I enjoyed the article “Free college: everyone else is doing it,” published by Jonathan Ababiy because it directly relates to themes discussed in my philosophy class. Free college for everyone would be an ideal case, but there is misleading information about the aid available to students and drawbacks to free college for everyone.

The University of Minnesota has many financial aid programs in place for students from low income families. In 2016, students coming from families making less than $30,000 a year received grants that actually exceeded the cost of attendance by $1,553. Being one of these students, without this aid I would not be able to attend college because my family financially cannot contribute anything to my education. In 2017, the University raised the middle class income ceiling from $100,000 to $120,000 for their need-based program, U Promise Scholarship.  This change provides students with $306 in additional aid. This article is confusing because it mentions how there needs to be a guaranteed financial aid program in place to help middle income students, but there is already one in place. 

The article fails to mention any counter arguments. If free college for everyone happened, many people would be furious and oppose it. Taxpayers without children would be against it because if they have no kids, then why would they pay for someone else’s kid to go to college? Opposite viewpoints are critical in this article because it provides more evidence as to the challenges faced and reasons for the program not yet being implemented. 

 Ivana Kamenchouk is a student at the University of Minnesota.

This letter to the editor has been lightly edited for style and clarity.