Essay by 謝振禮老師 Jeenn Lee Hsieh

TWE Topic>

>To what extent to you agree or disagree with the following statement? "University education should be free for all students and fully financed by the government, regardless of each student's financial background." Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

>Should college education be free, or should universities be required to pay tuition fees? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

>Some people believe that everyone has a right to have university education and the government should make it free for all students, regardless of their financial background. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

范文：

To advance in higher education, it is essential to get students in and through college with a fully supportive government for the benefits of individuals as well as society as a whole. Given that public university tuitions should be made free, this is probably not enough. For that matter, our real issue is about not only 'why' but also 'how'.

Public money spent on education at all levels, including higher education, always pays off. On a long-term basis, such investment as associated with universities makes particular business sense. It is because any country requires a highly skilled workforce to prosper. Without a great number of educated people, it is difficult for a society to be able to maintain the competitive edge on the global stage. Funding university students is worth it because for every new dollar that the government invests in higher education, it will receive an estimated net return of three dollars, translating into millions of dollars for society. This calculation is based on the simple fact that educated workers normally make higher wages than uneducated workers, therefore resulting in increased income in tax revenues.

Apart from assistance regarding tuition fees being funded through taxation, many university students may need financial aid in other respects as well. It is easy to recognize that tuition is not the only worry that matters to students from moderate- and middle-income families, considering that the overall cost of education is often more than that concern. For instance, some students are likely to meet the impact of increasing textbooks prices and housing expenses, etc. Since scholarships and grants are never sufficient, it is also important to provide student loans and credit cards for the students in actual need and allow them to pay back the money gradually only after they ultimately begin to work with an income. It is expected that practices like these will help college students to tide over economic problems that might otherwise cause them to drop out before earning their valuable degrees for future careers. All this may explain how we can avoid losing, although partly, a generation of students who simply cannot afford to attend college, even though tuitions are entirely free.

In sum, while we are convinced of the importance of funding university tuitions by the government, we should also work out an effective strategy to make it possible for college students to face whatever financial challenges facing them. Accordingly, higher education must be seen as a basic right and ought to be made available to everyone, regardless of each student's financial background. In the absence of general free tuitions and special bank loans, poor students in particular will find themselves squeezed between insufficient financial aid and rapidly rising costs from all fronts.