In order to study at university students are required to pay expensive tuition fees. Not all students can afford them so some people think that university education should be free for everyone. To what extent do you agree? v.5

Fees for higher education are expensive and not affordable for everyone so according to some university should be free for all people, regardless of their background. In my opinion, offering everyone free university education would be problematic and, therefore, should only be offered to certain individuals. Having free university education for everyone would put a tremendous financial strain on a country. Universities would have no income from fees and, consequently, they would rely completely on the state for funding. Doing this means taking funds from other much needed areas, such as the health system, in order to allocate money to universities. For the majority of countries, particularly developing and underdeveloped countries, this would not be a financially viable option. Another point to consider is that offering all people free tertiary education would tempt many people to enter university whether they were interested or not. In other words, rather than choosing to get a job, some young people would opt for doing a degree to which they would only half-heartedly apply themselves. This would not only be a waste of a country’s finances but also a waste of human resources. Finally, the best solution would be to keep university fees but still offer some free places to gifted students from poor backgrounds. This would ensure that talented, intelligent students who cannot afford to pay for higher education would still get educated and trained. As a result, society would benefit by getting the right people trained and valuable financial resources would not be wasted. In conclusion, abolishing university fees is not feasible for most countries but offering free places to particular students who have limited financial means is a much better use of a country’s resources.