During the 19th century, education required large sums of money that only wealthy merchants and government officials could afford. Elementary through high school, which we take for granted, is now free thanks to a law that, according to the Washington Post, only went into effect in the 1890s. Today a bachelor's degree is the new equivalent of the 1890s high school diploma due to the high demand in the United States for skilled, educated workers, but with colleges costing more than some people earn in a year, many people cannot pay for the thousands of dollars in student loans. Instead, they work minimum wage jobs, which barely cover living expenses. The United States needs free colleges to help people get a good education and to help everyone have an equal chance at getting a quality job. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, public college costs an average of $20,731 per year on a public campus and up to $48,265 per year on a public campus. private campus. High school students here in Minnesota who leave home simply cannot afford this cost, and not all families are able to afford to support them while they go to college even with financial aid. Is it fair that a student with a 4.0 GPA from a very poor family cannot go to college while a student with a 2.6 GPA from a wealthy family can go on and get a college degree? It's not. Making college free will help disadvantaged people attend college. They won't get stuck flipping burgers simply because they don't want to shoulder the cost of college. They will be able to attend university tuition free and get better jobs, such as engineering or medical professions, which will help make our country better. They will also be able to help support their families if they are poor. There are already some countries that have free university. Germany, Norway and Finland are some of the countries listed by Investopedia that offer free college. We wouldn't be the first to do this. We could follow their example to make it work in our country. On top of that, CNN claims that Germany is the fourth largest economy by GDP, larger than any other country in Europe. If the German economy was the largest in Europe, wouldn't that help our economy too? How can Germany pay without its economy collapsing? CNN explains that Germany pays for free college by imposing a higher income tax. We can do the same thing in America to pay for college. To pay college tuition, American citizens would have to have a higher income tax, but only for people who attended college and for those in the top 5% income bracket, regardless of whether they attended or less college since they can afford it. It. The LA Times reported that “people with college degrees earn 84% more…than high school graduates.” If they earn 84% more, they can easily afford a few extra dollars in income tax. The best thing about income tax is that those who attend college pay it for life instead of having to pay off thousands of dollars of debt in just a few years. This gives them a lot less to worry about and more money to spend on other things, which adds more tax money to the government. Instead of making every person who:.