Each year approximately 20 million American students attend college; 12 million of these students seek financial help to pay for their studies (Lanza). Education offered to the public should be free. Public universities that once charged for opening doors to students now charge students for opening doors for them. These state-controlled private universities hold values ​​related to those of or like a company (Bady). Instead of giving opportunities to everyone, universities sell their products “for as much as the market can bear” (Bady). The decline in public funding has led public universities to put the need to educate students on the back burner. Tuition in public schools should be made free so that everyone can have the opportunity for educational, economic and social advancement. Tuition at public universities should be made free, including but not limited to universities like UNC Wilmington. One of the most difficult aspects of attending college for the average middle- and lower-class student is meeting the expense of a college education. Based on recent statistics, it costs approximately $15,522 to attend UNCW. Wilmington receives approximately six million dollars in grant funding each year, much of which includes student loan debt. This cost includes tuition, on-campus room and board, books, and miscellaneous fees ("University of North Carolina Wilmington"). As a student attending UNC Wilmington, I understand the monetary factors that must be met in order to participate. Unlike other schools, I didn't receive a merit scholarship, and I soon realized I didn't even have twenty thousand dollars lying around. Great efforts were made so that I could even enroll in the course. The first step I have... middle of the paper... has about the same number of students as the University of North Carolina Wilmington. This college has a full campus with accommodations available. Kristianstad offers 35 different programs (Swanson). Although taxes are higher in Sweden, the educational gap between America and other countries is astounding and only gets worse with time. Many people never attempt to go to college only with the excuse that they wouldn't even have a way to pay for it. Children with all the potential in the world end up trapped in the same economic brackets their family is in because they see no way out of their situation. The poor remain illiterate because education is not accessible to the average student. The need for free tuition at public universities, and even more specifically at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, is at an all-time high.