Free college

The oldest institution of higher learning in the United States is Harvard University, founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to train and educate clergy. Originally called “New College,” it was renamed Harvard College in 1639 after its first major benefactor, clergyman John Harvard. Harvard is part of the elite group of eight institutions known as the Ivy League, a group noted for its high academic standards, selectivity in admissions, and social prestige. These early schools were funded by the colony or England and usually catered to a specific religious denomination, such as the Congregational or Presbyterian churches. [73]

Some early colleges, such as federal land-grant schools, had free tuition, beginning in the 1860s. Established by the 1862 Morrill Act, these schools received federally controlled land for opening “land-grant” colleges, and they were required to focus on “useful arts” like agriculture, mechanics, mining, and military instruction and thus often included “A&M” (agricultural and mechanical) in their names; the earliest A&M college, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now called Texas A&M University) opened in 1876 and was the first public institution of higher education in Texas. And some states had tuition-free policies at state colleges and universities for in-state students well into the 20th century. According to Ronald Gordon Ehrenberg, professor at Cornell University, “Public colleges and universities were often free at their founding in the United States, but over time, as public support was reduced or not increased sufficiently to compensate for their growth in students and costs (faculty and staff salaries, utilities etc.), they moved first to a low tuition and eventually higher tuition policy.” Baruch College in New York, founded in 1847 as the Free Academy and now part of the City University system of New York, was the country’s first free public college.[37] [38] [39] [70] [71] [72]

After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, HBCUs (the Historically Black Colleges and Universities) were founded throughout the South with support from Black churches and the Freedmen’s Bureau, a federal organization that operated during the postwar Reconstruction period to help former slaves adjust to freedom; contributions from these groups kept tuition affordable. As Encyclopaedia Britannica explains, institutions such as Atlanta University (1865; now Clark Atlanta University), Howard University, and Morehouse College (1867) provided a liberal arts education and trained students for careers as teachers, ministers, and missionaries, while others prepared students for industrial or agricultural jobs. Some institutions, such as Morehouse, were all-male schools, while others, such as Spelman College (1924; originally founded in 1881 as Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary), were all-female. Most of the schools, however, were coeducational, and HBCUs today accept white students, too.[74]

Today, college tuition is set by state policy or by each institution. Free college programs do exist, and they come in different forms but generally involve the government covering tuition costs, while students pay for other expenses, such as room and board. Free college programs exist in some form in 34 states. Additionally, over 100 colleges and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, offer free tuition to certain students regardless of state programs. [50] [51] [52] [62]

Some 62 percent of high school graduates attended college in 2025; highlighting how this number has changed over the years, only 2.9 percent of American 18- to 24-year-olds went to college in the 1909-10 school year. In spring 2024 there were more than 17.8 million college students in the United States, and borrowers nationwide owed $1.8 trillion in student debt. On average, those students paid $9,750 in tuition at 4-year in-state public schools or $28,445 at 4-year out-of-state public schools. Tuition at public four-year institutions rose 36.7 percent between 2010 and 2023, the most recent data available. When adjusted for inflation, college tuition has risen 197.4 percent since 1963. The average student loan debt was about $38,375, with students paying about $2,636 each year in interest on loans that take an average of 20 years to pay off. [55] [63] [64] [65] [75]

At the national level, free college programs have been in effect for military personnel since the 1944 G.I. Bill. At least 40 other countries have free or nearly free college tuition. [7] [8] [9] [42] [43] [44] [61]

According to the 2022 Education Next Survey of Public Opinion, 61 percent of Americans supported free four-year college and 66 percent supported free two-year college. [56]

U.S. states with free college programs

Countries with free college

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Discussion questions

1. Should college tuition be free? For which colleges or universities? Explain your answers.
2. Brainstorm potential pros and cons of free college for individual students.
3. How would free college benefit (or disadvantage) college communities? Explain your answer.
4. What questions do you have after reading the debate above? Where might you find answers?
5. What was the most interesting thing you learned from this debate?
6. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? How and why?. If your thoughts have not changed, explain how and why you better understand the other side of the debate.
7. Push for the position and policies you support by writing local officials, U.S. senators and representatives, or other people in a position to make the change you champion.