Governments should offer a free university education to any student who has been admitted to a university but who cannot afford the tuition

The author would prefer free education for students who are admitted to university but who cannot afford the tuition. I agree insofar as the free education will provide opportunities for talented and financially weak students to pursue further studies, enabling them to become highly valuable citizens. At the same time, however, I believe that such commitment on the part of the government should not divert its attention and resources from issues of prime importance such as health and basic education.

A fundamental argument in favor of free education has to with the fact that free education would help financially troubled students to continue their studies, thus would ensure that abilities of such students don’t get wasted. This will be especially advisable in underdeveloped countries like India where a large percentage of talented students from small cities and rural areas have to abandon their education because their parents are unable to afford the expenses. Consequently they end up being construction worker or laborer instead of lawyer or professor—a very low result as compared to their true abilities. Besides helping deserving individuals, such measures can boost the growth of country as these highly educated and able professional are likely to accelerate the growth, particularly in area they belong. Offering free education can, therefore, be advantageous on individual as well as societal level.

Notwithstanding the foregoing reasoning in favor of free education, the implementation of such policy entails certain problems. Most importantly, given the condition of economy of underdeveloped, or even the developed countries, such policy might overburden the taxpayers which are already heavily taxed as number of student falling in the category of free education might be very large. Additionally, it can divert government’s attention from issues of prime importance such as public health and safety, which should be given proper attention from the authorities.

Another problem, which is related to the above-mentioned problem in some ways, might be determining the individuals who truly deserve free education. Students who can afford their expenses may tempt to gain advantage of the policy. As a consequence, government would be under increased financial pressure and might have to compromise on essential matters such as basic education and essential development projects crucial to the country’s economy. While certain mechanisms and methodologies can be devised to limit the financial assistance to highly talented and deserving students, it might not be fully effective.

In final analysis, while the policy of providing free education might be advantageous in encouraging talented individuals and boosting overall societal growth, it can also result in certain unmanageable problems which might outweigh its potential benefits. Hence, while making any decision about implementation of such policy, all these factors must be kept in mind.