Some people consider it necessary for the government to subsidize all universities
to ensure that all eligible students can attend college free of charge.
I do not agree with this idea,
although students of low socio-economic status can be exempt from tuition fees.
Tuition fees can raise students’ engagement
as the staggering financial cost may pressure them
to take this opportunity more seriously.
They may finance their education with their own savings
or the money borrowed from relatives,
so they would do the utmost to complete all courses
and obtain a degree as soon as possible.
If they fail to pass any exam or gain a passing grade for any assignment,
they might have to delay the plan to enter the workforce.
This may incur a higher cost than they can afford.
This sense of urgency would disappear if they had free access to education.
Absenteeism and the number of students who fail exams would increase markedly,
making it difficult for a tertiary institution to operate effectively.
Another reason for charging tuition is that
it can lighten the burden on the government
and increase financial resources available for other levels of education.
University students have reached adulthood, when they are capable of earning a living.
If they place value on academic qualifications,
they can set aside part of their income to finance their degree courses.
By comparison,
primary and secondary education deserve more of government expenditure
as students are still deemed as minors,
who are not legally permitted to work as paid employees.
Postgraduate programs are also in need of financial support from the state,
without which universities would lose the battle
with the private sector for talented researchers.
On the other side,
it may be reasonable to make some exceptions
and provide less well-off students with free education.
Free tuition can encourage these young students to attend college and increase knowledge
so they are able to find employment in this knowledge-based economy.
Without a tertiary-level qualification,
they might end up working in low-paid, manual work,
while their counterparts from well-off backgrounds
dominate the high-paying, professional jobs,
such as medicine and law, which require advanced qualifications.
This can perpetuate the income disparity problem of a country.
To sum up, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be exempt from tuition fees,
while it is not acceptable to abolish tuition fees for everybody.