State Colleges should be free for the students that live in that state

1) 70% - 30% In this argument the Con brought up concerning evidence about how even those who get into college cannot finish because of financial issues. The con also brought up how in lower income families this issue becomes far more common. .. This sounds pretty bad, but let me bring to light some of the other facts in the Con's sources. "There are about 13 other countries with more degrees per capita than in the United States, he said. " . http://dukechronicle.com... So #14 overall out of a total of 196 places the US in the top 8% of the world in terms of college graduates per capita . http://geography.about.com... This debate is centered around state colleges, which 99% of the time are public and private 4 year universities. " about one-third of students at public and private four-year universities do not earn a degree" So now those who do attend state colleges graduate about 66% of the time. If this debate is limited to State Colleges, than the number the Con gave regarding graduation rates is far lower then the reality. 38% is the graduate rate of all colleges and universities, but the state colleges the Con is only focusing on has a graduation rate of 66%, which is comparable to many other countries also given in the Con's article. . http://dukechronicle.com... 2) Economy and degrees There is a relation between college degree and employment. However having a college degree is not a fail safe job protection tool that guarantees one will not get fired, nor is it guaranteed that one is guaranteed to get hired because of a college degree. College degrees are not guarantees to economic success, they are only a boost, and Americans should not have to suffer 5% tax raises to give a few million more people a chance to get a boost. 3) Costs Taxes would be raised to around 40%, I agree to that. However, since tuition costs keep rising and the number of people going to college is increasing, that number will go up over time, and the Con has not addressed this issue. So let me summarize this entire debate - 1 - The Con only wants to make college free for state schools, all other schools dont qualify and wont benefit - 2 - Only 7.7 Million of 18.2 million college students go to state schools, so only 1/3 of college students would benefit from the Con's plan - 3 - Under the Con's plan, 90 million taxpayers would have to pay 5% more taxes to help less than 10 million college students, at the beginning - 4 - Those who do exploit the new system still might not pass which would then cause the tax dollars of 90 million tax payers to go to waste. - 5 - Those who do graduate might get degrees in plumbing or liberal arts which may not help them get a job economy wise - 6 - Taxpayers would be furious at this idea - 7 - College is not a right - 8 - College is not a fool-proof plan to get a job or not lose a job - 9 - Colleges may still recruit out of state to get guaranteed funds which would discriminate against in state students - 10 - Forcing the government to fund state schools may decrease the quality of education you would otherwise get - 11 - College students are not guaranteed to get a degree - 12 - The Con's plan requires students who do fail college to pay back ALL the funds they wasted - 13 - #12 could single handedly put middle class families into poverty all because one member of the family messed up - 14 - #13 would put severe emotional pressure on students the whole time as they are in college - 15 - Con already agreed that taxpayers pay too much in taxes - 16 - The government does not handle its finances well, and the con admits that, therefore making the government fund education is not a guarantee - 17 - With tuition costs rising, schools and the government and tax payers would have a massive tug of war over how much money taxpayers pay, how much actually goes to the schools, and how the government might take some of that take for other programs. - 18 - Compared to the rest of the world, State colleges in the US have a great graduation rate - 19 - State colleges would be the only ones effected by this, and their graduation rate is better than other types of colleges that could actually really benefit from this program. - 20 - With tuition costs rising, the tax required to fund this plan would increase over time, further incensing tax payers. These are the reasons why State Colleges should not be for students that live in the same state. It is too expensive, only helps a fraction of the population, it wont work for everyone, its almost unfair to those who do fail, the education system in the US is already pretty good, the quality of education under this plan would deteriorate, and this plan would ignite a massive tug of war between the government, schools, and taxpayers over funding this whole thing.