As the presidential debates continue, one of their highly debated topics is free college education. The Democratic Party seems to continue these heavy debates. Hillary Clinton, one of the democratic candidates for the campaign, states that she feels that the students should have to have a job to earn a free education (Forbes.com). However, Bernie Sanders, another candidate in the democratic party, disagrees and argues that the education should be free and “a gift funded by Wall Street” (Forbes.com). Both candidates made good points regarding this topic, but should college tuition be free?

For students throughout the nation, being able to have a free college education sounds absolutely superb. On average, a public four-year college in state costs about $9,139 a year (College Board). That doesn’t sound like much, right? Well, a full time minimum wage worker earns about $15,080 a year (Poverty Research, University of California, Davis). If you calculate those numbers, you are left with about $6,000. That means $6,000 to pay for dorming, books, and supplies yearly. Also a monthly cost would be paying for food, electrical appliances, insurance, gas, and other necessities. For a student who’s 18-22 years old, that’s a lot of money. Free college education would benefit all students. Many students don’t attend college because it’s unaffordable. High school is free so that students could prepare for a college education, but what would be the point in that if college isn’t affordable? College is the stepping stone into having a job and making money to support yourself financially. However, students need money to pay for college. So we need to already have financial support to get better financial support?

Although free education sounds like a great idea, there are some flaws into this plan. For example, where is this money to support the free education coming from? Of course everyone first turns to the idea that taxpayers would support this project financially. This will cause American taxpayers to oppose this idea. Also, Bernie Sanders states that maybe the money could be “a gift from Wall Street” (Forbes.com). Wall Street may be very big, but I don’t think the workers would be too happy about some funds being cut for free education. These are very valid points to not supporting the idea of free education, but doesn’t education help educate the leaders of our future? Isn’t education important for our future careers? How will we be able to receive the best education that we deserve, if we cannot afford it?