For the past five years, college tuitions in America have forced many students to continue their higher education in free public colleges in Europe. These public colleges in Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, and many other European countries are just as well-equipped, and some are even more than top American colleges in specific departments.

So that begs the question, “Why shouldn’t American public colleges be free as well for undergraduates?”

The answer is quite simple: They should be free.

The first and foremost reason for either lower tuitions or no tuition at all is the same fact as mentioned before — undergrad students are leaving the United States to pursue their education in Europe. And while there are several reasons for this, high college tuitions in the US are one of the most significant. As a high school student, myself, I’m considering colleges in Europe simply because there is low or no tuitions in many of them, you can get a bachelor’s degree in three years and on top of all that, their education quality is high-grade.

Furthermore, student loans can create many difficulties throughout the lives of many graduates. For many, student loanstake years to pay back, and that ultimately limits the choices people can make in their daily lives, ranging from where they will live to what they would eat the next day.

While lowering tuitions for undergraduate students might make the American economy take a hit for a while, it would be a rather good trade-off because those who would be paying that money in the form of loans would still get it into the economy’s circulation one way or another.

Just because students do not have tens of thousands of dollars to pay to colleges does not mean that the money will just stay in their bank accounts forever. All it means is that the money will be used in better ways, and in return, many people would have more relaxed lives. Higher quality housing, eating healthier foods (veggies are expensive), and having more money available to use in daily life are just some examples of where the money could be spent.

Moreover, while some may argue that lowered tuitions would force many colleges to go bankrupt or have less money available for use, that argument would be completely untrue; since there are many examples of no tuition in Europe, and none of those colleges have gone bankrupt, there is no reason for any of those in the US to be either. Indeed, most countries in Europe do have higher tax rates, but they most definitely do not spend over half their government’s budget on the military.

Lastly, there is a reason they’re called ‘public’ colleges. They’re meant for public use, and they’re supposed to be mostly funded by the government, which’s job is to serve the public.

That is the biggest differentiating factor between public and private colleges — or at least, it should be.

Master and Doctorate students should still pay some tuition in public colleges, undergraduate students should not have to do so.