on the economy due to the high rate of default on these loans, due to high interest rates and the inability to liquidate this debt through bankruptcy, in addition to the decreased spending causing by accruing this debt. These lag on the economy, foster deadweight losses, and, thus, create an inefficient economy that remains stagnant and ever on the edge of a "popping" of the student loan bubble. For these reasons, public college education in the United States should be tuition-free. I look forward to the Con arguments!