College has always been expansive and caused debt for students, but does that always have to be the case? Over the last few year we have seen a rise in the amount of laws in Massachusetts that have been created or brought up involving the idea of free schooling.
Governor Healey and the Executive Office of Education passed a law for any resident of Massachusetts, no matter their age or income, to receive Free Community College. This was a big step in making education much more affordable and available to everyone. This helps to create better opportunities for people of all financial situations and ages.
All these new laws that are being created in Massachusetts are working toward preventing what I believe is the biggest issue with higher education. The tuition and housing cost of traditional college or even the cost of a trade school have dramatically increased. You can easy accumulate well over $100,000 in debt from college depending on the school you attend, and trade schools can cause the same issue. While it is not as much because students do not attend trade school for as long, still most students leave with thousands of dollars in debt. Higher education creates debt for the majority of young adults and that can make starting out in the working world a lot more difficult.
Many parents talk about the idea of buying at home and how it will be much more difficult for the newer generations. A large part in this is from the debt that we have from students loans that creates a monthly expense that takes years to eliminate. Adding on this extra expense will make it hard for anyone to save money, especially as a young adult who is completely foreign to paying things like rent, car insurance or a car payment (with, most likely, a large interest rate because of age and credit), and student loan debt. If we eliminate the cost of higher education and allow people to learn for free, we will be setting up our younger generations for success and create equal opportunities for everyone.
There are many jobs that require a college degree. In order to make sure people can fill those jobs, and for the necessary services to continue, it’s time to make college affordable or free.
