Governments should offer a free university education to any student who has been admitted to a university but who cannot afford the tuition.Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take

This essay discusses the notion whether the government should provide free university education to students who cannot afford the tuition, but have been admitted to university. The author will argue in favor of this notion, concluding that the benefits of such a policy, increased social mobility, resulting in a more egalitarian society, and a more meritocratic society in which more potential is realized, outweigh the downsides of the opportunity cost of not spending the money elsewhere and the fact that such a policy could be discriminatory towards people who can afford the tuition.
In most societies academic capital is one of the most important aspects, which determine whether an individual will have good chances of succeeding in most aspects of life. This social capital opens many doors not only on the job market, but also when it comes to social situations. People from economically underprivileged backgrounds often cannot afford university tuition fees, thus stopping them for acquiring this valuable social capital. This leads to a situation in which people with low economic capital are stuck in a position where they are not able to further develop their academic capital after school, making them less likely to break out of their underprivileged situation. This shows that tuition fees can lead to a self-perpetuating cycle, in which social classes are static. If the suggested policy change were to be implemented, it could be an important step towards breaking out of this self-perpetuating cycle, moving towards a more egalitarian society.
Furthermore, this policy would not only be beneficial towards equality for its own sake. It would also benefit society as a whole by enabling the greatest talents in a nation to realize their potential, making them more productive and in return increasing the welfare of society as a whole through the increased fruits of their labour.
On the contrary, one could argue that such a policy would be discriminatory against people who can afford the university tuition, therefore making society less egalitarian. However, this argument is not valid, since one has to bear in mind that the distribution of chances and opportunities was arbitrary, unequal and therefore unjust to start with and that this policy would only counteract this initial injustice. Additionally, to counteract this point the state could abolish tuition fees as a whole, also for people who can afford them. This still hast the positive effects of the first two paragraphs, but not the negative effects of discrimination. However, this would be even more costly than only paying for the tuition of people who cannot afford it, which brings us to the second counterexample.
The suggested policy costs money. This money has to be taken from some other resort in the governments budget or the taxes will have to be raised, otherwise a budget deficit will be created. In my opinion, however, there are few aspects which are more important than equality. Provided that the government has fulfilled its more fundamental responsibilities of ensuring security, basic infrastructure and a functioning justice system, equality in education is the next highest priority. Of this priority the suggested policy is one of the most important steps towards it.
To conclude, in my opinion this policy is advisable, provided that more important government responsibilities are not impaired by it.