As an average broke college student, one of my favorite words is “free.” Free food at Scooters, free T-shirts on the plaza and free snacks in the library are all some of my favorite things to hear. However, free is even harder to define than it is to give out, particularly when it comes to free college tuition.

Before arguing whether college should be free, you have to ask if it can even possibly be free to the truest extent. For example, the “free” things I previously mentioned are actually not free at all because they are coming out of my activities fee in my tuition costs. The only difference is I’m not handing over the money right then and there. Someone, at some point, is paying for really anything that claims itself free.

A college degree is no different. If tuition ultimately became free for college students, the shift would then move to taxpayers. The expenses of a quality education don’t just disappear because someone put the word free in front of it. A large chunk of money needs to come from someone, and instead of a portion of that money coming from those who can both afford it and have the yearning to attend college, it would all pile up on the public as a whole.

But let’s skip over that roadblock for a moment and assume the public wouldn’t detest a raise in taxes. We then face the problem of over-enrollment, which could lead to an even higher cost for the idea of free college. Although there are many countries around the world that do offer free college, the value of a college degree then decreases, and work opportunities diminish with the influx of graduates.

One example of this is found in Denmark. According to Business Insider, its economy is gradually weakening due to college graduates unequally filling job fields, yet still taking the free degree, leaving many industries unbalanced. This issue is mirrored in many other nations across the globe and some are even trying to now add a small tuition fee for students.

However, I do not believe the dollar amount someone has to offer necessarily equates to the level of education they deserve, whether they belong in the higher level education sphere or not. A person’s wealth or lack of wealth should not be as big of a factor as it is today. Instead of using taxpayer’s money to pay for everyone’s education, more resources and money should be given to those who are in need of it. The financial aid process that is in place now, however, breaks families up into two groups: those who qualify for assistance and those who don’t.

Except as most of us know, the world never easily divides into two and there are plenty of gray areas. For the families that are just over the line where they do not receive any financial aid, they are forced to struggle to make ends meet. Alternatively, there are families who don’t even consider attending college because they do not believe they have the funds to make up the difference in tuition after some financial aid.

A college degree will never truly be free, but it should be accessible without having to give an arm and a leg. Reliable and income relevant financial aid is the answer, not the word free.

Sam Miner can be reached at mine0034@stthomas.edu