University Education Should be Free for all Students- IELTS Writing Task 2

The Essay Writing section of the IELTS Writing Module can be a difficult task for many IELTS Aspirants. Thus, it is vital that you polish your essay writing skills before attempting the IELTS.

Below is a sample IELTS Essay for the IELTS Essay topic:

University education should be free for all students. To what extent agree or disagree?

Outline

Essay Type

Opinion Essay

Introduction

Sentences 1&2 – Summarise the topic with the use of synonyms to create a basic understanding.

Sentence 3 – Mention that the essay will understand the need to make university education free.

Body Paragraphs

Paragraph 1 – Talk about how high university fees affect a family and its finances.

Paragraph 2 – Mention the benefits of making university education free, like high attending rates and upliftment of adjacent pointers like happiness index, etc. Mention relevant examples here.

Paragraph 3 – Acknowledge the flipper side of the argument, but talk about the unending advantages of making university education free.

Conclusion

Restate your views.

Sample Essay 1

University education is among the costliest “investments” a person can make. Consequently, there has been a cry to formalize a law to make university education free for everyone in recent times so that everyone can avail it. I feel this is a positive step, and this essay will expand my understanding of why I agree with it.

To begin with, university education costs can run well into hundreds of thousands of dollars, which may not be financially viable for every person. In a realistic scenario, even if a family is well off financially, this can become a burden as many will take educational loans to cover these costs. On top of this, books, accommodation, food, and other essentials are not factored in the tuition fees. Hence, such astronomical education costs can be a pecuniary nightmare.

On the same note, making university education cheaper really unfurls a wave of universal availing of higher education. For instance, many European countries’ public colleges charge zero for their courses. These countries, like Sweden, Germany, Finland, etc., show a very high rate of education, along with other pointers like high per capita income, high happiness index, and low tax evasion rates. Making university education free not only increases education across a country but has a positive direct and indirect effect on so many germane lifestyle pointers.

Some believe that countries, governments in general, benefit from high education rates, while others remark that free university education for all can become an obligation for the government. I feel that there are other means and ways of earning money, and earning money at the cost of a deserving person’s future is outrightly wrong. Additionally, making higher education free has one too many benefits to ignore.

Hence, university education should be free for all students keeping in mind that it is embezzled neither by the country nor the students.

Sample Essay 2

Having a qualification of tertiary education has become essential in the present. It is generally believed that universities should not charge any fees whatsoever. I agree with the given notion considerably, and I will support my angle of view in subsequent paragraphs.

To commence with the agreement side, providing tertiary education for free can elevate the education level of a whole country. To elaborate, providing free education will encourage more and more students to enrol in university courses. Students who cannot afford to pay university fees and, therefore, opt to get jobs after secondary education will also receive an opportunity to educate themselves further. More students enrolling in universities will increase education overall in a country.

Moreover, providing free university education can lead to a country’s prosperous economy. To make it clear, it is generally noticed that people, who are university graduates, have a pay scale significantly higher than that of high school graduates as university students have received specialized education in a specific field and have honed their skills within that particular field. Providing free tertiary education can encourage more and more students to enrol and specialize in a specific area which will help them to secure a hefty paying job. It will eventually help the country’s economy to grow further.

Now, looking at the disagreement side, if higher education is provided for free, students might take it for granted and start to avoid their duties. The number of university dropouts will increase as students have not paid any fees, and they are not losing anything financially by dropping out. There is a possibility that students may get swayed by the lousy influence of their peers and may get involved in immoral activities like bullying or drug trafficking without fearing expulsion as they have not paid any fees.

To conclude, providing free tertiary education can help a nation achieve greater heights in terms of education level and economy, but it may come with a price of students not taking the free education seriously because of not having to pay any fees.

Vocabulary

• Formalize 

Meaning – give (something) legal or formal status.
Example – The government formalized a law to protect our right to privacy.

• Viable  

Meaning – capable of working successfully; feasible.
Example – Motorsports are introducing viable financial plans amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Astronomical 

Meaning – (of an amount) extremely large.
Example – The college tuition fees are astronomical.

• Unfurls 

Meaning – make or become spread out.
Example – The ship unfurled its sails.

• Outrightly  

Meaning – wholly and completely.
Example – The way he stood against the teacher was outrightly wrong.

• Embezzle 

Meaning – to steal (money or property) despite being entrusted to take care of it
Example – .The conman embezzled a huge amount of money from the poor people.

• Pecuniary

Meaning – relating to or consisting of money.
Example – You should enrich your pecuniary knowledge and take care of your assets.

• Obligation

Meaning – bound to do certain things
Example – We have an obligation to fulfil our duties towards our parents and country.

• Evasion

Meaning – the act of avoiding something that you do not want to do or deal with
Example – Tax evasion is one of the prevalent crimes in our country.

• Germane

Meaning – relevant and appropriate
Example – His speech was germane to the event of the day.