Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Sure, since that number would be incredibly low. I think its absolutely stupid to suggest that this would be a problem when it rarely happens right now. People are still motivated to get educated so they can then get a job to provide for their family. That doesn't change because you allow people an opportunity to get educated for free.
Also, college is not just for getting degrees. College also provides opportunity for many career and technical education (CTE) opportunities, allowing people to re-tool and get back into the workforce when they lose a job. College also has a number of vocational programs and certification programs to make individuals more sale able in their industry.
Age shouldn't have anything to do with education. If someone wants to better themselves they should have opportunity. Many young people make the decision to not follow through to higher education after high school, and then find they need further training to get a head in their career, or carve out a career in general. Many of them can afford it after the fact. That is not
Access to college is fairly easy. As is the work. An associates degree really isn't that much of a leg up unless you are looking for just entry level jobs.
Access to university is a completely different story. If you want a degree from a four year degree granting institution it is still a significant challenge to get in and maintain your funding, especially for part-time students. And no, education is not cheap, and because of for profit universities and what they have done to the system, it is unlikely to become less expensive.
The main issue is access and the ability to pay for it. Private universities will always have their place and ability to soak the student for as much as the traffic will bear. There needs to be a public option so people from lesser means can get educated and compete for the best paying jobs out there. Without that leveling of the field with access to education, we just continue to promote the same societal norms that the rich have advantage that the middle and lower classes will never overcome. Education is the great leveler and needs to become accessible to everyone, which means "free" but paid for through the payment of taxes collected on their later success.
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Public option? 75% of college students are in public, state run colleges/Universities that are already heavily subsidized.
Most of those 2 year degrees are fully transferable to the first 2 years of public universities and provide a very good gateway to a more affordable and accessible 4 year degree.