How America's Colleges Could be Tuition-Free

How America's COLLEGES Tuition-Free COULD BE Having children is a costly, long-term financial commitment. How costly? An August 2014 report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that a middle-class child born in 2013 and raised until age 18 would cost their parents nearly %$4250 $15K 30% Housing 18% Child Care & Education $20K $75K 16% Food $20K- 14% Transportation $35K 8% Health Care Thousand $45K 8% Miscellaneous $40K (over $304K when adjusted for inflation) 6% Clothing And that figure can vary dramatically depending on where in America you live - Urban Northeast Urban Midwest Urban West Urban South Rural U.S. $282,480 $240,570 $261,330 $230,610 $193,590 These figures, however, do not include the cost of a college education. The cost of a college degree in the U.S. has risen considerably since the 2007-08 academic year; so has student loan debt, which has soared past $1 trillion. But what if college tuition could be free for those attending public colleges and universities? And, what if it wouldn't cost the government any more than it is already spending? General Facts About Higher Education Thomas Jefferson felt that a real democracy requires an educated populace. He believed ignorance to be the enemy of freedom: "It is safer to have the whole people respectably enlightened than a few in a high state of science and the many in ignorance. In Aug. 2010, President Obama said, "The single most important thing we can do is to make sure we've got a world-class education system for everybody. That is a prerequisite for prosperity. It is an obligation that we have for the next generation." Here are a few of the facts and figures surrounding higher education in America. With an increase of 6.5M since 7.5 0.5 8.2 5.6 Million Million Million Million Fall '00, there Million were to be in public 2yr in private 2yr in public 4yr in private 4yr institutions Students in FallI 2013 institutions institutions institutions Public VS. Private $18,390 Average cost/year of a degree $40,920 $160 $1.1+ up to an Billion 80% Trillion increase! Total Yearly Gov't Subsidy (2007-08 in U.S. Current Total Student Debt -Why Tuition & Student Debt Have Increased The primary reason student loan debt has soared is college tuitions have increased in every state since the 2007-08 academic year – many in relation to cuts in state funding. But, the amount of each state's average tuition increase hasn't always corresponded to the funding decrease. In fact, the difference between cuts and increases varies dramatically – some states are holding the line or taking losses, others are profiting from the situation: Missouri Ohio Maryland Montana Funding Cuts Funding Cuts Funding Cuts Funding Cuts 5.2% 4.2% 3.1% 4.3% 27.4* 21.7* 12.0% 6.8% Tultion Increases Tultion Increases Tultion Increases Tultion Increases -22.2% -17.5% -8.9% -2.5% Arizona Florida Georgia North Dakota 66.5% Funding Cuts Funding Cuts Funding Cuts 48.3% 80.6% 29.7* 24.8% 66.5% 38.6* 11.4* Tultion Increases Tultion Increases Funding Increases Tultion Increases Tultion Increases +32.3% * +50% +36.8* +41.7 Some state schools, finding that the federal government covered tuition increases through various subsidies, repeatedly increased tuition anyways. Then there are the for-profit colleges. FY 2012 FY 2012 FY 2012 FY 2012 10 25 50% 96 of federal aid of these stude to attributed o these students receive loans In other words, these colleges are skewing the finance statistics for higher education. -Tuition Could be Free Without Costing Taxpayers Several countries currently have free tuition at their public universities – in the form of full/near-full scholarships, or tuition covered outright. In fact, in Oct. 2014, Lower Saxony, the last German state to do so, abolished post-secondary tuition, stating that access to education was a Human Right. Whether such programs could scale to the U.S. population remains to be seen. In Jan. 2014, TheAtlantic.com published an article claiming that tuition at public colleges $62.6 Billion %$4 This is the amount public colleges and universities collected from undergrads. But, how would the gov't pay for this? It helps to look at what the feds are already spending on students: could have been free for undergraduates in 2012 if the federal gov't had spent only: Total Federal Expenditures Non-Loans Itemized 115.6 77.68 = 193.28 .98 34.2 42.5 2012 to 2014 107.4 69.43 = 176.83 .93 32.6 35.9 LOANS & GRANTS Decreased 99.7 61.08 = 160.78 .98 36.5 23.6 (Values shown in $Billions) Loans Non-Loans Grants Tax Benefits Work Study Programs %$462.6 in tuition collected from students at $77+ in federal non- So, that $ means, in FY 2012, with some loan educational aid already being Billion universities, and Billion provided public colleges & The federal government could have used part of that $77+ billion in non-loan educational aid to fully subsidize tuition at public colleges! References College Rank Some information for this article comes from the following Web sites and pages: 1. http://www.cbpp.org/files/5-1-14sfp.pdf 2. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/expenditures_on_children_by_families/ 2013CRCPressRelease.pdf 3. http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/federal-higher-education-programs-overview 4. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 Research and infographic commissioned and published by CollegeRank.net For more information, visit www.CollegeRank.net 5. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/how-washington-could-make-college -tuition-free-without-spending-a-penny-more-on-education/273801/ 6. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/heres-exactly-how-much-the-government -would-have-to-spend-to-make-public-college-tuition-free/282803/ 7. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-07/how-much-has-college-tuition-increased-your -state-lot-and-why Some images & illustrations - Shutterstock Country Flag illustrations - http://www.all-free-download.com Infographic created by: Dubs&Dash Strategy Creativity Results www.d2-group.com Cost of a degree oàn defaults are these stude of students attend for orefit colleges 2013 2012 2014 2013