Free Tuition at Community and Technical Colleges

I affirm the resolution which states resolved: In the United States, students should be guaranteed two years of free tuition to a technical or community college. Definitions community college - 2 year government supported college that offers an associates degree (Merriam Webster) technical college - a college providing courses in a range of practical subjects (i.e. information technology, applied sciences, engineering, agriculture, and secretarial skills) (Oxford Dictionaries) guaranteed - an assurance for the fulfillment of a condition (Merriam Webster) C1: Funding free community and technical school education pays for itself. Allowing more students to graduate from community and technical school is a net benefit to the economy because graduates will earn more money, thus enabling them to pay more taxes. To elaborate, over the span of a life time, students that earn associate's degrees will earn 300,000 dollars more than a high school graduate (1). Of this money, up to 100,000 dollars will be taxed. These numbers render a plan providing free tuition to community and technical colleges worthwhile because an associates or technical degree costs only 30,000, allowing the government to come out up to 70,000 dollars ahead. Thus, even if the government is using funds to pay for such degrees, the degree costs less than the amount of money that graduates end up giving directly back to the government. AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) has found that money invested in community colleges, "yields a benefit-cost ratio of 6.8, meaning that for every 1 dollar of public money invested in America's community colleges, taxpayers receive a cumulative value of $6.80 over the course of the students' working lives (2)." This ratio shows that providing free community and technical school for students is an economically smart option because it costs the government virtually nothing, when taking into account the amount of money directly going back to the government through income tax. C2: Funding free community and technical school education benefits society. There are societal benefits to providing free community and technical college educations. Graduates are less likely to use welfare programs like medicaid and food stamps, and contribute less to crime. This means that allowing more people to graduate from college and obtain an associates degree reduces crime rates and use of welfare. AACC explains that society gains around 25.90 dollars in benefits for every one dollar the government spends on community colleges, thus furthering the point that funding free tuition pays for itself (3). Additionally, the workforce benefits from more enrollment in community and technical schools because there is a need for jobs that are obtained through diplomas from technical colleges. Strauss explains that under the status quo there is a shortage of workers in skilled trades like plumbing, electricity, and mechanics. He claims that this, "is not much of a surprise in the United States, where vocational education has essentially collapsed over the past few decades amid a push to increase college graduation (4)." This problem is predicted to get progressively worse because a large portion of technical workers are beginning to retire. Croft explains that the average skilled craft worker is between 50 and 60 years old (5) Most high school students do not consider a career in skilled trades appealing. A survey by RIDGID found that a scant 6 percent of high school students hope to have a career in skilled trades (6) Thus, providing free tuition to technical colleges benefits the community because it attaches an incentive to getting a technical degree. C3: Funding free community and technical school education increases matriculation and graduation rates. Students from low income environments have little means to pay for community and technical colleges. Even with financial aid, namely pell grants, students struggle to pay college and other related expenses. This is because the amount of financial aid given to students has decreased significantly. Kurth explains that pell grants used to cover 87% of college related expenses, and now the cover as little as 13% of expenses students face (7). Moreover, many community colleges do not offer Pell Grants, further hindering students from being able to graduate from community college debt free. Technical colleges are even more expensive, averaging around 33,000 for a two year degree. Students are deterred from even attending college due to the cost attached; community and technical colleges that have instituted programs providing free tuition have seen massive increases in matriculation rates, showing that more students can obtain an education when the cost disappears. In Tennessee, enrollment increased by 11% due to the implementation of free community and technical school education (9). Not only does enrollment increase, but also graduation. The College Completion Corporation explains that being underfunded is one of the main reasons college students drop out. CCC"s survey from various college dropouts found that 84% of drop outs had to leave due to financial reasons (10). In the span of two years prior to implementation, it was found that Tennessee Tech Centers have a graduation rate of up to 80% (11), and the graduation rate in community colleges doubled (9), empirically showing that the provision of free tuition raises the amount of students with degrees and provides for the benefits noted in contention one and two. My evidence is done in the form of screenshots that I took of websites I got my cards from; It's probably a bit of an inconvenient way to compile evidence, but it helps me access my cards in formal debate. The url should be visible on most of the pictures. (1) http://www.higheredinfo.org... (2) and (3) http://www.aacc.nche.edu... (4) http://www.debate.org... (5) http://www.debate.org... (6) http://www.debate.org... (7) http://www.debate.org... (8) http://www.debate.org... (9) http://www.debate.org..., http://www.debate.org..., http://www.debate.org... (10) http://www.debate.org... (11) http://www.debate.org...