College Tuition Should Be Free Essay

College tuition should be free for the Colorado Unemployed

Imagine you’ve had a job for twenty years, then suddenly the manufacturing plant is closing. Certainly, no one is immune to losing their job. It could happen to anyone. I lost my job; it's frightening. As a result, I returned to college to pursue a degree in nursing. I was able to do so because I met the poverty level and qualified for federal grants. But in some cases, people don’t qualify for federal grants. Some have money just not enough to pay for the high cost of college tuition. Many of the recently laid off people are middle-aged or older and have a difficult time finding work. The longer they are unemployed, the higher the chances are they could lose everything. People shouldn’t

Reducing poverty helps everyone. With long lapses on the person’s resume, employers wonder why they have not been working. Furthermore, the ones that don't find employment risk living in poverty. In fact, the longer the person goes without a job, the harder it is to find a job. For example, the article “How to Get the Long-Term Unemployed Back to Work” written by Richard England states that “Nearly 40 percent of unemployed Americans — roughly 4.8 million people — have been jobless for six months or longer. About half of them are over age 50.” (1). Older people deserve the chance to change their lives and attend college. I am an older unemployed person going back to college. Once I complete my nursing degree, I will go into a career making more money than I have ever made. I will no longer be considered poor. Poverty doesn't just affect the poor; there is a ripple effect. According to an article called “The Overall Effects of Unemployment” by Tom Ryan “When people have less money to spend because of unemployment, other companies suffer from less consumer demand. Then, when companies suffer because of lost business, they might, in turn, be forced to make layoffs of their own, making the unemployment rate rise and overall spending drop causing poverty” (1). One simple way to alleviate poverty is helping the unemployed find a