Free Public College Tuition Is Bad Policy
Col Mike Walker, USMC (retired)
Five Reasons Why Free Public College Tuition Is Bad Policy
(or Sander’s State Universities Suck)
A. It Economically Punishes the Less Well Off to Enrich the Better Off
In the United States, Washington politicians always claim that large-scale programs can be done on the cheap and they have a tax plan to pay for it. They never do. Costs always exceed the projections and the taxpayer is left holding the bag.
So if we listen to “The Bern” where we will windup is with a huge government expense that economically benefits the college graduates that make up 24% of the work force and which, on average, already makes more money than non-college graduates (people in their late 20s and early 30s working in jobs that require a college degree make about $17,000 more per year).
Think about the social injustice of that: Government taxation to redistribute money from less wealthy hard working families, the majority of Americans, to give that money to a wealthier class of citizen.
That is shameful!
B. It further destroys the essential distinction between citizens’ needs and wants
I believe it was Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson of MIT who opined that the heart of economics is to try to wisely allocate scarce resources in order to satisfy unlimited human wants. Free public tuition ignores that concept.
If students have no skin in the game – no sense of cost – they are stripped of the economic knowledge critical in identifying what they need. There will be no governor or brake on the college cost engine. What students need will become invisible and all that will be left is their wants.
This will end with rising costs driven by people who, at the time that costs are being incurred, will be recklessly shielded from the consequences of their choices.
C. It will further exacerbate the Oversupply of College Graduates
Given that current studies show that as many as half of all recent college graduates are filling jobs THAT DO NOT require a 4-year degree then a free college education as a “right” is wrongheaded.
It punishes individuals and damages our nation’s economic health.
From undergraduate degrees to law school diplomas, America is producing too many graduates. Encouraging even more students by creating a perverse incentive of no cost is a profound disservice to our students and society as a whole.
Think of the immense waste. While it is true that on a macro or national level, immense resources were misallocated, the real damage was done on individual level.
The average college graduate incurs about $30,000 in debt. If they are among the millions who will land in a job that does not require that degree, they have paid a stiff price but that is only part of the cost.
They also forewent the opportunity of having gotten that job four years earlier and in the act, lost four years of making a salary while running up a big debt. Just to rub salt in the wound, they also forfeited fours years of experience that would have made them a more attractive worker and open to possible promotions and salary advancements.
It is patently stupid, irresponsible and economically suicidal to intend for every American to go to college. That is a misguided “want” no society should pay for.
History is replete with examples of emerging nations that over produced college graduates. They became economically stunted and often were unstable. On the other hand, developing nations that made high school graduation the priority became politically stable accompanied by growing standards of living.
A high school diploma provides for an essential education. It creates the workforce that gets the job done, that makes America go, that opens the door to a productive life. That should be our focus.
D. It will destroy Private Religious Colleges and Universities
Many if not most socialists agree with Marx that an ideal society is one purged of religion. The socialist Sanders has hit upon an ideal way to advance that objective. Think about it:
Why pay +$100,000 to graduate from Notre Dame when Purdue is free?
Why pay to go to USC when you can go to UCLA without charge?
Why go into debt for Duke or Wake Forest when UNC costs nothing?
Who needs SMU or Rice or Baylor when you can get a free ride at UT or A&M?
This is a twisted policy. Some of our best schools (not just in America but also in the world) will be given a death sentence.
(BTW, public universities are the prime driver in overproducing graduates. Private colleges do a better job.)
E. Say goodbye to local control over public colleges and universities
As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, sooner or later politicians in Washington will start to tinker with the system. It's the new golden rule: Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
If you like the unbounded expansion of Title IX then you will love Bernie Sanders State Universities. The politicians may first start with curriculum or admittance rules and will expand and expand and expand their meddling. That is the way of Washington.
Mike
