Should university education be made free?

                         Being a student the first thought that comes to my mind is to wish for a free university education, but logically I think university education must not be free. There are various factors that may undermine the standards of the university if the education is made free. The increase in student strength is a significant factor behind increased financial burden on the universities, which results in escalating student fees. The major factors that will deter the quality of educational environment with free education are lower faculty to student ratio, relatively low government grants per student and even the quality of students. 

                       There are few people who will argue that it is a mistake as charging for university will increase inequality in opportunity as students from low income group will not be able to afford the expensive tuition. But I would disagree with this fact because universities provide various job opportunities inside the campus to hone a student talent and interest. A free education would make a student over-complacent. But striving hard in the part time jobs to pay the tuition will keep up student more motivated and make them value the education even more.

                      Moreover, free education will result in enormous increase in student strength resulting in degradation of the quality of students. Even there would be declination of the faculty to student ratio which is disadvantageous to the student who are very much serious in their research and academia. There is a plethora of cases where students even leave universities before graduating and take jobs that do not demand higher degrees. In this case the university’s investment for these cases go in vain because they would not contribute anything to research or academia. So this arises more inequality in opportunities for students who are genuinely interested in research.

             Arguably, a higher degree from universities acts as an indicator to the employers that graduates have accrued greater skills. So the students end up with relatively high salary jobs. Therefore, if they financially gain from studying at university, it is fair enough that they pay the part of the tuition. An environment where student relax during their university period due to free education, would not make them a skilled asset to any organization or country.

                 To sum up, universities should charge students, which will help maintain standards, quality of teaching and the reputation of the universities. Besides, generating a huge number of graduates with high degrees is not going to benefit the society much. Students should take some vocational training and use their skills to contribute as much as they can to society. In this case university can also fund a few meritorious students who can dedicate more to research which will be a win-win situation for everyone.