Let’s talk about college: the mandatory tool for success in the adult world, the ideal place to go after high school, and the start of the rest of your life. More people are going to college, and getting an education is good, what isn’t good is the skyrocketing prices of college tuition which increases the debt and decreases the quality of life for those getting that education.

A public four-year university in-state costs almost $10,000 per year, out-of-state costs double that, and private universities cost triple the tuition of one in-state college, according to CollegeBoard. With college becoming such an important tool for Americans, it’s a real question why we don’t have free college.

The obvious reason for wanting free college is the same reason for wanting to go to college in the first place—you need a well-paying job. With college students becoming more common, and tuition pricing going through the roof, a class divide is starting straight out of college. Those whose families can handle the financial strain of college are better prepared for life after college, and those who can’t start their slow descent into poverty. This would be fine, if it weren’t for the reason that this could be avoided. If we make college more accessible, we would have a more specialized work force and would eventually have to rely less on outsourcing.

Another reason is pretty obvious. Rich citizens means a rich state. One of the biggest arguments against free college is that “my tax dollars are being wasted!” In my opinion, an investment isn’t considered a “waste.” The money will come back to the country, within a lifetime, but not a short one. If we have an educated populace, then the general income will rise, and if general incomes rise, taxes have a greater impact on those incomes. Giving a little bit of our taxes now, will result in a higher governmental budget 50 years from now. Especially with the rise of North Korea, ISIS, China, and Russia, those funds might be very beneficial.

In the spirit of patriotism, being the best, and setting the standard, let’s talk other countries. So, the closest countries (or groups of countries anyways) to us are China, Russia, and the EU. These countries have either a military, economy, or both that are close seconds to the United States. Another thing these countries have is free state-sponsored college for citizens. They can make sure that their citizens can hold jobs they want to strengthen the economy, and make sure they even have a job.

So, the United States lags behind a bit more. We decide that we’re not going to innovate and become better. We want to stay with Cold War-era politics in which “We The Best” is the motto. We’re limiting ourselves with just keeping our old values. We have to change our society for the better.

So for the benefit of our nation we know what to do. To make sure we won’t be outsourced we have to have a strong industrious nation. We need to get rid of our increasing income gap. We need to adopt the practice of free college. Because if we don’t, “we” will no longer be relevant.