Should college be free

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Should college be free". Your opponent's style: Should college be free

College should be free

Free college sounds compassionate, but it's actually a massive wealth transfer from working families to the privileged. You want plumbers and electricians subsidizing philosophy majors from wealthy suburbs? That's exactly what happens when we make college "free." Americans already owe $1.8 trillion in student debt, with 42.5 million borrowers trapped in this system [1]. Making college free doesn't eliminate this cost - it just forces everyone to pay for it through taxes, including people who never went to college or already paid their way through. The real kicker? Students at private for-profit institutions are most likely to have debt (65%), while public school students are much less likely (38%) [2]. We already have affordable options - community colleges, state schools, trade programs. Free college would mostly benefit middle and upper-class families who were going to college anyway, while working-class families get stuck with the tax bill. Want to help students? Cap tuition increases, expand need-based aid, and stop pretending every job needs a four-year degree. But don't make a welder in Ohio pay for someone's gender studies degree at Berkeley.